NYC PASSPort Vendor Enrollment: A Step-by-Step Guide

PASSPort is New York City's mandatory online vendor portal: your business creates an account, completes a Vendor Enrollment Package, and reaches "Filed" status before agencies can consider you for most City contracts. Account approval typically takes 1–2 business days, and vendors usually spend 3–5 days completing the enrollment package itself.

If you want to bid on New York City contracts, there's one system you can't avoid: PASSPort. Before an agency can review your proposal, award you work, or even let you respond to most solicitations, your business has to be enrolled in PASSPort and reach "Filed" status. This guide walks you through exactly what that means, what you need before you start, and each step from creating an account to submitting your enrollment package — in plain English, without the procurement jargon.

What PASSPort is — and why enrollment matters

PASSPort (Procurement and Sourcing Solutions Portal) is the City of New York's online system for managing the relationship between vendors and agencies. It's run by the Mayor's Office of Contract Services (MOCS), and it replaced the older paper-based VENDEX process. Through PASSPort, agencies can view your company profile, vendors can respond to solicitations, and the disclosures the City requires get collected in one place.

Enrollment matters because it's the gate. The Vendor Enrollment process is how you introduce your organization to the City and provide the background information agencies need to evaluate you. Until your enrollment is filed, you generally can't be considered for the contracts you're chasing. Think of it less as paperwork and more as the credential that makes everything downstream — searching for opportunities, submitting bids, getting awarded — possible. You can read the City's own overview on the About PASSPort page.

If you're still deciding whether City contracting is the right path for your business, our eligibility checker can give you a quick read before you invest the time in enrollment.

Before you start: what you'll need

A little preparation here saves days later. Gather these before you open the system:

• A NYC.ID — required to request a vendor PASSPort account. This is the same single sign-on the City uses across many of its online services. If you don't have one, you'll create it as part of the process.
• Your exact legal business name as it appears on your Certificate of Incorporation. This is the single most common stumbling block: PASSPort expects the name to match your incorporation document, so "ABC Construction LLC" and "ABC Construction Co." are not interchangeable. Pull the document and copy it character for character.
• Your business address, which PASSPort will help you confirm through an address lookup as you type.
• Your CEO (or equivalent) information, plus a requestor contact phone number for whoever is setting up the account.

It also helps to know who in your organization will own this. The account requestor becomes an important point of contact, and PASSPort lets you assign roles to team members later, so decide early who handles enrollment versus who will respond to bids.

Step 1: Create your PASSPort account

With your NYC.ID ready, you can request the vendor account itself. The City's Create a PASSPort Account guide lays out the form, and the steps are straightforward:

First, select Create Account to start a vendor PASSPort account request. Enter your legal business name exactly as it appears on your Certificate of Incorporation. In the address section, begin typing your business address and choose the correct match from the drop-down that appears. Complete the CEO (or equivalent) information section, then add your requestor contact phone number. When everything is filled in, select the green Register button to submit the request to MOCS.

From there it's a waiting step, but a short one. The request is assigned to a member of the MOCS team and is typically processed in approximately 1 to 2 business days from the time you submit. You'll be notified once your account is approved, and only then can you move on to the enrollment package itself. If you don't hear back within a few business days, it's reasonable to follow up rather than assume something is wrong on your end.

Step 2: Complete and submit the Vendor Enrollment Package

Once your account is approved, the real substance begins. The Vendor Enrollment Package is a series of business questions and disclosures you complete and submit inside PASSPort. It covers who you are, how your business is structured, and the certifications and disclosures the City requires from anyone it does business with. The City's Complete the PASSPort Vendor Enrollment guide walks through each section.

Plan your time accordingly: vendors generally take an average of 3 to 5 days to complete enrollment. That's not 3 to 5 days of continuous work — it's the typical span from starting to finishing, because you'll often need to pause to confirm a detail, gather a document, or get a signature from the right person. Working steadily rather than rushing tends to produce a cleaner submission with fewer follow-up questions.

A few small details cause most of the avoidable delays. Mismatches between your legal name and your incorporation document, an outdated address, or a missing disclosure can send the package back for correction, so it's worth a careful review before you submit. If a section asks for information you're unsure about, it's better to confirm the answer than to guess and risk a round of back-and-forth that adds days.

Two parts of the process deserve attention. The package generally needs to be signed by an authorized person before it can be submitted — so make sure whoever has signing authority is available when you reach that stage; the Sign the Vendor Enrollment Package guide covers this. And the final step is submission: once you submit, your vendor status updates to Filed, and the system sends you a confirmation email. Filed status is the milestone that signals you're ready to be considered by agencies.

If your business is also pursuing M/WBE certification or other set-aside credentials, it's worth keeping those efforts aligned with enrollment so your PASSPort profile reflects them. Our bid response service can help you turn a completed enrollment into actual, competitive proposals once you're in the system.

Doing Business Data Form vs. enrollment: clearing up the confusion

One thing trips up a lot of new vendors, so it's worth stating plainly: the Doing Business Data Form is not the same as PASSPort enrollment, and it isn't part of VENDEX either. They're separate requirements that happen to live near each other in the City's process.

The Data Form is tied to specific transactions. An organization is required to submit a Doing Business Data Form each time it enters into a transaction the City considers a business dealing — including contract, concession, and franchise proposals. The form feeds the City's Doing Business Database, which supports campaign-finance and accountability rules. PASSPort enrollment, by contrast, is your standing introduction to the City that you complete once and keep current.

If you have questions specifically about the Data Form, the City directs vendors to the Doing Business Accountability Project at [email protected] or 212-788-8104. Knowing the difference up front helps you avoid the frustration of thinking you've finished enrollment only to discover a separate form is expected at the transaction stage.

After enrollment: keeping your profile current

Reaching Filed status isn't a "set it and forget it" moment. Your PASSPort profile is what agencies look at, so the information in it should stay accurate. If your address changes, your leadership changes, or your business structure shifts, update the profile so what the City sees matches reality. The City's PASSPort FAQs are a useful reference when something specific comes up.

It also pays to set up your team's access thoughtfully. PASSPort lets you assign roles, so the person who manages compliance and the person who responds to solicitations can each have appropriate access without sharing one login. A little structure here keeps you from scrambling when a deadline is close.

Most importantly, treat enrollment as the beginning rather than the finish line. Filed status makes you eligible — it doesn't surface opportunities for you. The next move is finding the right solicitations and responding well, which is where consistent pipeline work turns eligibility into revenue.

Ready to turn enrollment into contracts?

Getting through PASSPort enrollment is a real accomplishment, but it's step one. Once you're Filed, the question becomes which contracts to pursue and how to respond competitively. WedgeBid's contract pipeline service helps NYC small businesses find relevant opportunities and stay ahead of deadlines, so the access you just earned actually translates into bids you can win. If you're not yet sure where you stand, start with our free eligibility checker and build from there.

Enrollment opens the door. What you do next is what fills the pipeline.

Not legal advice — see our disclosures for full disclaimers.