Government Offerings Participation

General Information

Through established partnerships with government agencies across the United States, Efficient Markets is the industry-leading provider of multi-commodity federal, state, and local competitive offerings. As your direct channel to buy or lease valuable natural resources and land, we make evaluating and investing in public offerings easier than ever before with online, competitive offerings. Government offerings and specific asset information are available to the public without requiring an account.

To register for an offering and place bids, you must create a Buyer account, submit banking information, and agree to the Bidding Terms Agreement. Additionally, each individual government offering will have specific terms and conditions that must be acknowledged. There is no cost to create an account.

If you have any questions, please contact Government@EfficientMarkets.com.

Creating a Buyer Account

When creating a Buyer account, you may choose between a Basic Asset Offerings account or an All Asset Offerings account. An All Asset Offerings account allows the buyer to participate in all offerings on the Efficient Markets platform and requires that the buyer meets and agrees to certain SEC and FINRA guidelines. A Basic Asset Offerings account may only participate in government, real estate, and alternative energy offerings, although the account can easily be updated to the All Asset Offerings account at any time.

After creating a Buyer account, you will need to complete the Bidding Terms Agreement and submit bank information to establish a bid allowance. Please be sure to let your banker or private equity contact know in advance that we will be calling to confirm your financial wherewithal. Efficient Markets will confirm or adjust the requested bid allowance amount after talking with your banker. You will be notified by email when your bid allowance request has been processed. The bid allowance will also be displayed on the Buyer’s Homepage.

Types of Offerings

Auctions

When bidding on a property, bids are entered as a maximum bid. Upon entering a bid amount, the bid calculator will display the total cost for the transaction. Auctions vary and bids may be per acre or total bonus, so please check bid amounts accordingly as a submitted bid is legally binding. Bids may not be withdrawn, retracted, or reduced. 

By placing a maximum bid (proxy), you are instructing the Efficient Markets auction engine to bid automatically on your behalf, up to the amount specified as your maximum bid. Bids will be placed at the minimum amount necessary to maintain your status as the high bidder.

The maximum bid mechanism is an invaluable tool to maintain your bidding status as the high bidder. This feature can be very helpful when bids increase faster than you can respond manually, or if you must be away from your computer and mobile application during the auction.

Critical Note on Refreshing Your Browser

Bid information is updated across the Efficient Markets platform instantly, but your web browser must be “refreshed” to see current results as time passes. The browser will not automatically refresh the bid history tables, auction status, or other events. The information shown is only as current as the last time the page was loaded or refreshed.

Sealed Bids

When bidding on a sealed bid property, upon entering a bid amount, the bid calculator will display the total cost for the transaction. To submit the bid, you will be prompted to enter your password. A notification banner will appear confirming receipt of the sealed bid, and an email will be sent to the email address on file to confirm the bid has been received. Please note that sealed bids are encrypted, so the bid amount will not be listed in the email, nor will it be visible in your account activity. It is recommended that you take a screenshot of the page once the bid has been placed. Bids may not be withdrawn, retracted, or reduced.

Government Offerings

Government offerings are shown as groups, with each group containing one or more properties from a specific agency.  Due diligence opens for the entire group at once, but the auction itself has property bidding open in a cascade (and later close in a cascade) at 1-, 2-, 3-, or 5-minute intervals, resulting in several properties being open and overlapping for bidding at the same time. A sealed bidgroup does not have staggered or cascading bidding open times; therefore, sealed bid properties within a group open and close at the same time.

Opening and closing dates and times are always available on the Government Offerings site and individual property information pages.

Property Information Pages

Every Government Offerings property available has an individual information page that contains specific data, including: