Empire Procure Connect Contracts

NJSTART is The State of New Jersey’s online purchasing system for the Division of Purchase & Property (DPP). 

The Division of Purchase & Property (DPP) is within the NJ Department of the Treasury and serves as the State's central procurement agency.  

NJSTART includes all contracts that are a part of the State’s Cooperative Purchasing Program. DPP’s Cooperative Purchasing Program was established by legislation & extends specific State contracts to eligible local buying units.

Examples of “local buying units” are:  Municipalities. Counties, School Districts, Volunteer Fire Departments, Volunteer First Aid & Rescue Squads, County & State Colleges, Independent Authorities, Quasi-State Agencies. Independent Institutions of Higher Education 

Yes, you can use NJSTART to source from over 60,000 registered vendors. Utilize the Quick Search Guide found on our NJSTART resource page here, or contact us if you need assistance in using the Vendor search functionality in NJSTART.

To register your organization in NJSTART, go to our resource page found here. You can also sign up directly using this form.

If you/your organization is having an issue accessing one of our vendor’s integrated ecommerce sites (AKA “punchouts”), please contact us at coop-njstart@mdfcommerce.com. Please provide detail around what you are experiencing which punchout you were trying to access.

Remember, when buying from any cooperative contract, be sure to follow your organization’s purchasing rules. In addition, for example for New Jersey local governments and public schools, when you buy from State Contract, make sure you follow the Local Public and Public School Contracts Law for Cooperative Purchasing. For details, go to https://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/dlgs/resources/rules_docs/5_34/njac_5347.pdf.

Among other important information, it states: "A correctly prepared and properly executed purchase order by a contracting unit shall serve as a contract between the contracting unit and a contractor awarded a contract 2 pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:11-12 or 18A:18A-10. In addition to the system

You can find more resources on NJ Local Agency Procurement Laws on the State of New Jersey’s Department of Community Affair’s website, here: https://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/dlgs/programs/lpcl.html.

Marketplace is an available feature that we are launching soon with supplier catalogs and improved search functionality. You can review our "beta" version now in NJSTART, but not all State Cooperative contracts are in the Marketplace at this time.

To learn more about NIGP codes, go to https://www.nigp.org/our-profession/nigp-code. Please note, you can search for contracts and vendors by NIGP Code. Utilize the Quick Search Guide found on our NJSTART resource page here, or contact us if you need assistance in using the NIGP codes to search for contracts and/or vendors in NJSTART.

You can always use NJSTART to confirm if a vendor is compliance with most State contract requirements. NJSTART integrates with various State systems that track whether a vendor has an active BRC, AAEEOC, or some specific business designations for small and disadvantaged businesses. However, please note the related attachments may not always be present and you may need to request documentation from the vendor separately.

• You can search for vendors without signing in to NJSTART, however you get much more by signing in. Go to https://www.njstart.gov and search vendors using keywords.
• When signed in to NJSTART, you can review all contract related attachments such as the original solicitation documents, price lists, and methods of operation if applicable. You can also verify the vendor’s Business Registration Certificate and AAEEOC status among other key features.
• Marketplace is an integral component of the NJSTART eProcurement system. It allows suppliers to load product/service catalogs related to their contracts with the State. Once catalogs are in place, State users and local governments will use the Marketplace to search for State contracts, shop from them (shopping basket functionality), and generate POs that will be transmitted to the supplier electronically.