Colorado & Maine State Bids Scraper (RFPs, IFBs, RFQs)

Published by Civitab. Apify Store ID: civitab/cgi-vss-solicitations.

Get open state government solicitations from Colorado and Maine as clean, structured records. Both states publish their bids on CGI Advantage "Vendor Self Service" (VSS) portals: ColoradoVSS and Maine VSS. This Actor reads the portals' anonymous Public Access list, the same view a browser shows to anyone, and returns one tidy record per solicitation. No login, no account and no browser are needed.

What does it do?

• Reads the published solicitations list of each selected state portal, 100 rows per request.
• Returns, for each solicitation: solicitation number, title, department, solicitation type and document code, commodity category (when set), status, and the closing, published, amended, intent-to-award and public bid-opening dates. The closing date is given both in UTC and in the state's local time.
• Supports all 7 portal lists: Open (default), All published, Closing soon, Recently published, Recent amendments, Recent intents to award and Recent awards.
• Filters by keywords, departments and document codes (e.g. RFP, IFB1, DQ1, RFI, RFQ).
• Skips non-bid notices by default. Public notices you can't bid on (in Colorado, Notices of Contractor Settlement NCS1 and Sole Source notices NPSS1) are left out unless you turn on includeNotices. If you do, they are added free of charge and flagged isBidOpportunity: false.
• Credits the source on every record (source), and adds the State of Colorado's data notice (dataNotice) to Colorado records.
• Removes buyer personal data. The portal grid includes the buyer's name, e-mail, phone and fax; these are dropped before saving, and any e-mail address or phone number in free text is redacted.

Why use it?

• Two state portals in one schema. Colorado and Maine use the same CGI software but separate sites. You get one consistent dataset for both.
• No manual paging. The portals show 20 rows at a time in an interactive grid. The Actor pages through the full list for you.
• Ready for automation. Run it on a schedule with the Recently published or Closing soon list and send results to a spreadsheet, Slack or e-mail.
• Polite and resilient. Plain HTTPS requests with an identified User-Agent, at least 1 s apart, with exponential backoff and support for the portal's Retry-After header (up to 120 s). If the portal session breaks, the Actor rebuilds it and continues without creating duplicates. One state failing does not stop the other.

Use cases

• Bid alerts: a daily list of newly published Colorado and Maine solicitations matching your keywords.
• Deadline tracking: the Closing soon list with local closing times, for your bid calendar.
• Competitive intelligence: the Recent intents to award and Recent awards lists show which solicitations have reached the award stage.
• Pipeline building for consultants who track state opportunities for several clients.
• Research: export the All published list for analysis of state purchasing by department, type and category.

Who is it for?

• Bid hunters who watch state portals every day.
• Contractors and vendors (construction, IT, professional services, supplies) selling to Colorado or Maine state agencies and institutions.
• Govcon consultants managing opportunity pipelines for clients.
• Market researchers studying state procurement activity.

How to use it

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console and go to the Input tab.
2. Pick the States: Colorado, Maine or both (default: both). States are processed in the order listed.
3. Pick a List: Open (default), All published, Closing soon, Recently published, Recent amendments, Recent intents to award or Recent awards.
4. Optionally add Keywords (matched against title, type and category), Departments (substring match, e.g. Transportation, CDPHE) and Solicitation document codes (e.g. RFP, IFB1).
5. Set Max solicitations to cap the number of results (and the cost) per run.
6. Click Start. Results appear in the Output tab.
7. To open a bid on the portal, go to portalUrl, choose View Published Solicitations (Public Access) and search for the solicitationNumber (instructions are in each record's howToOpen field).
8. For alerts, add a Schedule (e.g. every weekday morning) using the Recently published list.

