Responding to Bids

Many of the bids in Periscope S2G allow Limited and Premium Suppliers to respond electronically through the site; on these bids that allow (or possibly require) online submission, usually all of the documents, attachments, and details can be found on the bid. This article will take users through the process of placing an offer on a bid.

1. Go to www.bidsync.com and click Sign In from the main menu.
2. When the login page is displayed, enter the username and password and click Login.
3. From the displayed Home page, Search for or Select the bid on which you'll be placing an offer (for more information on searching for bids, click here).
4. On the bid page, click Go To Bid to access the bid information page (found on the left-hand side). Bids linking to another site are hosted elsewhere. The following only pertains to solicitations hosted on Periscope S2G.
   
   
   
   
5. On the bid information page, there are several tabs that need to be reviewed before a user can place an offer on the bid.
   
   

Bid Details

The bid details tab will contain the basic information about this bid as well as any system requirements and preferences (such as bid bonds or digital signature requirements). The bid details tab will contain comments and a brief description of the project to provide vendors with an idea of what the bid is for and what the requirements for participating are.

1. Carefully read through all of the information provided on the bid details tab to ensure all requirements are known.
   
   

   
   
   

2. Below the bid details section users can find any announcements regarding addenda that have been released on the bid.
   
   

   
   
   

Documents

The documents tab will have all of the attachments and files that have been uploaded by the agency for this particular bid. Any bid specifications, drawings, and terms and conditions are typically included in the documents section of the bid. Once the documents have been viewed or accepted users can move forward to the Place Offer button, although it is recommended that users continue through the remaining tabs to ensure all information and requirements for the bid are known.

For more information on accepting documents on a bid, click here.

Line Items

The line items tab will contain information for the individual line items on the bid; this section will often contain information such as the quantity and the units of measure that must be submitted in the offer.

Q&A

The questions and answers section is where users can post questions on a bid for the agency to see. Please note that bid questions are intended to be anonymous and should not contain identifying information about a user's company. Please also note that there often is a deadline for the questions and answers section that is separate from the bid deadline.

Following the Q&A tab there may be other tabs on the bid such as a Pre-Bid Conference, Planholder's List, or Vendor Ads tab; it is recommended that users review the information in all tabs before placing an offer on the bid.

Placing an Offer

Once all of the tabs have been reviewed, follow the instructions below to place an offer on the bid.

1. Click the Place Offer button at the bottom of the page.
   
   

   
   
   

2. The offer page may differ from bid to bid, but in general, users will normally find unit price and total price boxes as well as a link to upload attachments and a section for notes. If there is only one line item on the bid, the unit price and total price boxes are required, if there are multiple line items, users must fill out at least one set of unit price and total price boxes, all the other line items can be considered optional; a blank line item will be considered a no bid.
   
   

   
   
   

3. When all pricing, attachments, and notes have been added, click the Review Response button at the bottom of the page, this will take the user to the confirmation page.
4. On the confirmation page, review the pricing, notes, and attachments that have been added to the offer. At the bottom of the confirmation page, users can type in their password and click Confirm & submit response; this will submit the offer to the agency. On most electronic response bids, the offers are sealed and cannot be viewed by anyone (including the agency) until after the bid has closed.
   
   

   
   
   

   Agencies may require that vendors accept addenda or a bid allowance amount before confirming the bid, but this will vary from agency to agency.
   
   If the agency does require the vendor to acknowledge addenda, the vendor will do so on the review response page, by checking the box for each addenda. (see screen shot below).