Transcript Biddingo Electronic Bidding

INSTRUCTIONAL MANUAL
FOR SUPPLIERS
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Welcome to Biddingo’s eBidding System!
What is eBidding?
Changes to Medbuy’s Process
Activate eBidding
Get Registered With Medbuy
Accessing the Electronic Bid Form
Biddingo’s Electronic Bidding System
Important Bid Information
Table of Contents and Items
Symbols to Watch For and What They Mean
Types of Electronic Responses
How to Download and Reattach Documents
How to Enter an Electronic Bid Response
Q & A Board
‘Answer Available’ Email Notification
Submit Your Electronic Bid Response
Congratulations!
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Many of you have already attended a training session or webinar designed to give you a
working knowledge of Biddingo’s Electronic Bidding System (referred to as eBidding
throughout this document), and are already familiar with submitting eBids.
This manual was designed to compliment that training by giving you a step-by-step guide
to our eBidding process in a format that you can refer to as you go!
If you have any questions or need assistance with the eBidding system, please feel free to
contact a Biddingo eBidding Specialist at the coordinates below:
Phone: (416) 756-0955 or Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM (Eastern Time)
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The future of electronic bid submissions is now the reality of today’s public purchasing
trends. But what is eBidding and how is it helping buyers and suppliers today?
Biddingo defines eBidding as a secured electronic document, created and completed
online for easy electronic bid submissions.
Using this revolutionary new system, bid information is distributed and received in a
streamlined process completely online. Suppliers no longer need to keep one foot in the
door of the purchasing department when submitting bid packages, because their online
submissions are encrypted and secured until the closing date and time of the bid.
That means that buyers are unable to unlock your bid submission prior to the bid closing.
This allows you to submit bids early to ensure meeting tight deadlines, while remaining
assured your pricing is secured until the bid closes.
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Alternative Responses
No longer require multiple user IDs to accommodate this!
Vendor Registration
No longer done on a per bid basis! Once a supplier is approved,
they’re approved for all Medbuy bids on Biddingo.
eBid Submission
You can submit your bid at any time before the closing date and time, with the
assurance that Medbuy will not be able to view your eBid response until after the
bid has closed.
You may also update/re-submit your bid as many times as necessary before the
bid has closed. Each new submission will overwrite the previous one.
There are only two requirements to bidding with Medbuy electronically.
Activate eBidding on your Biddingo subscription, and register as a vendor with Medbuy.
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In order to access and view electronic bid documents, you must upgrade your
Biddingo subscription account to include the eBidding feature.
The cost of adding eBidding to your Biddingo subscription account is $50 (plus
applicable taxes) per year. If your current subscription is set for 2 years, you will
be required to purchase eBidding for $100 (plus applicable taxes) to cover both
years.
This can be achieved by clicking on the link for “Electronic Bid Form” on any
Medbuy bid. A message will appear prompting you to purchase the eBidding
upgrade.
Alternatively, you can contact Biddingo directly at (416) 756-0955 to activate
eBidding through Biddingo’s Customer Care Team.
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Only approved Medbuy vendors will be granted access to Medbuy’s electronic bid
documents. Once you have added eBidding to your account, you can verify that your
company has been approved by clicking on the ‘Electronic Bid Form’ link for any
Medbuy bid.
If your company has not been approved, a warning message will appear, and within
that message you will find a link to take you to Medbuy’s online vendor registration.
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Once you have added the
eBidding feature to your
Biddingo subscription, and
have received e-mail
confirmation from the buyer
that you have been approved
as a vendor, you’re ready to
get started!
To access the eBid form, you
want to click on the link in
the “Related Bid
Information” box which says
“Electronic Bid Form”
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This is what the
electronic bid
form will look like
The eBid form is split into 3 sections:
1. Important bid information
2. Table of Contents
3. Items
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Using the links in the ‘top menu bar’, you will be able to link back to specific pages on
Biddingo.com, or logout of your account
The ‘Biddingo.com logo’ will also link you back to the Biddingo.com home page.
