The Bid Crossing service gives contractors access to up-to-date information on bids and RFPs tailored to a three-state territory.

You know that every thread that could potentially lead to you putting a rig on a jobsite is important. You pull each string, hoping that it leads to something substantial on the other end.

But, what if there’s a better way? Here at National Driller, we think there is.

In October, we rolled out a new service for contractors. It’s called Bid Crossing.

What Is Bid Crossing?

At its most basic level, Bid Crossing is more strings for contractors to pull on. Those strings lead to government requests for proposals and invitations to bid. We do all the work gathering details. We collect information about each job, who to contact and what requirements get you considered. We provide access to original bid documents. We offer all this information by keyword search.

All you have to do is sign up and create searches for the kinds of work you do. And, here’s the best part: Once your account is created and you set up your searches, we send actionable information to your inbox.

Instead of going out and finding all the business that keeps you and your crews busy, you can have some of it find you for a change.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

What’s the Catch?

Glad you asked. There’s a subscription fee. It’s $500 per year. I won’t lie: It sounds pricey. But, consider a few things:

• Just one successful government contract can mean thousands, potentially tens of thousands, in revenue for your company.
• The subscription cost breaks down to $1.37 a day. At the risk of veering into infomercial territory, that’s about the price of a cup of coffee at most places nowadays.

If I dug around the seats of my car, I bet I could find $1.37. Probably a couple empty Starbucks cups, too.

So, How Do I Sign Up?

Glad you asked about that, too. Visit www.thedriller.com/bidcrossing. Click Subscribe. Put an annual subscription in your cart and check out. You’ll be asked to create a Bid Crossing account and pick three states (your home state and two bordering ones).

That’s pretty much it. After you’re in, look around. Create a search and scroll down the list. After you create a search, a digest will pop up in your inbox daily.

Another day, another set of strings to pull. That’s Bid Crossing at its simplest. At a higher, more complex level, it’s business intelligence. Knowing about potential work as quickly as governments — federal, state and local — can publish it has a lot of value. It gives you an edge. It might even give you bragging rights. Knowing about the strings to pull before your competitor does will tie him in knots.

Give it a try. Let me know what you think. As always, if you have any questions, gripes or kudos, send me a message at verduscoj@bnpmedia.com.

Stay safe out there, drillers.