ACO Electronic Bidding Portal Vendors User Guide

Transcription

1 ACO Electronic Bidding Portal Vendors User Guide Version: 1 Date: 10 November

2 PRELIMINARY NOTE. This Quick Start Guide is intended as a summary reference for vendors accessing the ebid exchange portal for ACO. Additional details are also available in the online help that can be reached by clicking on the Help link in the upper right corner of the ACO ebid portal main page. Click on the Help link for additional info If you are still experiencing difficulties while accessing the portal; you can either log a help request (after you have clicked on the Help button; the help request is available for both registered and non-registered users) or send an to SHAPE at SHAPEJ8P&CCommon@shape.nato.int After you clicked on the Help link, registered or non-registered users can request support from the E-Bid Systems help desk 2

3 Section 1 ebid exchange How to apply for registration on the ACO Electronic Bidding Portal 3

4 REGISTRATION PROCESS To request registration on the ACO E-Bid portal, vendors should follow the process below: Starting from the ACO E-Bid portal main page ( click on the tab Register Click on Register to initiate the registration process Enter the following MANDATORY fields: Company Name and Address (Re-enter Address to confirm accuracy of data entered) then press the key Next: Mandatory fields are marked with a red asterisk *. Please ensure Address is entered twice for verification purposes 4

5 The system will check the address you entered. In the event the address you entered is already in the portal database, the system will return a warning message To reset/recovery password, please refer to Section 3 of this User Guide. After you have entered your Company Name and address and following successful verification from the system; you will receive the following confirmation from the system stating that an has been sent to your account (the same account/address that you entered to register to this portal) You can now access your account and you will find in your Inbox (if the is not in your Inbox, please also check in your Spam inbox before logging an issue) 5

6 Open the to confirm your request for registration on the ACO E-Bid portal After you have opened the that you received from the portal; you must click on the link that is provided within the text in order to confirm your request for registration. At this stage, you will also be prompted to select a password that will enable you, in case the registration process is successful, to access your company page on the portal Click on this link to continue with the registration process After you click on the link, you will be re-routed on the ACO E-Bid portal where you will be requested to enter a password 6

7 Enter here the password that you will use to access your company personal page on the ACO E-Bid portal upon successful completion of the registration process. Please ensure your password contains at least one UPPERCASE character and one NUMBER Once you have correctly entered your selected password; you will be able to fill in the electronic form provided by the portal in order to provide information referred to your company. Please remember to provide all information that is marked as mandatory (those marked with a red asterisk * ). The E-Bid portal prompts you with a message Your Registration is not complete! until you have filled in all required data. Fill all data required in the four sections of the registration form (Company; Contacts; Categories; Service Areas). Until your request is validated, your account approval status will show Pending When entering Company Details; please remember to add all valuable information/details. Some fields are mandatory (e.g. Company Name, Country of Registration, Full Address, DUNS number, etc.) some others are optional. You are strongly advised to populate also those fields marked as non-mandatory. Please enter phone/fax numbers with country/area codes and include a good description of your core business. When entering the annual revenue, please remember to specify to which currency the value refers to (e.g. USD, GBP, 7

8 EUR, other). After you have filled the Company data, click the button Update at the bottom of the page if you intend to commit the information you have entered. Enter all Company Details then press Update to commit info Instead, if you hit the button Cancel, you will be rerouted to the following page where you can select to either Edit the company information or to Delete the company record. If you hit the key Delete, your record will be deleted and you will need to start again the whole registration process. If you hit the key Edit, you will be able to modify the information referred to your request for registration. 8

9 This option will allow to modify/change/edit information If you click on Delete Company, the company record will be erased Once you have completed data submission/editing in the Company tab and after you have clicked on Update ; the page will refresh and on the screen it will appear the next tab that will allow you to insert company Contacts. Multiple company Contacts can be added. When creating company contacts, you are recommended NOT to choose to opt out of notifications since by doing this you will not receive solicitation invitations, notices, nor addenda. Mandatory fields for company contact creation are the First and Last Name and address. In the example below, two company contacts have been created. Once you are done with creation of contact, hit the key finished creating company contacts or simply click on the next tab Categories 9

