8._Attachment_6_-_Bidding_on_Public_Events_as_a_Bidder.pdf

City Partner Job Aid Bidding as a Registered Bidder

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Topic

Purpose of this Article

To provide step-by-step directions to help Registered Bidders view and bid on Public Bid Opportunities.

Audience Registered Bidders

Author Michael West

Version / Update Time

2.8/ 07.09.2024

Search Terms Registered, Bidder, Bid, “Bid Opportunity”, “Bid Opportunities”, “Bid Advertisement”, “Bid Advertisements”, “Sourcing Event”, “Sourcing Events”, “Request for Information”, “Requests for Information”, RFI, RFIs, Events, Public, Partner Request

Related Content

Outline See outline in the job aid

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City and County of San Francisco

Bidding on Public Events as a Registered

Bidder

Version 2.8

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents

Purpose and Description

Topic 1: Bidding on Public Events

PURPOSE AND DESCRIPTION

Purpose

This document provides steps and information to helps businesses that have already become Registered Bidders to view and bid on Public Bid Opportunities on the SF City Partner website.

Note: If your business already has a Supplier account, you should be using this Supplier account to bid on any Sourcing Events (do NOT create a new Bidder account to submit a bid). Similarly, if you already have a Bidder account, you should use this Bidder account to submit a bid (do NOT create additional Bidder accounts to pursue different bid opportunities). If you have questions on this, please contact User Support at 415.944.2442.

Key Background Information

Becoming a Supplier to the City & County of San Francisco is a two-tier process. The directions in this job aid are for Registered Bidders.

• Registered Bidder: The first step to begin working with the City is a short registration process in order to become a Registered Bidder. Being a Registered Bidder will allow your business to view and bid on contracts (however your business cannot be fully awarded a City contract until it goes through the steps required to become a Fully Compliant Supplier).

• Fully Compliant Supplier: Although Registered Bidders can view and bid on City business, in order to be fully awarded a City contract, a Registered Bidder will have to go through the Business Tax Registration and Equal Benefits Declaration processes required to become a Fully Compliant Supplier. The time to complete these can vary, and we strongly recommend that you start these processes as soon as possible to expedite your contract wins.

There are three different types of Bid Opportunities that you may see listed including Bid Advertisements, Sourcing Events, and Requests for Information (RFIs). This job aid addresses all three types of Bid Opportunities.

• A Bid Advertisements is an event that is entered into our system for advertisement purposes only, with any interested bidders having to submit their bids outside of the SF City Partner website.

o For all Bid Advertisements, bidders are expected to submit/post their bids outside of the SF City

Partner website. Directions for where you should submit your bid will be included on the Bid Advertisement details.

o The Event Name for all Bid Advertisements start with “EXT” (for “External” events).

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• A Sourcing Event is created when the City wishes to purchase goods or services through the SF City Partner website. Sourcing Events can range from simple Requests for Quote, which tend to be more price-focused events, to much more complex Requests for Proposals, where the City is looking to award a large project, such as Construction projects, that will take into account a Supplier’s qualifications and experience as part of the award process.

o For all Sourcing Events, bidders are expected to post their bids directly in our system via the SF City

Partner website.

o The Names for all Sourcing Events will start with a 3-letter department code (not “EXT”) and have a

Format listed of “Sell”.

• A Request for Information (RFI) is a special type of Sourcing Event that may be used to gather information before issuing a full Sourcing Event. An RFI may be used to pre-qualify bidders who will then be invited to bid on a Private Sourcing Event (one that will not be open for the general public to view or bid on). An RFI may also be used when the City does not know specifically how it wants to address a problem and is looking for bidders to provide suggestions on how they would resolve this problem as part of their proposal.

o For all RFIs, bidders are expected to post their bids/proposals in our system via the SF City Partner website.

o The Names for all RFIs will start with a 3-letter department code (not “EXT”) and have a Format listed of “RFI”.

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TOPIC 1: BIDDING ON PUBLIC EVENTS

Bid Opportunities in our system can be created as either Public or Private Events (or both). A Public Event is one that is posted in the system for anyone to view and bid on, while a Private Event is one where a pre-selected group of Bidders/Suppliers is asked to view and bid on the item(s). The following directions are for bidding on Public Events.

