Fluor Procurement. RFx SmartSource. Bidder s Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTACTS: SMARTSOURCE SUPPORT STRUCTURE AND WHERE TO GET HELP... 4 SmartSource Bidding Company Technical System Support Iasta... 4 Fluor SmartSource Administration... 4 FLUOR RECOMMENDED BIDDER ROLES... 5 Role Type as Defined by the SmartSource Tool... 5 STEPS TO PLACING AN ONLINE BID A QUICK SUMMARY BEFORE YOU BEGIN... 6 STEP 1 RECEIVING THE ONLINE BID INVITATION... 7 STEP 2 LOGGING IN... 8 Navigating and Understanding the Tool... 9 STEP 3 DOWNLOADING ATTACHMENTS AND REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS... 11 Typical View of the RFx Package information details from the Main Page... 11 Downloading the Attachments... 13 STEP 4 REVIEWING THE PACKAGE INFORMATION MATERIALS... 16 Package Information... 16 Defined Labels... 16 Related Links Package Forum and Timeline... 17 STEP 5 COMPLETE THE BID ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FORM... 19 STEP 6 SUBMITTING QUESTIONS THROUGH A FORUM... 23 STEP 7 REVIEW SPECIFICATIONS, PREPARE BID AND COMPLETE THE ONLINE FORMS... 26 Recap... 26 STEP 8 ENTER PRICING INFORMATION VIA GO TO THE LIVE EVENT OPTION... 27 STEP 9 COMPLETE AND SUBMIT YOUR BID RESPONSE... 30 QUALIFIED BIDDER SPECTATOR ROLE... 31 RESETTING YOUR PASSWORD OR USER NAME... 32 3

CONTACTS: SMARTSOURCE SUPPORT STRUCTURE AND WHERE TO GET HELP SMARTSOURCE BIDDING COMPANY TECHNICAL SYSTEM SUPPORT IASTA Iasta Help Desk Support - Tel +1.317.594.8600 ext. 1 Send email to: support@iasta.com Note: Depending upon your location, Iasta provides various international phone numbers. Visit http://www.iasta.com/contact-us for more information. FLUOR SMARTSOURCE ADMINISTRATION For general overall administration support, Users can submit assistance to the Fluor SmartSource Global Administrator at: smartsource.support@fluor.com 4

FLUOR RECOMMENDED BIDDER ROLES This umentation is provided as a guide to assist you as a bidding company user with Fluor s electronic bidding with the SmartSource bidding tool. As a qualified bidder, your roles are not limited to the ones mentioned below. They are merely guidelines that are intended to make sure that bidding on Fluor s RFx packages are fairly and successfully executed in the process of preparing your bid responses. ROLE TYPE AS DEFINED BY THE SMARTSOURCE TOOL Qualified Bidder A qualified bidder (supplier / contractor) is one who is ready to place a bid and respond to an RFx package. When this user is invited as a qualified bidder to bid on an RFx package and log on to SmartSource, this user will have access rights to review the package information from the bidder s point of view and will be able to provide a response by entering a bid or completing surveys and forms. There are situations where a qualified bidder is also a spectator. In that case, the qualified bidder is given access rights that are appropriate for the Bidder Company User and is able to view the package process, and see the linked qualified bidder's submitted information. The spectator cannot enter information, only view or review it. Basic Responsibilities Receive and review email RFx Package Information Bid Invitation Where to get help Download and install SmartSource Software (web portal) Download and review attachments and read instructions to bidders Review all package information materials Respond to survey Respond to bid acknowledgment Upload uments Submit forum questions Password reset Note: The Fluor Procurement professional (Buyer / Contract Admin), is the package administrator who originally creates the RFx Package for bidding. All packages have an owner / sponsor at Fluor. The owner has full administrative access to the RFx Package and is generally responsible for making certain that it has an up-to-date status, and also meets the requirements outlined in this umentation and meets Fluor s basic practices for conducting electronic bidding. 5

