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How does Clackamas County select organizations and service providers?
Thank you for your interest in doing business with Clackamas County. Here, you will be able to review all available grant and contract opportunities with Clackamas County, RFPs and RFQs, and download the needed paperwork and instructions for submitting applications and proposals.
You will also be able to learn about our policies and procedures, and Oregon ethical standards Clackamas County adheres to in order to ensure fairness and unbiased evaluation during review of grants or proposals.
We encourage emerging — as well as women, minority, and veteran-owned — businesses to respond to our openings. We want to support you! County staff is always available to help or answer your questions. Our contact information is located on the screen and on our new webpage, along with comprehensive information. We look forward to working with you!
Getting Started: Procurement Basics
If you are new to the county procurement process, it may seem overwhelming to try to navigate different departments and find the correct procedures to follow.
Here you will find information and helpful links for new vendors to review before beginning a business relationship with us. The county enters into hundreds of contracts every year with a variety of suppliers. You will be able to learn how departments, partners and vendors collaborate to provide goods and services for our residents.
You likely have questions, and don’t want to make mistakes or provide us the wrong information. That’s why we have created a place on the County website that will lead you to answers you need!
How To Bid
The following resources will take you to current RFP/RFQ listings and provide step-by-step instructions on how to submit bids.
Helpful tips from our Procurement division.
Register with OregonBuys to locate current county, state and local RFP and bid projects.
Register with Bid Locker to submit your RFP/BID.
Grant Funded Awards
Some county departments offer grants through funding partnerships with state and federal entities or other agency dollars. A few county departments and offices that offer grants:
- County Administration
- Equity and Inclusion Office
- Health, Housing and Human Services
- Housing Authority of Clackamas County
- Clackamas County Development Agency
- Transportation and Development
- Juvenile
- Sheriff/Community Corrections
- Sustainability Office
- Water Environment Services
We use Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) to solicit applications for grant funding. The entity awarded the grant funds is called a subrecipient.
After each grant application deadline, the issuing department convenes a scoring committee to review all applications and make award decisions. Committees are selected based on several factors, including expertise in the applicable field, and must follow specific evaluation guidelines in order to ensure the most qualified applications are awarded grant monies.
Open Grant Opportunities
| closing date | |
Notice of Funding Opportunity for Youth Substance Use Prevention | 4/25/25 |
Notice of Funding Opportunity for Clackamas Parenting Together Small Grants | 5/9/25 |
| Extreme Weather and Smoke Hotel/Motel Shelter Grant | 3/31/25 or earlier depending on funding availability and program need. |
Tips for Submitting Proposals or Applying for a Grant
So, are you ready to do business with Clackamas County? Here are some tips for submitting a successful procurement submission or grant application:
Follow the instructions fully
Review the instructions of the solicitation document or grant application carefully to ensure you understand all the requirements for a complete response, and double check you have satisfied those requirements prior to submittal. Also, be sure to submit a response in the format requested (e.g., digital versus paper).
Be specific, but be clear
The response should not be so detailed that it includes elements not relevant to the project, but should give a complete picture of what you can do and your qualifications.
- Always respond in a timely manner
- Proofread your proposal for typos
- Send the proposal to the right point of contact
- Do not exceed applicable page limits. Many solicitations will limit the number of pages that may be submitted. Failure to follow this rule could result in your proposal being rejected
- Emphasize what makes you special and separates you from other individuals or organizations
- Do not assume that “the county knows me”
A procurement solicitation or grant NOFO will give you everything you need to include in your response. Typically, this will include most of the following:
- A summary describing the opportunity
- A scope of work and expected deliverables
- Contact information for questions
- Details about the selection and evaluation process
- Information for how you should respond
- For grants, the expected period of performance and a figure or range for individual award amounts and whether the award contains federal dollars may be needed.
Ethical Standards and State Law
County employees play an important role in preserving the integrity of government contracting and ensuring fair treatment of bidders, officers, and contractors. Our staff take this role very seriously and appreciate that a failure to treat public contracting in an unbiased and fair manner undermines the public’s confidence in Clackamas County’s processes and the Board’s commitment to transparency and Building Trust through Good Government.
This commitment is underscored by the our core values of Service, Professionalism, Integrity, Respect, Individual Accountability and Trust (SPIRIT), and these values guide all staff in their role in the contracting process.
Moreover, all county employees are subject to the Oregon Ethics Act (Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 244), which further imposes ethical obligations on how staff may do business on behalf of the county.
Lastly, all procurements are subject to the county’s procurement code of ethics and Local Contract Review Board rules.
These rules and obligations, whether under Oregon law or as a result of the county’s own policies and values, establish a framework to ensure the public contracting process is fair, impartial, and conducted in accordance with applicable law.