Step Action

1. Once you have logged in to the SF City Partner website at https://sfcitypartner.sfgov.org, you will land on the main Workcenter page. From here, click on the View Opportunities menu item.

https://sfcitypartner.sfgov.org/

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2. You will then be taken to the View Events and Place Bids page. This page has been pre-set to only show Sourcing Events with End Dates starting on your current date. To get a fuller view of all the Public Events that are in the system, click on the “Advanced” button.

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3. This page will now display all the Search Criteria that you can use to filter your search of the Public Events posted on the SF City Partner website. Mark down the search criteria that you want and click the Search button to see the Public Bid Opportunities that match your criteria.

• Department: You can use this pull-down menu to narrow your search down to Public Events from an individual City Department.

• Start Date: The Start Date represents the date when business entities can start bidding on an event. If you are consistently looking through the City’s bid opportunities, we would recommend using the “From” and “Through” fields here to help you identify new listings. For example, if you search for City events on a weekly basis, you could use the Start Date fields to search for Public Events that began within the past week.

• End Date: The End Date represents the date when bidding on the Public Event ends. Please note that the “From” field for End Date will be pre-populated with today’s event. To find information on events that have already ended, you will need to change the “From” and “Through” fields here to bookend a timeframe in the past.

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4. Please note that there are three different types of Bid Opportunities that you may see listed.

• A Bid Advertisements is an event that is entered into our system for advertisement purposes only, with any interested bidders having to submit their bids outside of the SF City Partner website.

o For all Bid Advertisements, bidders are expected to submit/post their bids outside of the SF

City Partner website. Directions for where you should submit your bid will be included in the Bid Advertisement details.

o The Event Name for all Bid Advertisements start with “EXT” (for “External” events).

• A Sourcing Event is created when the City wishes to purchase goods or services through the SF City Partner website. Sourcing Events can range from simple Requests for Quote, which tend to be more price-focused events, to much more complex Requests for Proposals, where the City is looking to award a large project, such as Construction projects, that will take into account a bidder’s qualifications and experience as part of the award process.

o For all Sourcing Events, bidders are expected to post their bids directly in our system via the

SF City Partner website.

o The Names for all Sourcing Events will start with a 3-letter department code (not “EXT”) and have a Format listed of “Sell”.

• A Request for Information (RFI) is a special type of Sourcing Event that may be used to gather information before issuing a full Sourcing Event. An RFI may be used to pre-qualify bidders who will then be invited to bid on a Private Sourcing Event (one that will not be open for the general public to view or bid on). An RFI may also be used when the City does not know specifically how it wants to address a problem and is looking for bidders to provide suggestions on how they would resolve this problem as part of their proposal.

o For all RFIs, bidders are expected to post their bids/proposals in our system via the SF City

Partner website.

o The Names for all RFIs will start with a 3-letter department code (not “EXT”) and have a

Format listed of “RFI”.

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5. On the View Events and Place Bid page, click on the specific event that you want to view. This will bring you to the Event Details page for that specific Bid Opportunity.

Please note: If you are looking at a Bid Advertisement [the Event Name begins with “EXT”], then you will not be entering a bid through the SF City Partner website. Instead, you will find directions on how you should submit your bid in the Details section of this post. Because of this, we have removed the Accept Invitation on this page for Bid Advertisements. In addition, the Place Bid button for Bid Advertisements will not bring you to a page to enter a bid but will instead display a message instructing you to look in the Details section on this page for directions on how you should submit your bid.

Because you will need to submit your bid outside of the SF City Partner website for any Bid Advertisement, the directions in this section for Bid Advertisements ends at Step #7.

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6. Key Event details on this page are as follows:

• See Attachments. This hyperlink allows you to view documents that have been attached for this event. The documents in this section are “Header Level” attachments (as opposed to “Line Item” attachments, which are noted in Step #12 and 12a).

• Contact Information. This information allows you to identify and contact the Event Administrator for this event.

• Details. This section will provide broad information on this Bid Opportunity. Please read this section carefully for key details/instructions on this event.

• Payment Terms. This section shows additional information for bidding on this event. For Sourcing Events and RFIs, the My Bids field in this section will show how many bids you have submitted for this event. If you started to submit a bid and then clicked the Save for Later button, you will be able to click on the number in this field to return to the screen needed to complete your bid.

• Requirements: This section shows the Line Items that are being sourced in this Event.