Input example

Colorado roofing and HVAC invitations for bid and RFPs from the Open list:

{
  "states": ["CO"],
  "listType": "open",
  "keywords": ["roof", "hvac"],
  "documentCodes": ["IFB1", "RFP"],
  "maxItems": 200
}

Daily check of newly published solicitations in both states:

{
  "states": ["CO", "ME"],
  "listType": "recentlyPublished",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Input fields

Field	Type	Default	Description
states	array	["CO","ME"]	CO = ColoradoVSS, ME = Maine VSS.
listType	string	open	open, all, closingSoon, recentlyPublished, recentAmendments, recentIntents, recentAwards.
keywords	array	[]	Keep solicitations whose title, type or category contains ANY of these (case-insensitive).
departments	array	–	Keep only departments whose name contains any of these.
documentCodes	array	–	Keep only these document codes, e.g. RFP, IFB1, DQ1, RFI, RFQ.
maxItems	integer	200	Overall cap across all states (1-10,000). Caps cost.
requestDelaySecs	number	1.0	Delay between requests (1-10 s).
includeNotices	boolean	false	Also save non-bid public notices (e.g. Colorado NCS1, NPSS1). They are free of charge and have isBidOpportunity: false.

Output example

Real records (scraped 22-23 Oct 2026 UTC). The Colorado record comes from a live run; the Maine record from a saved portal response captured the same day. The source, dataNotice and isBidOpportunity values are shown as the current version of the Actor produces them (the Maine record's scrapedAt is omitted).

[
  {
    "state": "CO",
    "portal": "Colorado (ColoradoVSS)",
    "solicitationNumber": "RFP-UHAA-2026000258-4",
    "title": "To procure HCBS and Quality and Member Experience Monitoring",
    "department": "HCPF - Executive Director's Office",
    "solicitationType": "Request for Proposals (RFP)",
    "documentCode": "RFP",
    "departmentCode": "UHAA",
    "documentId": "2026000258",
    "version": 4,
    "categoryCode": "21",
    "category": "Personal Svcs",
    "statusCode": "M",
    "status": "Amended",
    "closingDate": "2026-10-23T21:00:00Z",
    "closingDateLocal": "2026-10-23T15:00:00-06:00",
    "publishedDate": "2026-10-16T06:00:00Z",
    "amendedDate": "2026-10-16T06:00:00Z",
    "intentPostedDate": null,
    "publicBidOpeningDate": null,
    "portalUrl": "https://prd.co.cgiadvantage.com/PRDVSS1X1/Advantage4",
    "howToOpen": "Open portalUrl > View Published Solicitations (Public Access) > search the solicitationNumber",
    "source": "Source: State of Colorado, modified",
    "dataNotice": "The data made available here has been modified for use from its original source, which is the State of Colorado",
    "isBidOpportunity": true,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-23T02:24:34Z"
  },
  {
    "state": "ME",
    "portal": "Maine (Maine VSS)",
    "solicitationNumber": "RFP-26A-202608137-2",
    "title": "AFTER HOURS TELEPHONE ANSWERING AND COVERAGE SERVICE",
    "department": "ATTORNEY GENERAL",
    "solicitationType": "RFP - Request for Proposals (RFP)",
    "documentCode": "RFP",
    "departmentCode": "26A",
    "documentId": "202608137",
    "version": 2,
    "categoryCode": null,
    "category": null,
    "statusCode": "M",
    "status": "Amended",
    "closingDate": "2026-10-23T20:00:00Z",
    "closingDateLocal": "2026-10-23T16:00:00-04:00",
    "publishedDate": "2026-10-16T04:00:00Z",
    "amendedDate": "2026-10-16T04:00:00Z",
    "intentPostedDate": null,
    "publicBidOpeningDate": null,
    "portalUrl": "https://mevss.hostams.com/PRDVSS1X1/Advantage4",
    "howToOpen": "Open portalUrl > View Published Solicitations (Public Access) > search the solicitationNumber",
    "source": "Source: State of Maine, modified",
    "dataNotice": null,
    "isBidOpportunity": true
  }
]

Each run also writes an OUTPUT record to the run's key-value store with items per state, the list used, the stop reason, filtered-out count, non-bid notices skipped or saved free, whether the run fee was charged, requests, request success %, session restarts, HTTP status counts and the amount charged.