STEPS TO PLACING AN ONLINE BID A QUICK SUMMARY BEFORE YOU BEGIN The following steps will be discussed in detail in this guide: Step 1: Receiving the Online Bid Invitation Even though requirements may vary from one Fluor project to another, the overall process is the same. Once you receive your invitation to bid, you will be ready to start bidding process. Step 2: Logging In Upon receipt of the invitation to bid email notification, you will receive your login ID and password along with the navigation link to the SmartSource website. Step 3: Downloading Attachments and Review Instructions to Bidders There will likely be many attachments, surveys / specifications, and sample uments to download in order to prepare your bid. Read the Instructions to Bidders first. This is your guide to successfully submitting a response. Step 4: Reviewing the Package Information Materials After downloading files in Step 3 and reading the instructions to bidders, you will need to review the entire package information materials completely before preparing to bid. Step 5: Complete the Bid Acknowledgement Form In the Survey area, you will need to complete this form indicating whether you will submit or unable to bid. Step 6: Submitting Questions through a Forum Fluor recommends that all package clarifications are obtained through the Forum tool. Personal emails are not acceptable methods of obtaining clarifications. Step 7: Review Specifications, Prepare Bid and Complete the Online Surveys and Forms Review all package requirements completely to make certain all forms and surveys are completed. Step 8: Enter Pricing Information via Go to the Live Event Option One of the attachments that you will receive is an Excel Worksheet where you can develop your bid prices for line items on the package. This worksheet will be used to upload your bid prices per line items. Note: It is recommended that you save any Excel files in.xlsx format (Word 2010) before submitting. Please Do Not use a password to protect the file or encrypt it. The SmartSource Webportal site is secure and the bidding process that Fluor uses as the Package Type (Sealed Bid - Reverse) does not allow other bidders to see your bids. Step 9: Complete and Submit Your Bid Response Make certain that all surveys, forms, and bid lot items are completed before you submit your bid and finish the process. 6

STEP 1 RECEIVING THE ONLINE BID INVITATION The bid invitation email from Fluor s SmartSource, Invitation to Bid on an RFx package, will contain a login ID and password (Figure 1). As a bidder, you will need to follow the instructions given inside this email in order to navigate and setup the SmartSource online bidding tool initially, if not already done so. There is no installation required when using SmartSource s Internet site (referred to as a web portal). A link is provided in the Invitation to Bid Item 1 (see Figure 1). Therefore, there is no need to copy the software to your desktop / computer. The link navigates you to SmartSource s Web Portal site which is a lighter version than the desktop version. Figure 1: Example Invitation to Bid Email The Web Portal is the recommended version for use by Bidding Companies / Contractors by Fluor. It only has the features available that are required as a bidder or spectator to place a bid on an RFx package. If you have trouble accessing the SmartSource web portal, contact Iasta at support@iasta.com or Fluor SmartSource.Support@fluor.com. When contacting Fluor s support, indicate the RFx Package ID that you have been invited to bid. You are now ready to bid online. 7

STEP 2 LOGGING IN After navigating and locating the site as shown on the email (http://fluorproduction.smartsourceportal.com), enter the provided user name and temporary password to login and access the RFx Package(s) you have been invited to bid on. Figure 2: SmartSource Web Portal Site Login Page Note: If this is your first time logging on, you will only use the emailed temporary password once. You will be prompted to change your password to a permanent one immediately after logging on. You will then use your newly created password each time you log in. There may be situations where you might forget your user name and or password; under the login box, there are two selections that you can select to obtain either your user name or password this is process will be faster than contacting Iasta and or Fluor support. Password Rules: Password age maximum days: 90 Password timeout: 30 min Minimum Password Length: 8 characters Password History: 10 passwords SOX Complexity: Enabled Password must contain: Capitalized letter Lowercase letter At least one number At least eight characters in length When changing password every 90 days, passwords cannot be used as previously used password from the last 10 times (avoid recycling of passwords). 8

