What is the Bid Management Feature? #
The Bid Management tools allow you to create, populate, manage and publish bids for your vendors to interact with.
This feature allows you to:
- Post bids online to the Virtual Bids & Plan Room.
- Associate bid drawings and files from Document Management with a bid.
- Associate one or more Bid Packages with a bid.
- Manage a list of contractors or vendors to participate in a private bid.
- Manage Questions and Answers.
- Publish Addenda.
- Manage submissions from the bid participants.
- Level and award bid packages.
Using Projectmates Bid Manager / Virtual Bids & Plan Room, you can effortlessly publish and manage bids online. This tool allows you to publish projects for bid, include bid document files for online viewing, manage addenda, answer contractor questions, and receive electronic bids.
Bids can be configured to be either public or private depending on your organization. Contractors can be supplied a Projectmates login ID and password by the site administrator or can sign up for the Virtual Bids & Plan Room through a separate sign-up process. Contractors who want to participate in a bid can add published bids to their My Bids. My Bids entitles bidders to receive email notifications on addenda, Q&A responses, and bid awards. The Bid Manager tools can support multiple bids per project, or bids with multiple phases.
Bid Package Navigation #
- To view the Bid Package log page:
a) Click on Cost Tracking in the navigation pane on the left side of your screen and then on Bid Package. This page will now display all the bid packages in the project.
- On the log page:
a) You can filter all bid packages by Groups.
b) To filter, click on the stacked line icon next to Groups and start typing to get smart prompts and make a selection.
c) You can also sort all items by any of the fields like package No., Division, Status, Approval Status, etc. (Sorting fields outlined in Green).
Creating Packages #
Method One: Creating a Bid Package from Budget (Recommended) #
- Open your project budget and select the items you want to add to your Bid Package.
- Click on + Create and select Bid Package from the drop down.
- Name the new Bid Package and click Go. You will now be taken to a new page to add additional information to this Bid Package.
- Click the General tab on the new bid package. Add or edit information in the required fields (marked by red asterisk).
a) Click Save & Next button at the top right corner of the screen to save general information for the new Bid Package.
5. You will be able to view and edit the line items of the package in the Items The “Total Amount” is taken from your budget and will be used to compare against the bidders. The bidders will not be aware of these numbers.
6. To add attachments:
a) Go to the Attachments
b) Click the cloud icon or drag and drop into this area.
c) You may also add required files in this tab and provide a template for the required files, if available.
Method Two: Creating a Bid Package From the Bid Packages Log #
- From the log page of Bid Packages, click on + Bid Package to start creating a new Bid Package.
2. Add information in the required fields (marked by red asterisk) in the General tab and click on the Save & Next button at the top right corner of the screen to save the new Bid Package.
3. On the Items tab, add items groups and line items:
a) Click the pencil edit icon if you want to rename the default “Items” group name to something more related to the Bid Package. Click Save.
b) If needed, add more item groups by clicking the + icon at the top right of the items table, name the new group, and click Save.
c) Click the + icon on the left of the group name to add line items. Include details such as item number, budget/fund code, object code, description, and total budget amount to each item in the group.
4. Click the Save button at the top right corner of the screen to save the new Bid Package.
5. Alternatively, to import multiple line items instantly into the package:
a) Click on the up and down arrow icon located on the top right of the line items table.
b) From the pop-up window, click on Template to download the template or Export to download the template including any line items you added through the user interface. Populate the Excel file with the bid package line items. Save your file.
c) Back in Projectmates, use the same window that you exported the template from to import the Excel file with your bid line items. Click Select.
Note: You may want to check the “Delete all existing items on import” box when you want to replace existing items with new ones to avoid duplicates.
d) Click
e) Click Yes to confirm you are ready to import.
Items added through the import function are saved automatically. When adding items manually, it is necessary to click Save to save any new items.
6. Items added using this method need to be linked to the budget for further actions like contract creation and all following processes to be reflected in the budget. If your organization manages the project budget, this is an extremely important step. Otherwise, the contract and any change orders and invoices against the contract will not be displayed properly in the budget. To link items to budget:
a) Select all items by checking the box at the top left corner of the table.
b) Click Link to Budget.
c) Choose from one of the three options:
i) Select Create new budget line item and add links if there currently isn’t an appropriate budget item to house the line items of the contract. Choose which Budget thread the budget item will be created in and fill out the fields (WBS/Section, Description). A budget item will be created and your contract line items will be linked as subitems within it.
ii) Select Add links to existing budget items if there is already a budget item that can house your contract line items. Select the budget thread, then the budget item you want to link to. If you selected one line item in your contract to link back, then you have the option to link it to an existing budget subitem or create a new subitem. If you selected several line items, then the only option will be to create new subitems for all of the bid package line items.
iii) Select Remove link(s) without deleting existing budget item(s) to unlink the line items from the current budget subitems that they are linked to.