Output fields

Field	Type	Description
state	string	CO or ME.
portal	string	Portal name, e.g. Colorado (ColoradoVSS).
solicitationNumber	string	Solicitation number as shown on the portal, e.g. RFP-UHAA-2026000258-4. Search for this on the portal.
title	string | null	Solicitation title / description.
department	string | null	Issuing department or institution.
solicitationType	string | null	Type label, e.g. Request for Proposals (RFP), Documented Quote (DQ1).
documentCode	string | null	Document code, e.g. RFP, IFB1, DQ1, RFI, RFQ.
departmentCode	string | null	Department code from the document reference.
documentId	string | null	Document ID from the document reference.
version	integer | null	Document version (increases with amendments).
categoryCode / category	string | null	Commodity category code and label, when the buyer set one.
statusCode / status	string | null	Status code and label, e.g. O Open, M Amended.
closingDate	string | null	Closing date and time in UTC.
closingDateLocal	string | null	Closing date and time in the state's local time zone (America/Denver or America/New_York).
publishedDate	string | null	Published date (UTC).
amendedDate	string | null	Last amendment date (UTC), if amended.
intentPostedDate	string | null	Date an intent to award was posted (UTC), if any.
publicBidOpeningDate	string | null	Public bid opening date (UTC), if any.
portalUrl	string	The state's VSS portal address.
howToOpen	string	How to find the solicitation on the portal.
source	string	Source credit: Source: State of Colorado, modified or Source: State of Maine, modified.
dataNotice	string | null	The State of Colorado's data notice on Colorado records; null for Maine.
isBidOpportunity	boolean	true for solicitations you can respond to; false for public notices (only saved when includeNotices is on).
scrapedAt	string	When the record was produced (UTC).

Pricing

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing:

Event	When it is charged	Price
solicitation	Each solicitation saved to your dataset	$0.006
run-start	Once per run, when a portal first returns data	$0.01

The run fee is charged only after a portal returns its first row, so a run where every portal fails or returns nothing costs nothing (apart from Apify's standard synthetic "Actor start" event, $0.00005 per run). Solicitations removed by your filters are not charged, and non-bid notices are never charged. maxItems and Apify's Max cost per run cap your spend, and the Actor stops cleanly when the budget is reached.

Worked examples:

What you run	Solicitations	Cost
Daily Recently published check returning 5 items	5	$0.01 + 5 × $0.006 = $0.04
Full Open list, both states (22 Oct 2026: 80 rows, of which 16 Colorado notices were skipped free)	64	$0.01 + $0.384 = $0.39
Default maxItems fully used	200	$0.01 + $1.20 = $1.21
1,000 solicitations from the All published list	1,000	$0.01 + $6.00 = $6.01

A weekday alert that returns about 5 new solicitations per run costs about $0.88 per month (22 runs × $0.04).

Integrations and export

Like any Apify Actor, you can:

• Export results as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML.
• Use the Apify API to start runs and fetch results from your own systems.
• Schedule runs in Apify Console (e.g. every weekday at 07:00 Mountain Time).
• Trigger webhooks when a run finishes, and send results to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make and other Apify integrations.

