For Bid Express owner-agencies
In this article:
You can lock down your solicitations to only a select group of vendors and hide it from the public's view by setting the solicitation option for restricted bidders.
If your solicitation is restricted, you must invite vendors to bid on the solicitation and decide which components you'll allow the public to see. The list of invited vendors can't be saved; you must enter the list each time.
- Vendors must already have a Bid Express or Infotech® account in order to be invited to bid.
- You can add vendors to bid after the solicitation's been advertised.
Publicly post
You can allow non-invited vendors to see the General Info section and selected components of a solicitation.
With the solicitation options open and the Restricted option selected, select the Publicly post check box. Each component that is eligible to be publicly posted will have an option check box available when you edit the component.
Invite vendors
The Invited Vendors section is available on all solicitations (restricted, invitation-only and public solicitations) and is a great tool for engaging with your bidders about your advertisements. Vendors receive notifications differently based on the status of your solicitation:
- Draft Solicitations - vendors added when your solicitation is in this state receive an invitation to bid once the solicitation is advertised.
- Advertised Solicitations - vendors added when your solicitation is in this state receive an invitation immediately after being added.
If your solicitation is restricted and requires an invitation to participate in bidding, you must add those vendors to the Invited Vendors table for them to gain access to select your solicitation for bidding.
If you add a vendor to the Invited Vendor section on a non-restricted solicitation, you are promoting the solicitation to them. This action is entirely optional.
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With your solicitation open, click Invite in the Invited Vendors table and choose between Vendors, Shortlists, or Groups built in the Vendor Directory. The Bid Express service opens the Invite Vendor to Bid window.
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If inviting a Vendor, enter the business name in the Business Name field. If the vendor is not already listed on Bid Express, you will have the option to invite them via email.
- If you’ve already invited the vendor but they have not accepted their invite, the business name will not appear in the search as they have not become a business in the service’s database of vendors.
- If inviting a Group or Shortlist, select the name of the group you generated in Vendor Directory or shortlist you have created post-bid opening to invite a set of vendors to your solicitation.
The Bid Express service adds the vendor to the list and displays its contact information. Vendors that are invited to the service from this section will appear with an “Invite Sent” status. Once they have activated their accounts, they will appear in the list with their business address and contact information.
You can remove a vendor by clicking the X for that vendor in the Invited Vendors table.
- If this was before the solicitation was advertised, click OK in the confirmation window.
- After the solicitation is advertised, the Withdraw Vendor Invitation window opens. Enter a reason for the invitation withdrawal and click Withdraw. The reason will be sent to the vendor.
You can see vendors that have been added or removed from the solicitation in the solicitation history.
Public components
If your owner-agency restricted your solicitation to invited vendors and selected the check box in the solicitation options to make components public, you may see a Public check box when you are editing a component.
Select the check box to make the component visible to all vendors.
Vendors who were not invited to bid on the solicitation will be able to see the component, but cannot submit a solicitation.