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How City of Long Beach Bidding Works: Thresholds, Pre-Bid Meetings, Bonds, Protests and Council Approval

Checked against the city's pages: October 2026 By Dana Castellano 9 min read

Image by andrewlloydgordon from Pixabay

On this page

In brief

The city buys under $40,000 through informal quotes, lets the Purchasing Agent issue a purchase order without advertising up to $100,000, and between $100,000 and $200,000 requires an ITB or RFP that draws at least three bids or proposals. Past that, the Charter requires an award to “the lowest responsible bidder” after a newspaper notice, “by order of the City Council” and signed by the City Manager.

  • Local preference, per the city’s program page: 10 percent on ITBs up to $50,000, 5 or 10 points on RFPs, and 10 percent against other quotes56.
  • Public-works notices can make a pre-bid conference mandatory; one live bid says “Failure to attend will result in rejection of your bid”27.
  • The only dollar trigger found for a labor and material bond is one department’s text: a bid price “greater than $25,000”, at 100 percent of the contract11.
  • For RFPs, the city’s template allows a protest within five business days of the notice of intent to award14.
  • “A contract does not guarantee payment. You must get a Purchase Order (PO) before you start work.”16

A bid on a City of Long Beach contract runs through four rule sets: the Charter, Municipal Code Chapters 2.84 and 2.86, the Purchasing Division’s program pages and the solicitation itself. This page lines up the dollar tiers, the local preference, pre-bid meetings, bonds, protests and the award, and says plainly where the published pages stop. Registration comes first, in Long Beach Buys: How to Register as a City Vendor; the wider picture is in the pillar, Selling to the City of Long Beach and the Port. Everything below is as of October 2026.

The short answer

If you are… Do this
Quoting a job under $40,000 Expect an informal process; the city “selects vendor who submits the best value quote”4
Bidding goods on an ITB Price decides among responsible bidders; a local bidder gets 10 percent, up to $50,000, per the city’s page4
Answering an RFP Scored on best value; local businesses add 5 or 10 points per the city’s page4
Bidding public works Read the notice for a mandatory pre-bid conference or site visit27
Wanting to protest an RFP award Per the city’s RFP template, a written protest within 5 business days of the electronic notice of intent to award14
Holding an award Wait for a purchase order before work and invoicing16
Steps diagram of a City of Long Beach award: the solicitation is posted, a pre-bid conference may be required, bids or proposals are due, the notice of intent to award is posted at least 10 business days before award, protests are due within 5 business days, Council order or City Manager approval follows, and a purchase order must exist before work.
From solicitation to purchase order on a City of Long Beach award. Protest timing is from the city's RFP template; sealed construction bids may differ. As of October 2026.

Which rules apply

Long Beach is a charter city and “is exempt from and is not subject to the State Contract Act”; for public works the notice and dollar trigger follow the Charter and code2. Charter Article XVIII says no contract binds the city unless it is “made in writing, by order of the City Council, and signed by the City Manager” with the City Attorney approving its form (section 1800)1. Contracts go to “the lowest responsible bidder whose bid is in regular form” after one newspaper notice that must state “the amount of bonds required of the successful bidder” and the hour of opening (section 1801)1. Bids are opened publicly, and the City Manager may “accept the lowest regular responsible bid, or reject all bids” (section 1804)1.

The dollar tiers

Dollar level What the sources say Source
Under $40,000 Small-dollar purchases, “handled through an informal procurement process where the City selects vendor who submits the best value quote”; raised “from $25,000 to $40,000” on October 7, 2024 45
Up to $100,000 The Purchasing Agent may issue a purchase order without advertising; the code allows up to $500,000 for homeland-security grants and Long Beach Recovery Act money 3
$100,000 to $200,000 (non-grant) A purchase order is allowed “if the award is based on an Invitation to Bid (ITB) or a Request for Proposal (RFP) process, which results in at least three (3) bids or proposals” 3
Above that The Charter route: a newspaper notice, award to the lowest responsible bidder, an order of the City Council; Long Beach Utilities tells vendors to watch for “formal ITBs and RFPs over $200,000” 16

Good to know The pages read do not publish Council-approval tiers above $200,000 or reconcile the $40,000 small-dollar limit with the code’s $100,000 no-advertising authority. Bid bond and performance bond percentages are not on any page read either.

The local preference

The city’s program page and the October 7, 2024 press release45:

Procurement Preference on the city’s page
RFP 5 percentage points added to the overall score for home-based businesses; 10 for retail or commercial (non-residential) businesses
ITB for goods 10 percent, up to $50,000
Small-dollar purchase 10 percent against other quotes

To qualify, a business needs “a current, valid business license from the City of Long Beach showing a place of business within the city limits” and, if applicable, a current seller’s permit showing a place of business within the city limits. The preference is not usable “in Tidelands Areas and when some grants are involved”4.

Official pages disagree The city’s program page lists RFP points and a small-dollar preference4. The code text of section 2.84.030, last amended in 2023, reduces a bid by “ten percent (10%)”, never more than “fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) for any bid”, covers “materials, equipment, supplies and nonprofessional services”, and “shall not apply to … bids for public works” as defined in Labor Code section 1720(a) or to bids funded by Tidelands, grant or State money3. Charter section 1803 is limited to the same categories1. Read the page as the city’s program summary and the code as the narrower legal text; for a public-works bid, plan on no preference.