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7. If you are looking to find a Prime Contractor or Subcontractor to partner with on your bid, then the following buttons will help you to advertise this on our website:

• Find Partner. Use this button if you want to advertise that you are looking for either a Prime Contractor or Subcontractor to partner with on this Bid Opportunity. Clicking this button will bring you to an online form that you will need to fill in and submit. Your advertisement for this specific Bid Opportunity will then be viewable via the View Partner Requests button on this page. A fuller list of all Partner Requests for all active Bid Opportunities in our system is also viewable via the View Partner Requests hyperlink at the top of the page.

• View Partner Requests. Use this button to view advertisements by Bidders/Suppliers who are looking to find a partner for this specific Bid Opportunity. A fuller list of all Partner Requests for all active Bid Opportunities in our system is also viewable via the View Partner Requests hyperlink at the top of the page.

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8. Once you have reviewed the details on this page and find that you are interested in bidding on this event, then you should click the following buttons as explained below:

• Accept Invitation. If you are looking at a Sourcing Event or Request for Information listing, then you should click the Accept Invitation button to notify the Event Administrator that you plan on bidding on this event. We highly recommend using this notification as this indication of interest will allow the Event Administrator to keep you apprised of any changes or other developments on this Event. [As noted previously on Step #5, if you are looking at a Bid Advertisement, you will not see an Accept Invitation button. Instead, you are expected to read the Details for this event for directions on how you will need to submit your bid.]

• Place Bid. If you are looking at a Sourcing Event or Request for Information listing, then you should click this button when you are ready to bid on this Event. [As noted above, if you are looking at a Bid Advertisement, then clicking this button will simply cause a notification to appear directing you to read the Details for this event for directions on where you will need to submit your bid.]

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9. If you are looking at a Sourcing Event or RFI, click the Place Bid button when you are ready to bid on your event. A pop-up will ask if you want the bid quantity defaulted for each line item to equal the requested quantity. Click Yes or No.

10. You will next land on the main bidding page for your event. In the top part of this page, click on the Comments and Attachments link to add comments and attachments related to your entire Sourcing Event/RFI. There are multiple areas on this page that allow you to view or upload comments and attachments to this event. While this section is for comments and attachments related to your entire Sourcing Event/RFI (aka “Header” attachments), the comments and attachments icon in the “Answer General Event Questions” and “Enter Line Bid Responses” sections (see Steps #11 and #12/12a) are for comments and attachments related to specific questions or Line Items.

Please note that the contact information for this Bid Opportunity’s Event Administrator is found on this page, which will allow you to contact him/her/them if you have questions/comments on this event.

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11. If there are “Bid Factor” questions on your event, you will see them listed next. These “Bid Factor” questions are basically just questions or data requests that need to be answered/provided as part of your bid. Respond to all questions/data requests in this section. Click on the “Add Comments or Attachments” hyperlink, which should be available for each question, to upload any documents or provide further clarification to your answer(s). If there are no required questions, this section may not show on this page.

12. Further down you will see the Enter Line Bid Responses section for your event. Enter your bid(s) in the Unit Bid Price field(s). The bubble icon on the far right of each line is a comment box, which will allow you to enter comments and attachments related to that Line Item.

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12a Clicking on the “Bid” hyperlink for a given Line Item will bring you to the screen shown below, which shows details specific to just that one Line Item. Please note that the fields/buttons on this page are only for this specific Line Item. Click the Return button to return to the main bidding page.

• Comments and Attachments is for comments and attachments specific to this Line Item.

• Your Unit Bid Price field is for your bid for this Line Item.

• View will display ship-to information (if provided by the Event Administrator).

• Return will bring you back to the previous page.

• Validate will confirm that you have entered values in all required fields on this page.

• Save for Later allows you to save your work so that you can finish your bid later.

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13. At the bottom of your main bidding page will be the following buttons.

• Validate: This button is used to help make sure your bid is complete by checking that you have answered all the required questions and that you have entered bids on each required line.

• Save for Later: If you’ve entered information but are not yet ready to submit your bid, you can use the Save for Later button. If you use this feature, you will then need to follow the steps outlined in the Editing a Bid as a Registered Bidder job aid to finish your bid.

• Submit Bid: Use this button when you are ready to submit your bid.

14. Click the “Submit Bid” button. You should see a confirmation that your bid has been successfully submitted. From here, you can either click “Event List” to return to the listing of Bid Opportunities or Print to print out a copy of your submitted bid.