10 After you entered all company contact details, please click on Categories The Categories tab will allow you to specify products and/or services your company has the ability to deliver/provide. Click on the Edit button and make your choice(s) by ticking the box(es) available. Once you complete your selection, just click the button Save Selected. The portal will also allow searching categories (by number and/or description, either full or partial) 10

11 Entered search string air returned 10 results Tick the box(es) to select Categories applicable to your business, then click on the grey button Save Selected Once you have clicked the Save Selected button, the system will prompt a message confirming your selection(s) have been saved 11

12 Category selection saved, you can now click on the tab Service Areas At this stage, you can click on the tab Service Areas (e.g. NATO country(ies) where your company has ability to deliver its services). The screen will show all NATO countries listed. To do your selection, click the button Edit. 12

13 Click on Edit to select countries where you company has ability to provide its services All countries are pre-selected. If you want to do a partial selection, untick the box 13

14 Untick this box to clear all fields, this will allow you to make a partial selection of countries All fields cleared, you can now select NATO country(ies) where you can provide company services 14

15 In this example, 2 countries are selected. Once done, press the button Save Selected Message confirmation from the system. If you filled in all four areas (Company, Contacts, Categories and Service Areas), your registration request is completed 15

16 At this stage you have completed your registration request and you can therefore log out. Once you have completed the registration process, your will see your account status changing to from Inactive to Active (to see the change you need to click on the Company tab) however the Account Approval status is still Pending until completion of the SHAPE review. Also, once you have completed and saved information required by the four registration areas/sections (Company, Contacts, Categories, Service Areas), the Portal automatically generates a notification to SHAPE. In the message the name of the company which applied for registration is shown. From receipt of the notification message, SHAPE takes approximately 3-4 working days to conduct the review process which may either result in approval, rejection or request for clarifications/additional information. In the event SHAPE would request clarifications/additional information required to conduct the review process; should the company not reply within 30 days from receipt of the request, SHAPE will erase the company record with no further notifications. Depending on the nature/extent of clarifications requested by SHAPE, you may be able to provide your reply by directly updating information through your company page on the E-Bid portal. You will then access it by using your credentials (username, password) to make required changes/updates and then save the tab(s) that you modified (e.g. Company, Contacts, etc.). It is good practice to confirm via to SHAPE (SHAPEJ8P&CCommon@shape.nato.int) that you have submitted all requested clarifications, this way to enable SHAPE to continue the review of your application. 16

17 Upon successful completion of the registration process following SHAPE review/approval; you will receive a notification message (please check both your Inbox and Spam folder) stating your request has been approved. Otherwise, by same mean, you will be notified that your registration request has been rejected. 17

18 Once your account is approved, you will have ability to access information referred to the available business opportunities posted on the ACO E-Bid portal and to participate to those that may be of your interest. 18

19 Section 2 ebid exchange Bidding related procedures 19

20 PRELIMINARY NOTE. At the time this guide is published and subject to future changes/updates; the ACO E-Bid portal has ability to support - via electronic means - the conduct of competitive procedures by the following ACO Commands: SHAPE (Mons, Belgium) NATO CIS Group (Mons, Belgium) JFC Naples (Italy) JFC Brunssum (The Netherlands) HQ AIRCOM (Raimstein, Germany) HQ LANDCOM (Izmir, Turkey) HQ MARCOM (Northwood, United Kingdom) NAGSF (Sigonella, Italy) Solicitations posted on the ACO E-Bid portal are either: Public - Solicitation will appear to website visitors who have not logged in. Vendors must login (and, therefore, have access credentials to the portal following completion of the registration process) to download documents, ask questions, declare intent to bid, or bid online and are automatically added to the Bidders List. Public Invitations are generally used for Restricted and/or Formal Biddings. Private, Invite by Company - Only invited Vendors that are included on the Bidders List will be able to view the Solicitation after they log in. Although regularly publicized, International Biddings competed via the ACO E-Bid portal are issued via this procedure. In this case, the issuing Contracting Office invites those companies that same Office has already identified at the time the Notification of Intent was submitted to the NATO Delegations. Additional firms can be added to the bidders list provided the firm receives a nomination by the NATO Delegation of the country where the firm is registered. Firms not already registered in the E-Bid portal will have to complete the registration process and be formally added to the bidders list by the issuing Contracting Office (subject to receipt of a nomination from the relevant NATO Delegation) before they can gain visibility to the solicitation documents and be able to compete, if interested. Information about ACO business opportunities (current, planned) is regularly publicized via internet means. For more details, please visit the ACO J8 Acquisition Management Website at URL: 20