Pre-bid meetings

For public works, “the City will identify the date, time and location of a mandatory prebid conference or site visit in the notice inviting bids”, at the city’s “sole discretion” (section 2.86.030)2. Bid PW-26-787, the R-7280 Pacific Avenue Corridor Improvement Project, opens 10/05/2026 at 12:00 PM and states: “Mandatory pre-bid conference will be held on September 16, 2026, at 3:00 pm via Microsoft Teams … Failure to attend will result in rejection of your bid.”7 An RFP released June 16, 2025 had a non-mandatory pre-bid conference on June 24, 20258.

Where a small-business goal applies, the city’s instructions “strongly encouraged” attending the pre-bid meeting, and a bidder gets full credit for that good-faith-effort criterion if none was held9. A bidder that fails the small-business goal “may forfeit its bidder’s bond”913.

Bonds

The Charter requires the notice to state the bond amounts1. The code says “the City may deposit the bidder’s security in the general fund” (section 2.86.080)2. The bid bond percentage is not stated on any page read.

A Parks, Recreation and Marine text, reproduced on the city’s Compliance page, says: “If the total bid price for the work required herein is greater than $25,000 the bidder shall provide a labor and material bond”, in “100% of the contract amount”, submitted “within ten (10) days of Notice of Award”11. That is project-specific text, an example and not a citywide rule. Administrative Regulation 8-27 requires a payment bond and a performance bond before a contract is executed12; the details are in Insurance and Bonds for City of Long Beach Contracts. The city says the U.S. Small Business Administration “can guarantee bonds for contracts up to $2million” for small contractors without commercial surety4.

Subcontractors, responsibility and rejected bids

A general contractor’s public-works bid must name each subcontractor worth more than “one-half of one percent (0.5%) of the general contractor’s total bid” (section 2.87.020)10. Before the city calls a bidder nonresponsible it holds a hearing with “At least fourteen (14) days” of written notice (section 2.93.060)15. The city may “reject all bids”, rebid, phase the work or split it (section 2.86.090)2.

Protests

The city’s RFP template (v8.12.22, a sample from its Smart City challenge) states the process for RFPs14:

  • “Only a Proposer who has actually submitted a proposal is eligible to protest.”
  • “The City will post a notice of the intent to award a contract at least ten (10) business days before an award is made.”
  • A protest “must” be filed “within five (5) business days of the electronic notification of intent to award”, in writing, signed, addressed to the City Purchasing Agent, with “a complete and detailed statement of the grounds”.
  • The Purchasing Agent or designee responds within five business days, and “This decision shall be final.”; a missed deadline is a waiver of further protest.

This is an RFP template; the protest process for sealed construction bids is not published on any page read and may differ. The small-business ordinance adds a separate step, an “Administrative Reconsideration” of a bid deemed nonresponsive, “requested within three business days”13.

Award and getting paid

The template states that a contract “shall not be effective unless and until approved by the City Council / City Manager, as applicable”14. After that, the Vendor Onboarding page is blunt: “A contract does not guarantee payment. You must get a Purchase Order (PO) before you start work. The City cannot pay you without a PO.” Invoices carry the PO number; delays come from a missing PO, wrong details or an invoice sent “to the wrong person or department”, and accounts payable is [email protected]16. The one payment term read, “within 30 calendar days of being billed”, sits in a pilot-contract paragraph of the RFP template and is not a citywide rule14.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the City of Long Beach's small-dollar purchase limit?

Under $40,000, handled by informal quotes; it was raised from $25,000 on October 7, 202445.

Does Long Beach give local businesses a bid preference?

The city’s page lists 10 percent on ITBs up to $50,000, 5 or 10 points on RFPs and 10 percent against other quotes, with a city business license and local place of business required; the code’s text is narrower and excludes public works34.

Do I have to attend the pre-bid meeting?

Only if the notice makes it mandatory; one live public-works bid says failure to attend results in rejection of the bid27.

How do I protest an award?

For RFPs, the city’s template requires a written protest within five business days of the electronic notice of intent to award; the process for sealed construction bids is not published14.

Does winning a contract guarantee payment?

No. The city says a purchase order must exist before work starts and that it cannot pay without one16.

Sources

  1. City Charter, Article XVIII Contracts — Municode. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  2. Long Beach Municipal Code, Chapter 2.86 Public Contracts — Municode. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  3. Long Beach Municipal Code, Chapter 2.84 Contracts — Municode. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  4. Local and Small Business Assistance — City of Long Beach, Purchasing Division. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  5. City Expands Local Preference Program for Procurements (October 7, 2024) — City of Long Beach. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  6. Long Beach Utilities Purchasing — Long Beach Utilities. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  7. Bid PW-26-787, R-7280 Pacific Avenue Corridor Improvement Project — City of Long Beach (Long Beach Buys). Accessed 2026-10-02.
  8. Solicitation UD-25-260, CMS RFP for Water Main Improvements at Long Beach Airport South — City of Long Beach (Long Beach Buys). Accessed 2026-10-02.
  9. LBSBE Program Participation Instructions (Rev. May 2022, PDF) — City of Long Beach. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  10. Long Beach Municipal Code, Chapter 2.87 Public Works Contracts and Wages — Municode. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  11. Compliance — City of Long Beach, Purchasing Division. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  12. Administrative Regulation 8-27, Minimum Insurance Requirements (revised March 2024, PDF) — City of Long Beach, Human Resources. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  13. Ordinance ORD-11-0010 and Exhibit A, Small Business Enterprise Program (PDF) — City of Long Beach. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  14. City RFP template v8.12.22 (PDF) — City of Long Beach. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  15. Long Beach Municipal Code, Chapter 2.93 Conduct of Hearings — Municode. Accessed 2026-10-02.
  16. The Vendor Onboarding Experience — City of Long Beach, Purchasing Division. Accessed 2026-10-02.