7. Click Save and Close to complete the process of linking bid package line items to the budget.
Publishing the Bid to the Bids and Plan Room #
- Click on Contract Mgmt in the navigation pane on the left side of your screen and then on Bid.
Note: Depending on your organization, there could be multiple menus for managing different bids (Design Services, Construction, e.g.). In this situation, you will follow Contract Mgmt > Bid > (Desired Page Name).
2. From the Manage Bid > Bid Info tab, add bid information such as a description of the project, pre-bid meeting info, and owner and architect/engineer companies. Required fields are marked with a red asterisk. Click Save when done.
3. From the Documents tab, specify where the bid documents are in the Documents tool.
a) Go to the Documents tab in Bid Management.
b) Choose the appropriate document group in the drop-down menu.
c) Check the box next to the folder(s) where the bid documents are located.
d) Click Save.
- From the Buyout Packages tab, select the package(s) you want associated with the bid. Click Save.
5. Now that you’ve selected the bid documents and packages, go to Review and Publish This gives you the opportunity to do a final review of the bid before publishing.
a) Go to Review and Publish tab
b) Click on the Publish button at the top right corner of the screen.
Inviting Bidders #
Note: If your organization’s bids are public, this step can be skipped.
- To invite Bidders:
a) Go to the Manage Invitations tab available on the left side of your Bid module screen.
b) Click on + Bidders on top right corner of the screen to add invitees from users.
c) Select users by typing into the smart selection box and checking the boxes by their names.
d) Save this action by clicking Add at the bottom right corner of the pop-up window.
2. To send the invitation, select all or check the box next to one or more bidders, then click
Note: The status of the invitation will be updated as you send it and as the invitee responds.
Publishing Addenda, Bid Set Revisions, and Extending Due Dates #
- To add Addenda:
a) Click on the Manage addenda tab on the left of the Bid screen.
b) Click + Addendum.
- On the Addendum Info page:
a) Add a subject & memo.
b) Select a new date if you want to extend the due date for the Bid.
c) Click Save on top right corner when done.
- Use the Documents tab to select new/more documents to be attached from the Documents tool. Examples may include drawing revisions or pre-bid meeting minutes. Click Save.
4. Review the addendum in Review and Publish tab.
a) Select your email notification choices by checking the boxes next to the options or add specific users to be emailed (outlined in green).
b) Click Publish when done.
Note: You can unpublish an addendum to make changes to it if needed and publish again. To unpublish an addendum, open it and click on Unpublish at the top right corner of the page on the Review and Publish tab.
Answering Bid RFIs and Q&A #
- To manage an RFI or Bidder Question:
a) Click on the Manage RFIs tab on the left of the Bid screen.
b) Select the question to be answered.
c) Add your response in the Response
d) Select the checkbox to notify all the subscribed contractors and add specific users to be emailed.
e) Click on Post Response to close the RFI.
2. To route the RFI:
a) Click on the Route button on top right of the Routing
b) Add a memo and select the user you want to route the RFI to from the drop down.
c) Click on Route to complete this action.
d) Optionally, select additional users from the drop-down to be notified by email.
Analyzing Bid Packages, Awarding the Bid, and Converting to Contract #
There are two ways to access the area for leveling/awarding the bid package:
i) Go to Contract Mgmt > Bid. Select the Bid (if multiple). Click Level Bid Packages tab and then select the Bid Package to analyze it.
ii) Go to Contract Mgmt > Bid Package. Select the bid package to analyze it.
iii) Go to the Analysis tab.
- Analyzing Bid Packages:
The Analysis tab will give you an overview of the submitted bids.
a)Clicking the company to view an individual bid submission.
b) You can download an Analysis Grid of the submitted bids by clicking the Calculator
c) You can add new vendors by clicking the Person + This would be for circumstances when you are entering a bid on the vendor’s behalf or are logging historic bid information.
- Awarding the Bid:
a) Click on the gray award icon to the far right of the bidder to which you want to award the bid. The gray icon will turn golden once you award the bid.
b) When the bid has been awarded, you can choose to notify the winner as well as all participants by clicking the green envelop icon that appears on the left of the winner’s name.
i) Bid Awarded By: Select a user or contact from the smart drop-down.
ii) Award Date: Select the award date.
iii) To send email notification to the bid winner and add custom message, check the box outlined in red. (Refer to the image below.)
iv) To send email notification to non-winners and add custom message, check the box outlined in green. (Refer to the image below.)
v) Click Save and Send to complete this action.
c) In the Approval tab, select the appropriate approval type from the drop-down menu and click Start Approval.
3. Creating Contract from Bid Package(s):
a) Go to Contract Mgmt > Bid Package.
b) Select the Bid Package(s) you want to create a contract from.
Note: You can create a single contract from multiple packages.
c) Click + Contract to create a contract using the selection.
