Liquor License Sealed Bid Application Procedure

Sealed bids will be received during normal business hours beginning at 8:00 am on July 22, 2024, and until 5:00 pm on August 6, 2024.

The sealed bid and the bid application fee must be submitted in person to the Licensing Specialist or designee located on the first floor of City Hall, 224 West Ninth Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57104.  Bids will be time-stamped with the date and time the sealed bid was received.  Prospective bidders will be given a receipt for the $100 non-refundable bid application fee.  The $100 non-refundable fee must be outside of the sealed bid. The outside of the sealed bid must note the type of license the applicant is applying for (i.e. on-sale liquor license), the name of the bidder/applicant, and the location where the proposed license will be used. 

No, it must be submitted in person to the Licensing Specialist or designee.

No, the city can only accept one sealed bid per location.

The bid opening will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday August 8, 2024.  The public is welcome to attend. 

The bids will be opened in the Attorney Conference Room 103, City Hall, 224 West Ninth Street, Sioux Falls SD 57104.

The non-refundable bid application fee is $100.00. The payment must be made payable to the City of Sioux Falls and be submitted at the time you submit your sealed bid application. Cash, check or credit cards are accepted.

The checks will be deposited in the City’s bank account within one to two business days of receipt.

You will receive written notice by email of your conditional award.  The notice will outline your next steps and the timeline in which the steps must be completed.  The conditionally awarded bids, including the name of the bidder and the amount of the bid will be published online by the city within 5 business days of the date of written notice of the conditional award.

Bid forms are available from the City Attorney’s Office (1^st floor at City Hall) in hard copy format. You may also download the bid forms  from this website.

On-sale dealer liquor licenses must be actively used within two years of issuance.

The minimum bid for an on-sale dealer liquor license is $240,646.00.

Bidders with the highest bids, based on available licenses, will be issued a written notice of conditional award by the City of Sioux Falls. that their bid has been conditionally awarded.  If no conditional use permit is required for the proposed location where the license will be used, the conditionally awarded bidder will then have ten (10) business days from the date of the written notice of conditional award to submit a Uniform Alcoholic Beverage License Application to the City licensing office along with a check payable to the City of Sioux Falls for the amount of the bid.

If a conditional use permit is required for the location where the license will be used, the conditionally awarded bidder must file a conditional use permit application within 30 calendar days of the date of written notice of conditional award.  The conditional use permit process must be concluded within 60 calendar days of the date of written notice of conditional award unless extended by the planning commission or city council. Upon receiving the conditional use permit, the conditionally awarded bidder must submit the Uniform Alcoholic Beverage Application and a check payable to the City of Sioux Falls for the amount bid within ten (10) business days of receiving the conditional use permit.

Bidders can request to withdraw their sealed bid, with no penalty up until bid opening at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 8 at 10:00 a.m. by contacting the City’s licensing office. 

Once sealed bids are opened, bidders requesting to withdraw a conditionally awarded bid shall be subject to a penalty of being ineligible to submit future bids for a similar license for a period of three years.

Bidders submitting multiple bids for multiple locations that request to voluntarily withdraw bids, whether conditionally awarded bids or otherwise, must withdraw lower bids in sequential order prior to withdrawing higher bids. 

The number of on-sale liquor licenses available in the City of Sioux Falls is based on population estimates issued by the US Census Bureau on even numbered years, except for the decennial year. For a decennial year, the population is equal to the amount determined by the decennial federal census. Based on current population growth, it would be expected that the City may have five to seven licenses to issue every two years (next in 2025).  But this is based on multiple factors and is only an estimate.

For questions about the sealed bid application process, please contact the City’s Licensing Specialist at 605-367-8082 or by email at Jamie.palmer@siouxfalls.gov