Where to find drywall & framing bids in Arkansas: plan rooms and bid sources
Short answer: Arkansas bids are spread across several places. State construction work is listed on the state's Bid, RFP & RFQ Opportunities page and the ARBuy eProcurement portal, cities like Little Rock and Fayetteville run their own portals, and a Little Rock plan room is named in state and university bid notices. Private work mostly arrives by invitation from general contractors. This page lists the sources we could confirm, with how each one describes its own access.
Neighboring states: Missouri · Kansas · Arkansas · Oklahoma
How public and private bids work in Arkansas
Public projects are advertised by the owner: a state agency, a city or county, a university or a school district. The bid notice, plans, specifications and addenda are normally posted on the owner's own site or plan room, and every project shows its bid date. ARDOT, for example, publishes a proposal holders list for each letting. Public notices often call for bid security, so read each notice for the exact terms.
Private projects are usually bid by invitation. A general contractor or owner decides who receives the documents, and the plans typically sit in a regional plan room, a bid service, or the GC's own portal. As a drywall, framing, insulation or CMU sub you usually price your scope to the GCs who are bidding, so being on the right planholder list matters.
Arkansas bid sources by type and region
Regions are listed where the source states one. Use the access column as a starting point, not a guarantee.
| Region / type | Source | What it carries | Access, as the site states it |
|---|---|---|---|
| State of Arkansas | ARBuy (state eProcurement) | State agency solicitations, with Open Bids links. The page says the state is moving to SAP Ariba in July 2026 and that ARBuy stays active for solicitations opened before the transition. | New supplier registration is offered and is needed to use the full system. Fees: not stated. |
| State of Arkansas | Current solicitations (other procurement units) | Solicitations from other procurement units that are not administered by the Office of State Procurement. | Page says questions and bid responses go to the originating agency. |
| State of Arkansas | Bid, RFP & RFQ Opportunities (construction) | State construction opportunities with bid date and time, status, project number, Bid Info advertisement links and Bid Results. The Division of Building Authority appears as an agency. | A Bid Announcement Sign Up link is offered. This page blocks some automated checks; it loaded in a page fetch. |
| Statewide (highway) | ARDOT construction contractor information | Highway and bridge lettings: Currently Advertised Projects, Addenda, Proposal Holders List, Bid Tabulations and Awards. Mostly heavy civil, rarely interior drywall or framing. | Access terms: not stated on the page. This page blocks some automated checks; it loaded in a page fetch. |
| Statewide (highway) | ARDOT 2026 letting schedule (PDF) | Eight 2026 lettings, the last on Nov. 4, 2026. | States plans and proposals are available four weeks before a letting and the Proposal Holders List is posted three times. |
| Little Rock | City of Little Rock: LRProcure (Bonfire) | City solicitations, including bids, proposals and qualifications. The city's procurement page says RFPs can cover goods, services and construction. | The city page says bids are accepted only through the portal and that registered vendors are notified when a solicitation matches their commodity codes. |
| Fayetteville | City of Fayetteville procurement portal | City solicitations, with Current, Closed, Awarded and Non Awarded bid lists. | Page says you register to get notified of new solicitations by commodity code. |
| Bentonville | City of Bentonville: Bid Postings | City bids for consultants, service providers, contractors, vendors and suppliers. It showed no open postings when we checked. | Text or email alerts for new bids are offered; plan access is not described. |
| Jonesboro | City of Jonesboro: Bid Postings | City bids, with filters including Open Bids, Bid Tabulations and Construction - Miscellaneous. | Text or email alerts for new bids are offered; plan access is not described. |
| Fort Smith area | Sebastian County: Bids & Proposals | County Bid Listings & Tabulations pages. | A Bid List Application is offered for companies that want to be considered for future bids, proposals or quotes. |
| University (Fayetteville) | University of Arkansas Campus Planning | Current and archived Requests for Qualifications. The page does not link to construction bid documents. | An RFQ listserv signup is offered. |
| National bid board | BidNet Direct: Arkansas bids | Aggregator of Arkansas government bids and RFPs. | Terms: not checked. |
| National bid board | ConstructConnect | Commercial project-lead and plan service whose project pages include Arkansas listings. | Account sign-up is offered; listings show whether documents are available. |
Not every Arkansas owner is in this table. The City of Fort Smith and City of Springdale bid pages, UAMS, UALR and UCA bid pages, Arkansas school-district bid pages, the Northwest Arkansas Planning Room (no current website found) and the Arkansas AGC site blocked our automated check or did not give us a confirmed bid page, so they are left out rather than guessed at. Check them directly if you bid for those owners. Bid notices for state and university work have named Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas plan rooms and described the design professional's set as the official one.
