Appendix A - COMMBUYS INFORMATION.docx

Appendix A: COMMBUYS Information COMMBUYS Market Center COMMBUYS is the official source of information for this solicitation and is publicly accessible at no charge at www.COMMBUYS.com. Information contained in this document and in COMMBUYS, including file attachments, and information contained in the related Bid Questions and Answers (Q&A), are all components of the Bid, as referenced in COMMBUYS, and are incorporated into the Bid and any resulting contract.

Bidders are solely responsible for obtaining all information distributed for this Bid via COMMBUYS. Bid Q&A supports Bidder submission of written questions associated with a Bid and publication of official answers.

It is each Bidder’s responsibility to check COMMBUYS for:

The Commonwealth accepts no responsibility and will provide no accommodation to Bidders who submit a Quote based on an out-of-date Bid or on information received from a source other than COMMBUYS.

COMMBUYS Subscription Bidders may elect to obtain a free COMMBUYS Seller subscription which provides value-added features, including automated email notification associated with postings and modifications to COMMBUYS records. However, in order to respond to a Bid, Bidders must register and maintain an active COMMBUYS Seller subscription account.

All Bidders submitting a Quote (previously referred to as Response) in response to this Bid (previously referred to as Solicitation) agree that, if awarded a contract: (1) they will maintain an active seller account in COMMBUYS; (2) they will, when directed to do so by the procuring entity, activate and maintain a COMMBUYS-enabled catalog using Commonwealth Commodity Codes; (3) they will comply with all requests by the procuring entity to utilize COMMBUYS for the purposes of conducting all aspects of purchasing and invoicing with the Commonwealth, as added functionality for the COMMBUYS system is activated; (4) and in the event the Commonwealth adopts an alternate market center system, successful Bidders will be required to utilize such system, as directed by the procuring entity. Commonwealth Commodity Codes are based on the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC).

The COMMBUYS system introduces new terminology, which bidders must be familiar with in order to conduct business with the Commonwealth. To view this terminology and to learn more about the COMMBUYS system, please visit the COMMBUYS Resource Center.

Bidder Communication Bidders are prohibited from communicating directly with any employee of the procuring department regarding this RFP except as specified in this RFP, and no other individual Commonwealth employee or representative is authorized to provide any information or respond to any question or inquiry concerning this RFP. Bidders may contact the contact person for this RFP in the event this RFP is incomplete or the bidder is having trouble obtaining any required attachments electronically through COMMBUYS.

COMMBUYS Quote Submission Training and Instructions All responses to solicitations are referred to as “Quotes.” The following resources are provided to assist Bidders in submitting Quotes:

· Training sessions focused on online Quote submission, if offered, are noted in the Estimated Procurement Calendar;

· An online job aid on How to Create a Quote;

· Webcast video on How to Find Bids (Solicitations) and Submit Quotes (Responses) through COMMBUYS.

Written Questions via the Bid Q&A on COMMBUYS Questions and Requests for Approvals (RFA) The “Bid Q&A” provides the opportunity for Bidders to ask written questions and receive written answers from the PMT (Procurement Management Team) regarding this Bid. All Bidders’ questions must be submitted through the Bid Q&A found on COMMBUYS (see below for instructions). Questions may be asked only prior to the Deadline for Submission of Questions stated in the Estimated Procurement Calendar. The issuing department reserves the right not to respond to questions submitted after this date. It is the Bidder’s responsibility to verify receipt of questions.

Please note that any questions submitted to the PMT (Procurement Management Team) using any other medium (including those that are sent by mail, fax, email or voicemail, etc.) will not be answered. To reduce the number of redundant or duplicate questions, Bidders are asked to review all questions previously submitted to determine whether the Bidder’s question has already been posted.

Bidders are responsible for entering content suitable for public viewing, since all of the questions are accessible to the public. Bidders must not include any information that could be considered personal, security sensitive, inflammatory, incorrect, collusory, or otherwise objectionable, including information about the Bidder’s company or other companies. The PMT (Procurement Management Team) reserves the right to edit or delete any submitted questions that raise any of these issues or that are not in the best interest of the Commonwealth or this Bid.

All answers are final when posted. Any subsequent revisions to previously provided answers will be dated.

It is the responsibility of the prospective Bidder and awarded Contractor to maintain an active registration in COMMBUYS and to keep current the email address of the Bidder’s contact person and prospective contract manager, if awarded a contract, and to monitor that email inbox for communications from the Purchasing Department, including requests for clarification. The Purchasing Department and the Commonwealth assume no responsibility if a prospective Bidder’s/awarded Contractor’s designated email address is not current, or if technical problems, including those with the prospective Bidder’s/awarded Contractor’s computer, network or internet service provider (ISP) cause email communications sent to/from the prospective Bidder/Awarded contractor and the Purchasing Department to be lost or rejected by any means including email or spam filtering.

