01
You self-perform the work you bid
If you are brokering the labour on a scope you bid as a subcontractor, we would rather contract with the crew directly. Tell us the percentage you self-perform, we will ask, and we will check.
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$610M of annual subcontract and material spend
We buy from people who are still trading in ten years.
Ironwood spends roughly $610 million a year with subcontractors, fabricators, material suppliers and professional service firms. We are not always the cheapest client you will have. We try to be the one that pays on time, does not play games with back-charges, and comes back next year.
Getting on the bid list
One email is enough to start.
Send your details to suppliers@ironwoodgroups.com and a member of our procurement team will review them. There is no portal login, no annual fee, and no requirement to buy a subscription to anything.
We will ask for the following, which is the same information every prequalified contractor needs:
- Company profile, legal name, structure, years trading, ownership, office locations
- Trade classification, the scopes you genuinely self-perform, not everything you can broker
- Licences, state and local contractor licences by jurisdiction
- Insurance, certificate of insurance showing general liability, auto, workers' compensation and umbrella limits
- Bonding, single and aggregate capacity, surety name and contact
- Safety, three-year OSHA 300A logs, EMR letter from your carrier, and written safety programme
- Financials, most recent two years of financial statements or a CPA letter confirming capacity
- References, three owners or general contractors who can speak to your performance
- Diversity certification, if applicable: MBE, WBE, DBE, SBE, SDVOSB, 8(a), HUBZone or local equivalent
Where to send it
Email suppliers@ironwoodgroups.com with your capability statement attached. If you would rather talk it through, call the switchboard on (303) 555-0142 and ask for procurement, our automated receptionist will route you and book a call-back if the team is unavailable.
| Payment terms | Net 30 from approved invoice; Net 14 for certified small businesses on federal work |
|---|---|
| Retainage | 5% standard, released at substantial completion; no retainage on supply-only orders |
| Pay-when-paid | Applies only where the prime contract permits it; we pay our own subcontractors within 30 days regardless of upstream payment status on 96% of our work |
| Back-charges | Issued in writing with an itemised cost and photographs before any deduction is made |
| Early payment | 2% / 10 days available on request for materials and fabricated goods |
| Prequalification renewal | Annually, or on any material change to insurance, bonding or ownership |
Insurance minimums
- Commercial general liability, $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate
- Automobile liability, $1M combined single limit
- Workers' compensation, statutory limits, plus employer's liability of $1M
- Umbrella / excess, $5M for scopes over $1M contract value
- Professional liability, $2M for design and engineering scope
- Pollution liability, required for environmental remediation and tank work
- Ironwood named as additional insured, with waiver of subrogation and 30 days' notice of cancellation
What we look for
Five things that actually get you shortlisted.
We review hundreds of capability statements a year. These are the things that separate the ones we call from the ones we file.
02
Your EMR is real and current
Send the letter from your carrier. An EMR above 1.00 is not automatically disqualifying, but an EMR you cannot document is. We will discuss a safety improvement plan with suppliers who are honest about a poor year.
03
You can handle a schedule
Give us two projects where you were on the critical path and it held. We are less interested in the number of projects than in whether you have ever been the reason one finished on time.
04
You answer when we call
Most of the value we get from a subcontractor comes in the first four hours of a problem. If your estimator is unreachable during a bid period, that is a preview of what mobilisation will be like.
05
You price the scope that is written
Qualify what you need to qualify, but do not price a different job and then explain it in the interview. We would rather receive a higher number with an honest list of exclusions than a low number built on an assumption nobody agreed to.
06
You tell us when you are full
If you cannot staff a package, say so. Turning down work honestly keeps you on the list. Taking it and failing does not.
Supplier diversity
We report our numbers, including the ones that miss target.
Federal and state contracts carry small business subcontracting goals. We report against them publicly and we do not move spend into a category it does not belong in to make a target.
| Category | Goal | Achieved |
|---|---|---|
| Small business, all categories | 23.0% | 26.4% |
| Small disadvantaged business | 5.0% | 6.1% |
| Women-owned small business | 5.0% | 4.7% |
| Service-disabled veteran-owned | 3.0% | 3.4% |
| HUBZone small business | 3.0% | 1.9% |
| Veteran-owned small business | 3.0% | 3.1% |
HUBZone is the category we missed. We have added two HUBZone-certified firms to our prequalified list in the last twelve months and are actively seeking more in the Denver, Phoenix and Casper markets.
Materials and equipment
What we buy, and how much of it.
Indicative annual volumes. If you supply any of the following, we would like to hear from you even if you cannot meet the full quantity.
| Category | Annual volume | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ready-mix concrete | 610,000 CY | Across 34 states; supplier must hold current NRMCA certification |
| Structural steel | 41,000 tons | Domestic melting and pouring required on federally funded work under Buy America |
| Reinforcing steel | 78,000 tons | Cut-and-bend or straight; mill test reports required per heat |
| Aggregate base and asphalt | 3.9M tons | Local sourcing preferred; see the capability list above for producing markets |
| Process pipe and fittings | $92M | Carbon, stainless and alloy; ASME Section IX procedure qualifications required |
| Electrical equipment | $140M | Substation transformers, switchgear, protection and control, cable |
| Heavy equipment parts and service | $61M | Dealer and independent; 48-hour response target on critical components |
| Protective coatings and linings | $28M | SSPC QP1 and QP2 qualified applicators |
| Trucking and heavy haul | $47M | Class A CDL, current DOT compliance and ELD-equipped fleet |
| Site services | $54M | Environmental monitoring, surveying, drilling, scaffolding, temporary facilities |