Suffolk Sourcing E-Tendering System SUBMITTING A TENDER

Transcription

1 SUBMITTING A TENDER Please read this guide before responding to a tender or quotation. For technical issues, contact the Suffolk Sourcing Helpdesk on or suffolk.sourcing@suffolk.gov.uk Questions regarding the products or service, specification or any points of clarification should be made directly to the buyer who issued the tender. You will need to prepare the tender and all related documentation ready to be uploaded to the Suffolk Sourcing system. Make sure you have answered all questions and have included all the required documents. We suggest that tenderers submit their tenders at least 24 hours before the published deadline and do not leave tender submission until the last minute. Tenders will not usually be accepted unless they are submitted online via Suffolk Sourcing. Note that the system uses Java to encrypt your tender submission. Most computers already have it installed, but to check if your computer has an up-to-date version, visit and following the on screen instructions. Enter your username and password and click Log in ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 1 of 20

2 You will see your Homepage Suffolk Sourcing E-Tendering System You now need to find the project on the system. If you have already expressed an interest in the Project click the My Projects link, if not refer to Points 1 3 below to search for it. 3) Select Search 1) Select Projects 2) Enter the word or phrase to search for. Use * as wildcard. If searching for all Projects leave blank See Advanced Search guide for further information on options If you have already expressed an interest in the Project please click the My Projects link instead of searching Click on the Project Title to view more information on the tender Click on the project title to view more information ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 2 of 20

3 The Project Details page displays all the relevant information for the project. Clicking on the light blue Show Menu button shows you all the actions that you can take with the project. Click on the Show Menu button. ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 3 of 20

4 Next, you will be able to download the tender documents, terms and conditions and instructions. To do this click on Show Menu and select, Project Documents Select Show Menu Select Project documents Download the files to your computer either individually by clicking on the file name or all of them in one go as a ZIP file. The file called c4t_xxxxx_1.xml is for system use only you will not be able to read the contents of this file and only need to download it if you are preparing your tender response offline. Click on the filenames to download them individually Or, Click on Download Zip File to download all documents at once ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 4 of 20

5 If you have not already registered your interest in the project you will have to do so now. Select Option 1 for all users registered within your organisation to be associated. Select A Zip file is a single file containing one or more documents. When the zip file is doubleclicked you will be able to view its contents and you will be prompted to save or extract them to your computer. ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 5 of 20

6 Creating your tender response Click on Show Menu then select Tender Questions and Returns Click on Show Menu Click on Tender Questions and Returns When you have done this, click on Answer Questions Online. This will load some software using Java that is used to encrypt your tender submission. This is necessary as it ensures that your tender can not be intercepted, read or tampered with by anyone and cannot be opened until the tender return date. Click on Answer Questions Online ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 6 of 20

7 The tender package software will begin downloading in your browser. You may see warning boxes, similar to the one below, appear. Please be assured that it is safe to proceed. Select Always trust content from this publisher and click on Run Click on Always trust content from this publisher Click on Run ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 7 of 20

8 The installation of the software can take as long as 15 minutes and during this time you may see a blank screen, or a picture of a coffee cup until it finally loads. This should speed up on subsequent visits. ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 8 of 20

9 Key to the symbols used on Suffolk Sourcing Green Ticks See Important Note below Click on this symbol to expand or contract sections A yellow triangle means that the section has not yet been completed IMPORTANT NOTE: Green ticks will appear when all Mandatory Questions in a section have been answered. Please check each question individually before submitting your tender to ensure ALL questions have been answered. Once the tool has loaded you will see a list of all the lots covered by this tender. Firstly, click on the top directory called Tender. You must then indicate each of the lots that you will be bidding for by using the tick-boxes in the panel on the right-hand side. Click on Tender Select all Lots for which you are tendering ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 9 of 20