NAVIGATING AND UNDERSTANDING THE TOOL Once logged in, the homepage should look similar to Figure 3, below. Figure 3: Homepage / Navigation Screen The left side navigation panel is used to assist you in navigating through the package. Current Packages will display all current or active RFx packages that you have been invited to participate in. Items that have not been started will be indicated as shown. Historical Projects is a list of all the closed packages that you have participated in as a bidder. You will be able to access the historical information, but the files and data will be locked and you will not be able to make changes. Training is a set of uments that are bundled together and is accessible to you. At this time, please disregard the idemos for bidder, as this training video refers to an online auction type, which Fluor does not participate in. My Profile is where you can maintain your user and company profile. It is optional to fill in this information but it is very helpful to have current contact information available for future use on other RFx Packages. My Password is the area where you can change your password if needed. Help is a library of help topics / uments that are for reference use only (Figure 4). 9

Figure 4: Help Screen Select your preferred language from the drop down menu (Figure 5). The screen pages are laid out as shown in this guide. However, the questions, prompts, and main instructions from the tool will be in the language selected. Figure 5: Language Selection Drop Down Menu Figure 6: Typical Icons / Shortcuts / Toolbar Buttons 10

STEP 3 DOWNLOADING ATTACHMENTS AND REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS Once logged in, the RFx package will be listed under Current Packages on the main page (Figure 7). Figure 7: Current RFx Package Listing TYPICAL VIEW OF THE RFX PACKAGE INFORMATION DETAILS FROM THE MAIN PAGE The main page screen (Figure 8) shows the RFx package information, project timeline, related links, lot information, surveys and attachments (This can be multiple attachments. The example below shows the Fluor SmartSource excel bidding template to be discussed further). All attachments can be downloaded for the particular issued RFx package. Scroll down to Attachments, and be sure to double click on the attachment and read the Instructions to Bidders first. 11

Figure 8: Main Page Screen 12

DOWNLOADING THE ATTACHMENTS Files under the Attachments header is the area where all external uments are placed to download and review. This area will contain reference umentation which is important for review such as the technical uments and the Fluor SmartSource RFx Excel Bidding Template (the RFx Bill of Material for the Package Template is an example for this guide). You will use the Excel Bidding Template to enter pricing and other specific information for the bid. Note: Other common attachments may include product specifications, cost breakdown sheets for submitting itemized bidding for standard lots, etc. To open any of the attachments posted, click the hyperlink on the attachment file name. You will receive the dialogue box to either open or save the attachment: Figure 9: Attachment Listing In the attachments section of the RFx Package Information page, click the Download Multiple Attachments link. This will open the Download Multiple Attachments window (Figure 10). You may select individual attachments to download, or click Select All to download all RFQ Package attachments. Then click Continue. Important: You must download the 02-Fluor SmartSource Excel Bidding Template. This is the quotation form that you will complete and upload into the RFx package as your priced bid. You will receive a confirmation that your selected attachments are ready for download. Click on the Download Now link to save the ZIP file of attachments to your computer for review and completion of the RFx Excel Bidding Template. 13

Note: Naming and number of this bidding template will differ from Fluor projects to projects. These labels in this guide are examples only. Figure 10: "Download Multiple Attachments" Window After you have downloaded and saved your attachments to your computer, locate and open the downloaded RFx Excel Bidding Template (Figure 11). Note: It is important that you only enter information in the cells specified by the buyer (as denoted in the red boxes in Figure 11 below). If you add or delete any columns or rows or edit the formatting, then you may receive an error message when you try to upload your bid, and your bid will not be accepted. Also, Unit Price column cannot have alpha characters keep the format to General. If you don t want to enter a Unit Price, enter a Zero. Once you complete the required sections of the RFx form, then you must save the file back to your computer so that you can upload the saved file into the RFx package section as described further in this guide. 14

