IFAS: Bid Online

Bid Online streamlines the bid process to create efficiency for organizations and their vendors, and lowers costs through greater product selection. Bid Online addresses every step of the exchange of bid information between organization and vendor, from vendor notification to response assistance to bid evaluation. Bid Online is fully integrated with IFAS Purchasing and Bid/Quote Management.

Bid Online’s interface walks administrators through the creation of a bid, automating steps of the process based on the information provided. Organizations can improve productivity by reducing data entry, and create efficiency by automating aspects of the bid process.

An important function of Bid Online is to increase the number of vendor responses for bids. Bid Online accomplishes this by providing more visibility for bids via an external Website. Bid Online also automatically notifies vendors of new postings, amendments, and awards via e-mail. Finally, because vendors continually update the database, the list of potential bidders is always growing. With a larger pool of bidders, organizations can choose the best combination of quality and cost.

Features

  • Integrated with Bid/Quote Management and Purchasing modules
  • Provides external Web location for bid placement; acts as interface between buyers and vendors
  • Bids can be set up for automatic display on the external website based on status and type
  • Buyers can view all bids or only those assigned to them
  • Buyers can view status to see how many vendors have responded to a particular bid
  • Supports amendments, including notification to responding bidders and acknowledgement when amendment has been reviewed
  • Automates encryption and decryption of sealed bids
  • Responses can be directly entered online or uploaded as attachments
  • Registered vendors can create and modify their vendor profile and contact information, including the list of commodities for which they would like notification
  • Vendors can submit questions to the responsible buyer, who can then post the answer to all vendors, or privately to the asking vendor
  • Authorization security permits access between only vendor and buyer

Requirements

Bid Online requires existing 7i architecture. Bid Online sites must be live and operational on the 7i version of Bid/Quote Management and Purchasing modules. Web functionality resides within the Dashboard Portal Framework. Attachments require Documents Online. Supported browsers include Internet Explorer 6.0+ and Netscape 7.1+ for Windows, Netscape 7.1+ and Safari for Macintosh. Clients must license either the 5-digit NIGP or 8-digit UNSPSC commodity code set.