Tips for subs
- Register as a planholder through the official channel. That is how you receive addenda, and some owners publish planholder lists that GCs use to find subs. Where a portal offers alerts by category or commodity code, turn them on.
- Go to the pre-bid meeting when there is one. Whether a meeting exists, and whether attendance is mandatory, is stated project by project in the notice. Read how scope is split between trades while you are there.
- Track addenda until bid day. Wall types, ceiling heights and scope can change, so reprice from the final set and re-check the day before the bid is due.
- Get the official set. Bid notices commonly say which plan room or design professional holds the controlling documents. Plans from another source may be incomplete.
- Check plan quality before you commit. Open the PDF and try to select a line or text. If you can, it is a vector file that can be measured exactly. If the page behaves like one picture, it is a scan and will take longer by hand. Also confirm the wall type legend is on the set; see what happens when it is missing.
- Check bonding and licensing before you price. Public notices often call for bid security and proof of licensing. Read the notice for the exact form.
Once you have the plans
ReadMyBlueprint is takeoff software, not a bid board. It reads vector plan sets for drywall, metal framing, wood framing, insulation and CMU. In our Freeport Square test (21 pages), 68.9% of walls were auto-matched and 99.8% after one "Confirm all." That was one plan set, so treat it as a single data point, and see the tour for how the review step works.
FAQ
Where do I find public construction bids in Arkansas?
State solicitations run through the ARBuy eProcurement portal, and the state's Bid, RFP & RFQ Opportunities page lists construction bids with bid dates, advertisement links and bid results. Cities such as Little Rock and Fayetteville post on their own portals, and ARDOT handles highway lettings separately. The table above lists each source and how it describes its access.
Do I need to register to see Arkansas state bids?
ARBuy offers new supplier registration and says to complete registration to use the full system. Its login page also says the state is moving to SAP Ariba in July 2026, with ARBuy staying active for solicitations opened before the transition, so check which system a given bid uses.
Is there a plan room in Little Rock or Northwest Arkansas?
Older state and university bid notices name local reprographics plan rooms in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas, but we could not confirm a current, working website for either, so we did not list them. The bid notice for each project names where its plans are distributed; check that first.
Does ARDOT bid drywall or framing work?
ARDOT lettings are highway and bridge work. The department publishes a 2026 letting schedule with eight lettings and says plans and proposals are available four weeks before each one. They are rarely a drywall or framing source.
What is a planholder and why register as one?
A planholder is a firm that has officially requested the bid documents for a project. Registering usually puts you on the list that receives addenda, and some owners publish planholder lists that general contractors use to find subs. Download plans through the official channel, not from a forwarded link.
How are private bids different from public bids?
Public projects are advertised openly and the documents are usually posted on the owner's site. Private work is usually bid by invitation from a general contractor or owner, and documents come through a regional plan room, a bid service, or the GC directly. Access differs by source.
Does a scanned plan set matter when pricing a bid?
Yes. A vector PDF exported from CAD can be measured exactly, while a scanned plan is only a picture and has to be traced by hand or estimated. Check whether your plans are vector or scanned before you commit to a bid deadline.
Does ReadMyBlueprint list or sell bids?
No. ReadMyBlueprint is takeoff software, not a bid board. Once you have a plan set from any source above, you can upload it and review the takeoff yourself before the bid goes out.
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