21 RESPOND TO A SOLICITATION. The ACO E-Bid portal supports any type of competitive process foreseen in the Bi-SC Procurement Directive thus including Request for Information (RFI). Users should regularly check the ACO E-Bid portal as some solicitations are public and therefore they get automatically posted on the tab Solicitations. The example below shows there are no public solicitation available at the time the screenshot was taken No Public solicitations available on the portal However, as solicitations can be also set as Private, Invite by company, users may want to regularly log-in first and then check on the tab Solicitations. Although Private, Invite by company solicitations are notified to registered vendors that are invited by the Contracting Officer to participate; it is good practice to regularly visit your company webpage on the E- Bid portal to double-check 21

22 The company logged into its personal page (same day as screen shot above) and found that it had been invited to participate to a solicitation (solicitation type = Private, invite by Company Normally, companies invited to participate to solicitations Private, invite by Company do also receive a notification via . To be consistent with the example, below the that was sent by the Contracting Officer to the same vendor (alfa634@yahoo.it) 22

23 notification from the Contracting Officer stating the company is invited to participate to the solicitation. Click on the link to read the message Once you click on the link, the message will provide general information regarding the solicitation. Click on this link to access the solicitation on the E-Bid portal Depending on how the solicitation has been setup by the Contracting Officer; you may need to acknowledge receipt of the notification message by clicking on this link 23

24 After you click on the receipt acknowledgement link; the portal will return this confirmation. You can now close this page and return to your Inbox to view the solicitation documents (you will need to click on the link to the solicitation documents provided in the notification otherwise simply log in the portal with your access credentials and go to the tab Solicitations You must log in the portal with your access credentials and go to the tab Solicitations to access the solicitation documents, to express your Intent to Bid, to participate to solicitation Events, submit a bid, etc. Some actions (e.g. Intent to Bid, Attendance to Events) may not require user actions as this depends on how the solicitation was setup by the Contracting Officer 24

25 After you logged in with your credential, you will have access to the full set of information referred to the solicitation. Likewise in the example below and depending on how the solicitation was setup by the Contracting Officer; you may be required to manifest your Intent to Bid (by ticking the circle corresponding to your choice, entering a comment (if any) and click on Save). Make your choice then click on Save. You will still have the possibility to make updates if needed For same solicitation example, you may be required to manifest your intent to participate to Solicitation Events (e.g. site visits, etc.). Click on Edit to make your choice. You may need to see specific documents that refer to the solicitation event(s) such as instructions, attendance forms, etc. The screen will provide you key information referred to the event(s) 25

26 Click on Edit to insert your selection Click on this link to see Event related documentation Make your choice then click on Save. You can make changes/updates until event cut-off date/time 26

27 Once you submitted your intent to bid (if needed) and your intent to participate to events (if any); you can click on the tab Documents to see bidding documentation. Then click on the link (bold text,underlined) to open/download copy of the solicitation documents The solicitation may provide a placeholder to submit questions. Click on the tab Questions to submit a question (you will also see the questions cut-off date/time) and to see the answers/clarifications submitted to the Contracting Officer 27

28 You can see Questions cutoff date/time. To submit one or more questions, click on the button Ask Question Type in your question(s), once done click on Save 28

29 When answer is provided, it will show here Once the answer is made available by the Contracting Officer, you will receive an notification in your inbox. Click on the link to access the answer/clarification text. 29