Figure 11: RFx Excel Bidding Template 15

STEP 4 REVIEWING THE PACKAGE INFORMATION MATERIALS PACKAGE INFORMATION Figure 12: Package Information Window DEFINED LABELS Package Name the name assigned to the RFx package by the buyer / contract administrator (sponsor). Sponsor The name of the company that created the RFx Package (owner). Package Type Fluor utilizes the Sealed Bid (Reverse). Note: Excel Bidding is enabled, which allows the uploading of priced bids from an Excel worksheet by the bidder. A Sealed Bid (reverse) enables bidders to use SmartSource to submit a one-time private bid. Bids are not viewed by other bidders. Start Time is the date and time specified by the sponsor company buyer / contract administrator as the package issued date. End Time is the date and time specified by the sponsor company buyer / contract administrator when bidders must stop submitting bids. Package Status Manually assigned by the sponsor buyer / contract administrator as published for bid when bidding can occur. This status is used when the owner / sponsor issues the package for bid. 16

Package Description is the detailed description of the package. All package attendees (including bidders) will be able to view the package description after the package has been published for bid. This is an optional field; therefore not every sponsor buyer / contract administrator may utilize this. RELATED LINKS PACKAGE FORUM AND TIMELINE Under Related Links, bidders may post questions to the package administrator (buyer) in the View the Package s Forum (Figure 13). This area should be used for all bid clarifications or questions that the buyer or you as a bidder may have about the material / uments included in the package. From the homepage, click on the View the Package s Forum link. Questions and answers may be posted by clicking on the Submit an Answer / Question to the Forum link. A text box will appear in which to type answers and or question(s). Additionally, if the sponsor has turned on the ability for you to add Attachments, the Attach File will display, if need be. Note that only one attachment file is permitted per forum question. Note: Questions should be very specific, as the event administrator will respond directly to you upon submission. Also, the response from the Package Owner can also be published to ALL Attendees / Bidders, and attachments associated with that response will also be published to all. 17

Figure 13: Package Forum 18

STEP 5 COMPLETE THE BID ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FORM The Survey attached in this example is utilized for most Fluor projects: the Acknowledgement Letter Survey. After you click on the survey title link, the selected survey will open within the screen. You will have several available options to use to respond: 1) Respond online via the Edit Response button 2) Respond offline (by exporting the survey to an Excel file to work offline and then importing your response when complete). 3) Depending on the Survey, you will have the option to Upload all other Attachments to a Survey you can attach more than one attachment file. The recommended method is to respond online. Click on in order to proceed with responding to the survey questions (Figure 14). Figure 14: Survey-Bid Acknowledgement First, there are Navigation links to take you to certain sections of the survey, in addition to Commands, you may Save changes, Cancel, or Submit responses. Saving provides you the ability to continue working on the survey at a later time, or cancel changes and exit to revert back to your last saved response (Figure 15). 19

Figure 15: Saving Changes There may be various question formats within each survey (Figure 16). You will typically see multiple choice questions with optional comment boxes as shown in the questions. There are no character limits enforced in these comment boxes. Figure 16: Question Formats 20

Any survey question marked with a red asterisk (*) (Figure 17) is required to be answered. You will not be able to submit your survey response until all required questions have been answered. As mentioned earlier, some questions may also allow you to attach a file to your response. To attach a file, click the link titled Attach a file to this answer, and then browse for your ument in the Add Attachment window and click Attach. Multiple files are allowed to be attached. Figure 17: Answering a Survey Question When you have completed the survey, click on Save, and if you are finished, you can Submit your responses with the attached file/s. (Figure 18) 21

Figure 18: Submitting your Response Note: Once you click this link, you will receive a confirmation that your survey response has been submitted. If you missed any required questions, you will be given an error message with the question number(s) that you missed. Once you have submitted your survey response, you will not be able to edit it. Repeat these steps for all surveys listed within the RFx Package. 22

