Turn COMMBUYS into an API

What you can build on COMMBUYS

• Find open bid solicitations

  Build this

  Searches Bid Solicitations in Advanced Search by keyword, organization and Bid Opening Date, and reads the results table.

  Takes

  Keyword, organization (optional), opening date from and to (optional)

  Returns

  Bid Solicitation number, organization, buyer, description, bid opening date, status, alternate ID

• Get purchase orders to acknowledge

  Build this

  Reads the Purchase Orders / Change Orders (Un-Acknowledged) section of the PO tab and the Summary tab of each purchase order listed there.

  Takes

  Nothing

  Returns

  Purchase order number, change order or new, organization, items ordered, ship-to address

• List your quotes by status

  Build this

  Opens Documents, chooses Quotes and reads one list: Formal Quotes Working, Submitted, Withdrawn or Unsubmitted, or Active Informal Quotes.

  Takes

  Quote list, such as Formal Quotes Working

  Returns

  Quote number, Bid Solicitation number, description, status, bid opening date

• Acknowledge a purchase order

  Build this

  Opens a purchase order from the PO tab, checks the Purchase Order and Purchase Order Receipt boxes and selects Proceed, which emails the buyer.

  Takes

  Purchase order number

  Returns

  Purchase order number, acknowledged, organization

Automate COMMBUYS with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

• New bid solicitations for your keywords

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 7:00

  Step 1

  For each keyword you name, find the open bid solicitations.

  Step 2

  Keep the bids that were not there on the last run.

  Step 3

  Email you the list with organization, description and bid opening date.

• Purchase orders and change orders still to acknowledge

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 8:00

  Step 1

  Get the purchase orders in the Un-Acknowledged section of the PO tab.

  Step 2

  Stop when there are none.

  Step 3

  Post each one, marked new or change order, to your ERP or Slack webhook.

• Working quotes due in the next 7 days

  Build this

  Starts

  Every Monday at 8:00

  Step 1

  List your quotes in Formal Quotes Working.

  Step 2

  Keep the ones whose bid opening date, the deadline for responses, falls in the next 7 days.

  Step 3

  Email you the list, soonest bid opening date first.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Find open bid solicitations” would look like.

curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "www.commbuys.com/find_open_bid_solicitations",
    "input": {
      "keyword": "HVAC",
      "opening_date_from": "2026-11-12",
      "opening_date_to": "2026-12-31"
    }
  }'

{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "bids": [
      {
        "bid_solicitation_number": "BD-27-1000-ACME1-ACME1-100001",
        "organization": "Town of Acme",
        "buyer": "Procurement Office",
        "description": "HVAC Preventive Maintenance, Town Hall and Library",
        "bid_opening_date": "2026-12-04T14:00:00-05:00",
        "status": "Sent",
        "alternate_id": "IFB-27-014"
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

COMMBUYS’s own options

The Operational Services Division's vendor guides describe COMMBUYS as a site you use in the browser, and they document no API or data feed for vendors. A vendor profile is free. Bid notices arrive by email for the UNSPSC codes you pick, and a quote's items can be exported and uploaded as a CSV file.

Read on November 12, 2026: COMMBUYS Vendor Registration, Job Aids for Vendors Using COMMBUYS, QRG: Using the Items Export and Upload Tool.

Signing in to COMMBUYS

COMMBUYS signs you in with a Login ID and a password. You change the password at your first sign-in and then every 60 days. With Fous you sign in once through COMMBUYS's own sign-in with your own account: the login is sealed with AES-256, never returned by the API, and an expired session is signed back in.

Worth knowing

The Seller role decides who can act

Only users with the Seller role can acknowledge a purchase order. The Seller Administrator manages the vendor profile and can give the Seller role to other staff.

A change order means a second acknowledgement

Change orders appear in the same Un-Acknowledged section of the PO tab. After you acknowledge one, the buyer sends a revised purchase order, which has to be acknowledged too.

Acknowledge a bid to get its amendments

Opening a bid asks whether to acknowledge receipt. If you choose No, you get no notices of updates or amendments to that bid.

The Bid Opening Date is the deadline

Responses are due by the Bid Opening Date. Until then a submitted quote can be withdrawn from its Summary tab, reopened, changed and submitted again.

More in Government: US state and local procurement

• PASSPort
• AASHTOWare Project Civil Rights & Labor
• BidNet Direct
• Bonfire
• OpenGov Procurement
• PlanetBids
• Cal eProcure
• eVA
• MyFloridaMarketPlace Vendor Information Portal
• NC eProcurement
• SFS Vendor Portal

Other industries: LaTAP, EAMS (Washington ESD), Würth Online-Shop, Workday VNDLY, AAH Hub, HealthCare.gov for agents and brokers.