30 Question answered, click on the link to see the answer 30

31 You can also see answers to questions by logging in your personal page on the E-Bid portal. Then go to the solicitation, click on the tab Questions and see all questions and answers. You will also see when the answer to each question was posted In order to submit your response to a solicitation, click on the tab Bid. You have ability to edit your response until Bid Closing date/time. Depending on how the solicitation was setup by the issuing Contracting Office; in order to respond to solicitations, you may be required to upload documentation and/or to answer to questions. Typically, response to solicitation will require a technical submission (so-called RFI) and price submission. Per each category (technical and price), information/documents may need to be uploaded by the company via single and/or multiple files. However, each uploaded file/document is not to exceed 1Gb in size. Therefore, if the file/document you wish to upload is larger than 1 Gb; you should first split it into multiple files/documents and then proceed with uploading them, one by one, using the placeholders (RFI and/or Pricing) as built in the solicitation by the issuing Contracting Office to enable your bid response to be submitted. Should you experience any issue at this stage, please use the help/support contacts provided in the preliminary note at page 2 of this guide. Bid/proposals electronically submitted in response to solicitation posted on the ACO E-Bid portal are automatically sealed by the E-Bid portal when solicitation has been set as sealed by the Contracting Office (e.g. in the event of International Competitive Bidding). Therefore, information contained in the bids is not accessible by the issuing Contracting Office before the Bid Closing Date/Time. 31

32 In this example, the vendor will have to perform both type of activities as both technical (socalled RFI ) and Pricing tabs require upload of documentation and answers to questions. Enter all information and upload all documents required by the solicitation, then scroll down and click on the button I certify my agreement to the stated terms and conditions for this bid, and that I am authorized to submit this bid on behalf of my company then confirm your intent to respond to the solicitation by clicking on Submit Bid Enter your Comment (if any); Upload Technical Information; Enter your response to Question(s) continued after scroll down 32

33 Enter your response to Question(s); Upload Price Table; Insert Unit Price(s) and Comment(s) to entered unit prices (if any) once done, click on the box to confirm you are authorized to submit a response to the solicitation then click on Submit Bid The portal will provide a Bid Receipt to confirm your submission 33

34 A Bid Receipt is generated by the Portal Scroll-down and click on Edit Bid if you intend to make changes to your submission. You can edit your response until Bid Closing Date/Time 34

35 Click on Edit Bid if you want to make changes to your initial submission In the event of technical issues experienced while submitting a response to a solicitation using the ebid portal; please submit a support request through the Help menu that is available on the top right corner of the ebid portal (Home Page), after you have completed the log-in process; or you may dial the ebid Systems Contact Us phone number: or and request assistance/technical support. You are strongly recommended to account adequate time to properly complete the bid submission process and to include sufficient contingency time to address technical issues for resolution in the remote, unlucky event a technical issue would occur. 35

36 Section 3 ebid exchange Vendor Admin Functions 36

37 HOW TO PERFORM A PASSWORD RESET/RECOVERY. Go to the ACO E-Bid portal main page then enter your address in the Forgot Password section. Then click on Reset Password After you click on Reset Password, enter your inbox and open the received by the portal. You then need to access your company page on E-bid using the temporary password received by the system and, at the same time, enter a new password of your choice 37

38 HOW TO EDIT/CHANGE COMPANY INFORMATION. Enter your company page on the ACO E-Bid portal using your access credentials. Go to the tab My Account to make changes edits you may require on any of the different four subtabs (Company, Contacts, Categories, Service Areas). To make changes, scroll down on the relevant screen/page then click the Edit button. After you perform changes, you need to click on the button Update to confirm your changes otherwise simply click on Cancel to leave information/data as it was before. 38

39 You can either Edit your company profile or Delete it from the E-Bid portal vendors list. Click on Edit to make any change you may deem necessary. If you delete your company record, you need to restart the registration process from the beginning to request your company to be again registered on the portal Once you have done all changes/updates, click on Update. Otherwise, click on Cancel to leave information as is 39