STEP 6 SUBMITTING QUESTIONS THROUGH A FORUM As previously mentioned, the RFx Package Forum will allow you to submit RFx-related questions to the package administrator (buyer/contract administrator). The buyer will then re-post your question and the answer to all bidders, if relevant. Note: Only the buyer/contract administrator or a user within the sponsor s company will see the forum question submitter s information, i.e. your name and company. The Q&A displayed in the Forum will be posted anonymously to other bidders. Be careful not to put private information in the body of your question so as to not reveal your identify to other bidders. To submit a question to the forum, click on the View the Package s Forum link under the Related Links section of the RFx Package Information page (Figure 19). Figure 19: Related Links The Package Forum will open within the screen. Note: The forum will generally close with the RFx Package due date, and the forum closing date/time will be indicated in this screen (Figure 20). Click the Submit a question to the forum link. This will open the Submit Forum Question window. Enter your question in the text field and click Submit. You will receive a confirmation within the window stating that Your question was submitted to the forum. If you want to submit another question, repeat the steps above. 23

Figure 20: Submit Forum Question Process Once the buyer/contract administrator responds to your forum question, you will see it listed in the Package Forum screen under the Related Links section of the RFx Package Information page. The buyer s/contract administrator s response will be marked as ANSWER as shown below. Note: If you still have a question related to this forum thread, you will need to submit a new forum question by clicking the Submit a question to the forum link shown below. 24

Figure 21: Package Forum Answered Questions 25

STEP 7 REVIEW SPECIFICATIONS, PREPARE BID AND COMPLETE THE ONLINE FORMS From the previous Steps 3 and 6, you have already learned how to download attachments and respond to surveys; therefore, make sure that you read all the attachments and as for the surveys, make sure you attach required uments or respond with all required information before submitting. Once surveys are submitted, you cannot re-submit unless the Fluor sponsor / owner (Package Administrator) returns the surveys to Not Submitted status. Figure 22: Reviewing Specifications RECAP As shown in Figure 22 a sponsor may include one or more surveys to solicit information from you in the form of an RFI, RFP, RFQ, general questionnaire, or agreement. Surveys typically include general questions about your company, specifications of goods and services to be provided, expertise, and other questions that are important to the sponsor. After you submit your responses they will be analyzed and scored. Note: When you finish preparing your survey response and submit it to SmartSource, you cannot revise your response after submitting it. When you respond to a survey you can enter answers online in the Survey Editor on the portal site or import them from an Excel spreadsheet. To import answers from an Excel Spreadsheet, you must export the survey from SmartSource, enter your response in the same file that you edited (without adding, removing, or renaming worksheets, columns, or cells) and then import the same file. For further information, you can always click on required by SmartSource. for details on the various functions, features, and rules 26

STEP 8 ENTER PRICING INFORMATION VIA GO TO THE LIVE EVENT OPTION Fluor utilizes and enables SmartSource s Excel bidding which allows you to download the attached RFx Excel spreadsheet, review the line items to bid and place your bid prices accordingly on an attached Excel spreadsheet. Once the attachment has been downloaded and filled in, you can then upload the file. The bids must be contained in an Excel spreadsheet with a very specific format where columns are specified for field data entry. The following is a guide on how to utilize the provided spreadsheet to submit pricing on line items. Click on the Go to the Live Event link within the Related Links section of the RFx Package Information page (Figure 23). Figure 23: Selecting the "Go to Live Event" Option Note: Pricing must only be submitted after you have completed all of the surveys listed in the RFx package. Note: If you attempt to open attachments from a Mac, you may see a window with options to cancel or save. If you choose Save, the ument will appear on your desktop as an MPEG file. After you save the file to your desktop, you can select the file, then select File > Get Info to change the application will need to be used to open the file. The Go to Live Event screen will open (Figure 24). The Closing Time lists the bid due date, and the Time Left shows how much time you have left until the bid due date. Under Administrator Messages, any messages created by the buyer that are applicable to the specific RFQ package will be displayed. Click when ready to submit your final bid. Note: Your bid must be submitted on the same RFx Excel spreadsheet you downloaded from the RFx Package Attachments (see Step 3 on the Downloading Attachments). 27