‘Pre-Condition(s)’ will contain mandatory requirements that must be met prior to
gaining access to the electronic bid document.
Note: This feature is not always utilized.
The rest of this section displays the ‘basic bid information’ (typically found in the ‘Bid
Scope’ on Biddingo.com), and includes a running countdown to the closing date and
time of the bid.
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The ‘Table of Contents’ is your go-to place for all bid details. Click on any of the items
listed here and view the detailed information under ‘Items’.
There are two types of items within the Table of Contents:
Information Items: No response required (provided for information purposes only).
Response Items: Require a response. Response items are indicated by symbols outlined
on page 13 of this manual.
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Use the links (above Items) to access additional functions on this page such as:
Export All Items to Excel
Full Screen
Exports electronic bid document into an excel sheet.
Hides the ‘Table of Contents’ box.
Print Friendly Without Vendors Response (PDF)
Print Friendly With Vendor’s Response (PDF)
F.A.Q.s
Print a copy of the original bid document.
Print a copy of the bid document including all
of your electronic responses.
Click here to open a list of frequently asked questions.
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Under the ‘Table of Contents’ and
‘Items’ screens there are several
symbols that will enable you to
enter or edit your electronic bid
response.
Symbols to watch for & what they mean:
Download & Reattach documents
Enter an electronic response (enter
pricing or answer questions directly
on the electronic bid form)
Attachment exists
Indicates a Mandatory Field (a
response is required in
order to submit your bid)
will change to
once mandatory
requirements have been
satisfied.
Biddingo Note: ‘Reattach
Document’ links change to
‘Update’ links once you’ve
uploaded your first document.
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There are two distinctive response types to keep in mind:
Download & Reattach a
document
Buyer provided a
document
for information
purposes only, or one
that can be completed
and reattached.
Biddingo Note: Reattachment Required will indicate whether
a document is ‘Mandatory’ or ‘Optional’. All mandatory
documents must be downloaded, completed, and reattached
(documents may also be faxed or couriered to the Buyer when
specified).
Electronic Bid Response
Buyer created an
electronic response
form that must be
completed
electronically.
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Click on the Item name
under the ‘Table of
Contents’ to display the
detailed information
under ‘Items’.
Download the
document by clicking on
the document name.
Once you’re ready to
reattach your response,
click on the
or
button and the upload
window will appear.
Locate the document in question using the ‘Browse’ button.
Add a description and click ‘Upload Document’.
Biddingo Note: It is highly
recommended that you save a
copy of all files related to this bid
as they will not be available after
the bid has closed.
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You will notice that the file
you have uploaded will be
displayed under ‘List of
Reattachments’.
If necessary, you can also
attach multiple documents
to any section using the
‘Update’ links.
Just look for the ‘ ‘ or
‘
‘
symbols and follow the
prompts.
Biddingo Note: Clicking the ‘Update
Attachment’ link will also allow you
to delete any previously uploaded
attachments.
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In addition to document
attachments, you may
also be asked to
complete an electronic
bid response.
Click on the ‘Response’
link to start completing
an electronic bid
response form.
There are two ways to enter an electronic bid response:
Upload your answers from an Excel Spreadsheet
Enter your responses into the Excel template provided and upload all responses into
the system in one go.
Manual Entry through the system
Enter your response directly into the electronic response form provided.
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This is an example
of the electronic
bid response form.
If you would prefer
to work on your
responses offline,
click on the link
that says ‘Export
This Form To Excel’
When you have
finished entering
your responses
into the Excel form,
click the link
that says
‘Import From Excel’
Once you
choose the
applicable Excel
file to upload,
you will have
the option of
importing only
selected
responses, or
all responses.
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If you would prefer to
enter your responses
directly into the
electronic bid form click
‘
‘ in the Table
of Contents, or
‘
‘
under the Items screen
to begin.