Limitations and data source notes

• Two states only. Colorado and Maine are supported. Other states that run CGI Advantage VSS were reviewed and excluded: Michigan (SIGMA VSS banner restricts use to authorized government users), West Virginia (wvOASIS terms restrict data to individual use and prohibit resale without a contract) and Alabama (the legacy portal shows only past opportunities). Asking for these states returns an explanatory error.
• Metadata only. The Actor does not download solicitation documents or attachments. Use it to triage, then open the bid on the portal.
• No deep links. The portals don't offer stable public links to individual solicitations, so each record gives the portal URL and the solicitation number to search for.
• Notice detection is rule-based. A record counts as a non-bid notice when its document code is a known notice code (NCS1, NPSS1, NPSS, NCS, NOA, NOI) or its type label says "Notice of", "Sole Source" or "Intent to Award Notice". To keep only specific types, also use documentCodes (e.g. ["RFP", "IFB1", "DQ1", "RFQ", "RFI"]).
• Category is often empty. Buyers don't always set a commodity category: 29 of the 80 open items had one on 22 Oct 2026, and none of the Maine items sampled that day did.
• Keyword search covers title, type and category only (the list view has no long description).
• Caps. maxItems is an overall cap across states, applied in the order you list them. Each state list is read up to 10,000 rows per run.
• Run fee. The $0.01 run-start charge applies once a portal returns data, even if your filters then match no solicitations.

Data source & attribution

Source: State of Colorado / State of Maine, modified

The data made available here has been modified for use from its original source, which is the State of Colorado.

This Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by the State of Colorado or the State of Maine.

The data is read from the ColoradoVSS and Maine VSS portals (the portalUrl field in every record). Every record also carries its own state's credit in source, and Colorado records carry the notice above in dataNotice.

Legal and data note

• The data comes from the states' official procurement portals, ColoradoVSS and Maine VSS (see portalUrl in each record). Both states direct the public and vendors to browse solicitations through the portals' Public Access view without registering. The Actor uses only that public view and does not bypass any login, CAPTCHA or access control.
• At the time of review (22 Oct 2026) neither portal's robots.txt restricted crawling (both returned 404) and neither portal displayed terms of use. Check the states' own terms for your intended use.
• Reuse confirmation: Civitab has not received written confirmation from the Colorado State Purchasing Office or Maine's Division of Procurement Services that commercial reuse of the portal data is permitted. Civitab should confirm this with both offices; until then, treat reuse terms as unconfirmed and check them for your own use.
• Buyer names, e-mails, phone and fax numbers are removed. Only information about the solicitations themselves is returned.
• This Actor is not affiliated with CGI. It uses no state seals or logos. Always confirm details on the official portal before you bid.

FAQ

Which lists can I scrape? All seven "Show Me" lists on the portals' published-solicitations page: Open, All published, Closing soon, Recently published, Recent amendments, Recent intents to award and Recent awards.

Why only Colorado and Maine? Other states use the same software, but a portal is only included when anonymous public access is clearly intended and nothing forbids automated reuse. Michigan, West Virginia and Alabama were reviewed and excluded for the reasons listed under Limitations.

Can I open a solicitation straight from a link? Not directly; the portals don't support stable public deep links. Open portalUrl, choose View Published Solicitations (Public Access) and search for the solicitationNumber.

Does it download bid documents? No. It returns solicitation metadata so you can triage quickly, then download the documents on the portal.

How fresh is the data? Live: every run reads the portals at that moment.

What do the document codes mean? They are the states' own codes, shown with a label in solicitationType. Examples from the data: RFP (Request for Proposals), IFB1 (Invitation for Bid), DQ1 (Documented Quote), RFI (Request for Information), RFQ (Request for Quote), NPSS1 (Sole Source notice), NCS1 (Notice of Contractor Settlement), and in Maine RFA and PQVL. NPSS1 and NCS1 are notices, not bids, so they are skipped unless includeNotices is on.

Why are closing dates shown twice? closingDate is UTC, for sorting and automation. closingDateLocal is the same moment in Colorado or Maine local time, which is what the solicitation documents use.

Why is category sometimes empty? The buyer didn't set a commodity category on the portal. It is left empty rather than guessed.

How do I keep costs predictable? Each run costs $0.01 (once a portal returns data) plus $0.006 per solicitation saved; non-bid notices are free. Set maxItems (for example, maxItems: 100 caps a run at $0.61) or Apify's "Max cost per run".