# Illinois BidBuy Solicitations Scraper (`talcoe/illinois-bidbuy`) Actor

Search Illinois state bid solicitations on BidBuy by keyword, agency, category, status and opening date, with buyer, NIGP codes, contact and award status, priced per result.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/talcoe/illinois-bidbuy.md
- **Developed by:** [M Usama](https://apify.com/talcoe) (community)
- **Categories:** Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

### What does Illinois BidBuy Solicitations Scraper do?

It returns solicitations from BidBuy, the State of Illinois procurement portal: bid number, title, agency, buyer, bid opening (due) date, lifecycle status and awarded vendor or award note. You can filter by keyword, agency, portal category, status and opening date window, so runs stay small and you only pay for the records you want. Pricing is per result.

### Data source

The public BidBuy "Open Bids" and advanced bid search at bidbuy.illinois.gov, read live on every run, no login needed.

### Why use it?

- Lead generation: find fresh state buying opportunities by keyword or agency before competitors do.
- Monitoring: schedule a daily run and push new bids to Slack, Google Sheets or a webhook.
- Market research: see who buys what, which agencies run the most solicitations, and who wins awards (status "Awarded" shows the vendor).
- It replaces manual searching of the portal and copying rows into a spreadsheet.

### How to use it

1. Open the Actor and set the filters.
2. Click Start. Download results as JSON, CSV or Excel, or read them through the API.
3. Add a Schedule and an Integration (Slack, Google Sheets, webhook) to get new records automatically.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `keywords` | Words to find in the solicitation description. One search runs per keyword and results are merged. Empty means no keyword filter. |
| `status` | `open` (default, the portal's Open Bids list), `sent`, `opened`, `evaluated`, `approved`, `intentToAward`, `awarded` (bid to PO) or `closed`. |
| `organization` | Agency code or name, for example `SOS`, `CMS`, `DOT` or `Toll Highway`. |
| `category` | Part of a portal category name, for example `Computers` or `Construction`. |
| `openingDateFrom`, `openingDateTo` | Bid opening date window, `YYYY-MM-DD` or `MM/DD/YYYY`. |
| `includeDetails` | Also open each solicitation page for the full description, NIGP codes, contact, set aside flags and attachment names. Off by default, see Limitations. |
| `maxResults` | Hard stop for the run. You are billed per result, so this caps the cost. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | Apify proxy is recommended for larger runs. |

Example input:

```json
{
    "keywords": ["software"],
    "status": "awarded",
    "organization": "CMS",
    "openingDateFrom": "2026-01-01",
    "maxResults": 50
}
```

### Output

Every record has the same shape (detail fields are `null` or empty unless `includeDetails` is on and the portal serves the page):

```json
{
    "id": "27-448DOIT-TELEC-B-54598",
    "bidNumber": "27-448DOIT-TELEC-B-54598",
    "title": "CHANGE ORDER NOTICE Metro Ethernet DOC Redundant",
    "organization": "DoIT - Department of Innovation and Technology",
    "status": "Evaluated",
    "openingDate": "2026-11-03T14:00:00",
    "buyer": "Leigh Ann Henline",
    "awardedVendors": "Award in Process",
    "url": "https://www.bidbuy.illinois.gov/bso/external/bidDetail.sda?docId=27-448DOIT-TELEC-B-54598&external=true&parentUrl=close",
    "typeCode": null,
    "nigpCodes": [],
    "description": null,
    "contactEmail": null,
    "attachments": [],
    "blanketNumber": null,
    "alternateId": null,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-21T08:51:31.657Z"
}
```

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `id`, `bidNumber` | Stable BidBuy solicitation number, safe for deduplication between runs |
| `title` | Solicitation description from the list |
| `organization` | Issuing agency |
| `status` | Portal status: Sent, Opened, Evaluated, Approved, Closed, Bid to PO and so on |
| `openingDate` | Bid opening (due) date and time in Illinois local time, ISO format without a zone |
| `buyer` | Purchaser named on the solicitation |
| `awardedVendors` | Awarded vendor, or the award note shown by the portal |
| `url` | Public solicitation page |
| `publishedDate`, `department`, `location`, `typeCode`, `bidType`, `purchaseMethod`, `fiscalYear`, `nigpCodes`, `description`, `contactEmail`, `smallBusinessSetAside`, `bepGoalPercent`, `vbpGoalPercent`, `preBidConference`, `attachments` | Detail page fields, filled when `includeDetails` is on |
| `blanketNumber`, `alternateId` | Blanket contract number and agency reference number when present |

### Pricing

Pay per event: a small fee when a run starts, then a fixed price per result returned. You only pay for records that pass your filters. Set `maxResults` to cap any run.

### Limitations

- BidBuy protects solicitation detail pages with a bot challenge that it applies at its own discretion. The Actor does not try to get past it. If a detail page is challenged, the run logs a warning and returns list data for the remaining records. For reliable detail data, run small batches with a residential proxy or leave `includeDetails` off.
- The portal list does not include the category of each bid. Use `category` as a filter.
- Awarded vendor shows what the portal publishes, which for some bids is a status note such as "Award in Process".
- Dates are Illinois local time as published, with no time zone attached.

### FAQ

**Is this legal?** The Actor reads listings the site publishes for any visitor without a login and stores only business information published for that purpose. You are responsible for how you use the data.

**Something is missing or broken?** Open an issue in the Issues tab; response time is usually under a day.

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Search the solicitation description. One search runs per keyword and results are merged. Leave empty to return everything that matches the other filters.

## `status` (type: `string`):

Which solicitations to return. Open is the portal's current Open Bids list. The other values search the full history by lifecycle status.

## `organization` (type: `string`):

Agency code or name, for example SOS, DOT, CMS or Toll Highway. Leave empty for all agencies.

## `category` (type: `string`):

Part of a portal category name, for example Computers, Construction or Medical. Leave empty for all categories.

## `openingDateFrom` (type: `string`):

Earliest bid opening date, YYYY-MM-DD or MM/DD/YYYY.

## `openingDateTo` (type: `string`):

Latest bid opening date, YYYY-MM-DD or MM/DD/YYYY.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Also open each solicitation page for the full description, NIGP codes, contact, set aside flags and attachment names. BidBuy sometimes answers these pages with a bot challenge; when that happens the run keeps the list data and says so in the log. Slower, off by default.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Hard stop for the run. You are billed per result, so this caps the cost.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify proxy is recommended for larger runs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [],
  "status": "open",
  "organization": "",
  "category": "",
  "openingDateFrom": "",
  "openingDateTo": "",
  "includeDetails": false,
  "maxResults": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "keywords": [],
    "status": "open",
    "organization": "",
    "category": "",
    "openingDateFrom": "",
    "openingDateTo": "",
    "includeDetails": false,
    "maxResults": 50,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("talcoe/illinois-bidbuy").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "keywords": [],
    "status": "open",
    "organization": "",
    "category": "",
    "openingDateFrom": "",
    "openingDateTo": "",
    "includeDetails": False,
    "maxResults": 50,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("talcoe/illinois-bidbuy").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "keywords": [],
  "status": "open",
  "organization": "",
  "category": "",
  "openingDateFrom": "",
  "openingDateTo": "",
  "includeDetails": false,
  "maxResults": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call talcoe/illinois-bidbuy --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,talcoe/illinois-bidbuy"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/buUyL8lBtmbJHfzEc/builds/b7oSU2Lrge2AaKukX/openapi.json