Figure 24: "Go to Live Event" Screen After you click, then click Browse to locate your completed RFx Excel spreadsheet file attachment saved to your computer. Once the file is selected, click Submit. You will be asked to confirm that you want to submit the selected file as your bid - Click OK. Figure 25: Uploading the Excel Spreadsheet File Once you submit your bid, you will receive a confirmation message that your bid was recorded. Note: As long as the RFx package is still open, you will be free to improve upon your previously submitted bid. The Bid History View section in the bottom of the Live Event screen will list all of your submitted bids and the values of those bids. 28

Figure 26: Bid History View Important: You cannot submit a bid with a value higher than your previous bid. The system will give you an error message and will not record your bid. Figure 27: Error Message If you made a mistake on your submitted bid and need to resubmit a higher bid amount, then you must contact the sponsor / owner and provide the error message you received. The sponsor will be able to delete your previous bid, allowing you to resubmit a corrected bid. 29

STEP 9 COMPLETE AND SUBMIT YOUR BID RESPONSE If Steps 1-8 have been followed and the following checklist has been signed off by you, then you have completed and submitting your bid response: Have you received an online bid invitation? The email notifying that you have been invited to bid on an RFx package is an important item in that it identifies the bid ID number and the description of RFx Package. It also indicates the package administrator (owner / buyer / contract administrator) that has placed you on the package as a qualified bidder. Also, first time users are provided the link to the SmartSource website, along with user name and password. Have you downloaded and reviewed all the uments and completed the Instructions to Bidders? Have you read and submitted the Bid Acknowledgment and submitted it? Have you responded to all the Surveys and Forms, and submitted them, and made sure that you clicked on I am Finished Submit my Responses as show below? Have you completed the Excel Bidding Worksheet (spreadsheet) and filled in all the information required by the Package Administrator (owner / buyer / contract administrator)? Have you submitted your priced bid via the related links Go to the Live Event? Have you received the following message indicating that a successful bid was submitted? 30

QUALIFIED BIDDER SPECTATOR ROLE There are situations where you as a qualified bidder can also be a spectator and or have someone in your company assigned that access level. That is, access rights are given where it might be appropriate for someone in your bidding company to be able to view the package process and see the linked qualified bidder s submitted information. Qualified bidder spectators cannot enter information, only view or review it. This may be needed for your bidding company when an evaluation of a bid is required prior to submission. Note: When a package has been created and or modified by the package administrator (buyer), all attendees to that package will be assigned access level rights that affect the ability to respond or view the package. You will need to notify Fluor s Package Administrator to assign this access level for the package. Figure 28 shows access levels that a Fluor RFx Package Administrator can grant. Figure 28: Available Package Access Levels 31

RESETTING YOUR PASSWORD OR USER NAME The following is the recommended process on how to rest your password. From the Web Portal Main Login page (Figure 29), you can click on Forgot Password to self reset your Password. If required, you can also click on Forgot User Name. After clicking on Forgot Password, a system email will be sent with a temporary password indicating the following: Please note that the temporary password listed on the email will only be used once. Immediately after logging on for the first time, you will be prompted to change your password to a permanent password, which will be used moving forward. Figure 29: Main Login Page Next, you will be taken to the Change Temporary or Expired Web Portal page to enter the temporary password and then enter a new password. Figure 30: Change Temporary or Expired Password Web Portal 32

When logged in to the Web Portal version from the homepage, you can reset your passwords at any time by clicking on My Password (Figure 31). Figure 31: Resetting your Password from the Homepage Password Rules: Password age maximum days: 90 Password timeout: 30 min Minimum Password Length: 8 characters Password History: 10 passwords SOX Complexity: Enabled Password must contain: Capitalized letter Lowercase letter At least one number At least eight characters in length When changing password every 90 days, passwords cannot be used as previously used password from the last 10 times (avoid recycling of passwords). 33