Yes, on private bids, and carefully on public ones. A pipeline in GoHighLevel can schedule a follow up for every proposal by stage, as long as each card is marked public or private, because a public solicitation may bar contact with anyone but the procurement officer until award. The bottom line: one follow up schedule cannot fit every bid, so the field that separates them is the most important one on the card.
What janitorial bids look like
Boston Public Health Commission's 2024 request for bid required a mandatory walkthrough on August 27 and said bidders who skipped it would not be considered. It asked for an initial two year term with a one year renewal option, and pricing for all three years. Foster City's proposal request says price alone will not decide the award, that the city evaluates qualifications and references and may hold interviews, that the contract can extend by 36 months in increments of 2 to 12 months, and that the winner must sign within ten days of award and start by October 5, 2026. Park City's request covered 22 municipal buildings with a mandatory walkthrough. A Washtenaw school district asked for a two year contract with annual renewals for up to three more years and finalist interviews.
These details point to the follow up. There are interviews to prepare for, walkthroughs to attend, and renewal dates years out that turn into future bids.
Contact rules for public bids
Many public bodies publish a cone of silence. The City of Key West bars communication about a solicitation with officials, staff, and evaluation committee members from issue until final award, requires written questions through procurement, and says violations may disqualify a proposal. Florida Virtual School's policy is similar, and Albuquerque Public Schools calls unsolicited contact with its evaluation committee grounds for disqualification. Louisiana's procurement guidance lists exceptions such as noticed site visits and oral presentations during evaluation. For a private building owner, none of that applies, and a follow up call to the facility manager is normal.
Two follow up paths
| Bid type | Follow up |
|---|---|
| Private | Thank you email in 2 days, call task at day 7, offer a second walkthrough at day 14, status check at day 30 |
| Public | Task to check the portal weekly, written status request to procurement only if allowed, alert on the award date, no messages to evaluators |
Build it in GoHighLevel
Opportunity fields: Bid type (public or private), Submitted date, Award date, Walkthrough date, Contract term, Option years, and Procurement contact. Stages: Walkthrough, Preparing, Submitted, Interview, Won, Lost.
- Go to Settings, then Custom Fields, and create the opportunity fields listed above before you build the pipeline.
- Go to Opportunities, then Pipelines, and create the pipeline with the stages listed above.
- Build a workflow with the Pipeline Stage Changed trigger for Submitted and add an If/Else on the Bid type field.
- On the Private branch, add the email, wait, task, and status steps from the table.
- On the Public branch, add a weekly task to check the procurement portal and an internal notification on the Award date.
- Build a workflow for the Won stage that creates a renewal task 90 days before the term ends and 60 days before the option year.
- Build a workflow for the Lost stage that asks for the winner and price fields.
- In the workflow's Settings tab, turn on Stop on Response, choose the Timezone, and set a Time Window for weekday business hours.
- Test with your own contact and your own phone, then move a test card through every stage and read the workflow history.
GoHighLevel's Workflow Settings page says Stop on Response removes a contact from the workflow when they respond to a message sent from that workflow, and only for that contact. It says Allow Reentry controls whether a contact can enter again, that Allow multiple Opportunities lets each of a contact's opportunities start its own run (on by default in new workflows), that the Timezone can follow the account or the contact, and that the Time Window restricts when communications go out, uses one window for every day, and does not affect internal actions such as tags, fields, or opportunities. Its Automating Opportunities page lists the Pipeline Stage Changed and Opportunity Status Changed triggers, both filterable by standard and custom opportunity fields, and its Opportunity Changed trigger page adds that this trigger also detects changes to lead value, assignment, and custom fields, with date field filters. A HighLevel agency help center article says opportunity custom fields are created under Settings, then Custom Fields.
What the workload looks like
For example, a contractor who submits 30 proposals a quarter, half public and half private, has 15 private bids that each need four follow up touches, which is 60 touches a quarter (15 times 4). Scheduled by a workflow, they happen without anyone remembering.
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating every bid alike. A public cone of silence can disqualify you.
- Missing the walkthrough. Some bids reject proposals without it.
- Forgetting renewals. Terms and option years are future bids.
- Not recording the winner. It shapes your next price.
How this was handled before
Cleaning contractors used to submit a proposal and wait for a call. Follow up was a personal habit, and it varied by who wrote the bid. Public procurement added rules that make follow up risky, and private owners still expect it. A pipeline records which kind of bid each is, and runs the right path for it.
Check before you switch it on
US text messages sent from a standard 10 digit number need A2P 10DLC registration. The HighLevel support portal says registration is required for texts to US recipients from 10 digit long code numbers and that toll free numbers do not require it. HighLevel's opt in guidelines also say a person cannot be forced to agree to text messages in order to submit a form, so keep the consent box optional. One compliance guide separates informational texts, which need documented consent, from marketing texts, which need prior express written consent. Ask your attorney which category your reminders fall into. Facility managers are often busy on site, so keep messages short and use email first. This is general information, not legal advice.
Questions people ask
Should I follow up after every bid?
On private bids, yes, on a schedule. On public bids, only as the solicitation allows.
What is a cone of silence?
A rule that bars vendor communication with officials and evaluators about a solicitation until award. Key West's says violations may disqualify a proposal.
How long are janitorial contracts?
The examples above use two year terms with a one year option, and one with 36 months of extensions.
Ready to try it yourself? Start a GoHighLevel account here.
You can also see this in action in our GoHighLevel capabilities demo.