10 You now need to answer all the questions in the Eligibility Criteria folder and all those within each of the lots for which you are bidding. Do not click on or answer any questions for lots that you are not bidding for. In this case the tenderer would need to answer questions under the Eligibility, Lot 1, Lot 2, Lot 3 and Lot 5 sections. To begin answering the questions click on the Eligibility Criteria folder and continue through until you have green ticks against each question in each section relevant to the lots that you are bidding for. There are a number of types of question that can be asked on Suffolk Sourcing. The next 3 pages explains the different types and how to respond to each. ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 10 of 20

11 Certain questions require yes or no options where only one can be selected NOTE: Document / File attachments are NOT required unless requested The red cross indicates that the question still needs completing. ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 11 of 20

12 Some questions require longer answers. Use the scrollbar to view the right hand side of the page if necessary Click on the calendar icon where a date is required. Select the year, month then click on the day to select the date. ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 12 of 20

13 More than one check-box can be selected To select more than one line hold down Ctrl and click each option as required The Financial dire Enter the requested information in each value box. Please note for Financial Information value once the value is entered, select the Tab key on the keyboard to ensure the value is entered. (Just enter financial value, do NOT use signs) Once you have successfully answered all the questions in the Financial section a green tick will appear in the menu and you can move on to the next Envelope. ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 13 of 20

14 IMPORTANT NOTE: All sections displayed and all questions within those sections must be completed prior to submitting the tender online. Please check each question individually to ensure ALL questions have been answered before proceeding to the next stage. Click on the folder with the green tick to Validate the tender. If the tender successfully validates then move to the next section. If not, make all necessary corrections before continuing. You now need to save your Tender. This will create an XML file containing your tender submission which can be understood by the Suffolk Sourcing System. To save it click on the Floppy Disc icon. Click on the Floppy Disc icon You will be then prompted to save the XML file on to your computer. ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 14 of 20

15 We recommend creating an area on your system where you can keep a record of the all tenders which you have submitted. In this case, for speed, we will save it to our desktop. Select a folder to save the document to. In this case, Desktop Give the file a name. This can be anything you like. Click Save Once the tender has been saved a message box appears saying TENDER SAVED SUCCESSFULLY If you are not yet ready to submit your tender then you can re-open it for editing later at any stage before the submission deadline. If this is the case, you can skip the next paragraph. If you have finished your tender submission and there are no further changes to make you will need to prepare your tender ready for sending. To do this you need to pack the tender submission by clicking on the cardboard box pack icon. This encrypts the tender ensuring that it can not be tampered with and cannot be opened until the correct time. This will create another file on your computer using the same file name that you gave the XML file but ending with _TENDER.zip. This is the file which you will need to upload to the system. ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 15 of 20

16 Click on the Pack icon Click on Back to My Tenders. Click on Back to My Tenders ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 16 of 20

17 You should see a new entry in your list of draft tenders. Your list of submitted tenders should be empty. To submit your tender, click on Upload Tender Package, or to continue work on a draft tender, select it and click on Edit. To edit your tender, select the tender to edit - then - Click on Edit and go to page 9. Or, to submit your tender, click on upload tender If you are submitting your tender you now need to confirm your details are correct and that you have logged in as the right person. To continue, click on confirm. Click on confirm Next, you need to accept the agreement for the project. If you reject the agreement you will not be able to submit your bid. ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 17 of 20

18 Click on Accept You then need to locate the file that you created earlier when you packed the tender. Remember: this filename will end in _TENDER.zip or on some computers _TENDER. Click on Browse ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 18 of 20

19 Locate the file and click on Open Suffolk Sourcing E-Tendering System Select the file ending with _TENDER. Click open Then upload the file to the Suffolk Sourcing System by clicking Upload Click Upload ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 19 of 20

20 Once the tender has been uploaded correctly, you will see a green tick under the conformance check column. You will also receive an as confirmation that the tender has been received. You have successfully submitted your tender. If you have a yellow triangle instead of a green tick you have uploaded the wrong file. If so, select the file and click on Remove. You will then need to upload the tender again (see previous pages). Select the box Click Remove Click OK ET915a - Submitting a Tender with Lots [Online] V3.0 Page 20 of 20