Then you can simply
click into the response
fields and start typing.
As you move through
the form, the system will
automatically save your
responses!
Biddingo Note: If you would like to provide an
alternate response to the questions, click on
the ‘Alternate Response’ tab and a second
response form will be displayed. Be sure to
label your alternate response tab or your
responses will not be saved!
You can return to your original response by
clicking on the ‘Default’ tab.
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Clicking on an item number in
the electronic bid response
form will open up a window
with additional functions.
In this window, you can enter
your response and attach
supplementary documentation
to complete your answer.
Additional information
about this item may be
provided by the buyer in the
tabs in this window, including
attachments, multiple delivery
addresses and evaluation
criteria.
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To attach
supplementary
documentation to your
response, click ‘Attach
Documents’ and the
upload window will
appear.
Use the ‘Browse’
button to locate your
document, add a
description, and click
‘Upload Document’.
Biddingo Note: All attached
documents will appear under ‘
’. There is
no limit to the number of
documents you can attach.
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Should you require
clarification from the
purchasing organization,
you should utilize the
‘Q & A Board’ located in
the ‘Related Bid
Information’ box.
This is a new innovation
allowing you to
communicate directly with
the buyer.
Biddingo Note: The buyer may set a
closing date for the Q & A Board. Be
sure to submit any inquiries you may
have before that date.
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To ask a question
about this bid, all
you need to do is
complete the
‘Title/Subject’ and
‘Question’ fields
then click ‘Submit
your question’.
Additional
instructions will be
provided on this
page.
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All questions you’ve asked will
be listed under ‘Questions’.
If you need to add to, or adjust
your question, you can use the
‘Revise’ link to add a
sub-section to your question.
Biddingo Note: Once you hit
‘Submit your question’ the
system will automatically send
an email to all the Buyers
assigned to monitor the
Q & A Board for this bid.
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Purchasing organizations
can respond to questions
in two ways:
Through an amendment
notification, or directly
through the Q & A Board.
If the buyer uses the Q & A
Board to answer questions,
answers will be displayed
below the question.
Once the buyer responds to
a question you have
submitted, the system will
send you an e-mail
prompting you to login and
review the answer.
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Once the Buyer has
responded to your
questions online, you’ll
receive an email
notification like this
To view the Buyer’s
response to your question,
simply click on the link in
the email and login to your
Biddingo account.
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Ready to submit your bid?
Click ‘Review and Verify
eBid Response’ to
continue.
The system will check
your responses to ensure
you’ve completed all
mandatory fields.
Any missing items will be
displayed under
‘Mandatory Items
Missing’ in the CheckList.
To return to the
incomplete section,
simply click on the
provided link.
Biddingo Note: You will be unable
to submit your bid until all
mandatory requirements have
been met.
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If you’ve completed all
mandatory
requirements, click
‘Confirm And Submit
Your Bid Response’ in
the CheckList verification
window to continue
submitting your bid.
Click ‘Preview
Vendor’s eBid
Response’ to view, or
print a complete
copy of your
response before
Biddingo Note: Printing a
submitting
copy of your response
your eBid.
prior to submitting is
strongly recommended.
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Carefully read the
Biddingo Terms of Use
before clicking
‘I agree’ to continue.
To complete
your submission,
click ‘Submit
eBid Response’.
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You will see on the
screen a visual
confirmation that you
have successfully
submitted your bid, and
a confirmation e-mail
will be sent to your
e-mail address.
You can print a copy of
the receipt or your
entire eBid response by
clicking on the links
provided on this page.
Biddingo Note: You can submit your bid as
many times as many times as you like while
the bid is open for bidding. Each new
submission will overwrite a previous one.
The buyer will not have access to your bid
submission until the bid has closed.
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Congratulations! You have completed the eBidding training and are now
able to submit your bid response electronically!
Should you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to
contact Caitlin Patterson at 416-756-0955 or [email protected].
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