Locating Bid Q&A Log into COMMBUYS, locate the Bid, acknowledge receipt of the Bid, and scroll down to the bottom of the Bid Header page. The “Bid Q&A” button allows Bidders access to the Bid Q&A page.

Submitting RFAs (Request for Approval) All questions and RFAs (including technical, contract, or administrative questions) concerning this RFP shall be entered into the COMMBUYS Bid Q&A section. Due date for submission of questions and RFAs can be found in the procurement calendar in this RFP. MassDOT reserves the right to respond to inquiries as it deems necessary. All questions, answers and any addendums shall be posted on COMMBUYS and individual(s) and/or firm(s), are responsible for checking this website periodically for any updates.

Amendment Deadline The PMT reserves the right to make amendments to the Bid after initial publication. It is each Bidder’s responsibility to check COMMBUYS for any amendments, addenda or modifications to this Bid, and any Bid Q&A records related to this Bid. The PMT (Procurement Management Team) and the Commonwealth accepts no responsibility and will provide no accommodation to Bidders who submit a Quote based on an out-of-date Bid or on information received from a source other than COMMBUYS.

Oral Presentations/Product Demonstrations Selected Bidders who are asked to participate in Oral Presentations / Product Demonstrations will be expected to prioritize this in their schedules. The PMT (Procurement Management Team) will make every effort to find a mutually convenient time for the Bidder and the PMT. However, failure to appear at the scheduled time of the presentation/demonstration may result in disqualification, reduction of points or other action that the PMT deems appropriate.

Bid Response Method Online Bid Submission via COMMBUYS is required to eliminate direct and indirect costs associated with the production, delivery/receipt, storage and management of traditional paper bids incurred by Bidders, MassDOT, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Bids submitted via COMMBUYS also promote environmental conservation and preservation by eliminating printed materials as well as fossil- fuel consumption associated with delivery. All Bidders must submit Responses online using tools available to COMMBUYS Subscribers only.

COMMBUYS requires an annual subscription. To subscribe, go to: www.COMMBUYS.com. All Bidders who are awarded a contract resulting from this RFP, if any, will be required to maintain an active subscription account during the duration of the Contract, by renewing their subscription annually.

Bid Response Deadline All Bids must be received by MassDOT before the specified date, month, year and time displayed on the Solicitation’s Summary page within the Close Date field. Times are Eastern Standard/Daylight Savings (US), as applicable. All Bidders are advised to allow adequate time for submission by considering potential online submission impediments like Internet traffic, Internet connection speed, file size, and file volume. MassDOT is not responsible for delays encountered by Bidders or their agents, or for a Bidder’s local hardware failures, such as computers or related networks, associated with bid compilation or submission. Bids submitted via COMMBUYS are time stamped by the COMMBUYS system clock which is considered the official time of record.

COMMBUYS Support Technical assistance is available during the procurement process. Every effort is made to respond to inquiries within one business day.

Website: Go to www.mass.gov/osd and select the COMMBUYS Resource Center link offered within the Conduct a Procurement menu.

Email: Send inquiries to the COMMBUYS Helpdesk at COMMBUYS@state.ma.us.

Telephone: Call the COMMBUYS Helpline at 1-888-MA-STATE (1-888-627-8283). The Helpline is staffed from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday Eastern Standard or Daylight time, as applicable, except on federal and state holidays.

Bidders are advised that COMMBUYS will be unavailable during regularly scheduled maintenance hours as displayed under the “COMMBUYS System Availability” link offered at the bottom of any COMMBUYS page.

Steps for Bidders to Submit a Quote

1. Launch the COMMBUYS website by entering the URL (www.COMMBUYS.com) into the browser.

2. Enter Bidder login credentials and click the Login button on the COMMBUYS homepage. Bidders must be registered in COMMBUYS in order to submit a Quote. Each Vendor has a COMMBUYs Seller Administrator, who is responsible for maintaining authorized user access to COMMBUYS.

3. Upon successful login, the Vendor home page displays with the Navigation and Header Bar as well as the Control Center. The Control Center is where documents assigned to your role are easily accessed and viewed.

4. Click on the Bids tab

5. Clicking on the Bid tab opens four sections:

a. Request for Revision

b. Bids/Bid Amendments

c. Open Bids

d. Closed Bids

6. Click on the blue Open Bid hyperlinks to open and review an open bid

7. A new page opens with a message requesting you acknowledge receipt of the bid. Click Yes to acknowledge receipt of the bid. Bidders should acknowledge receipt to receive any amendments/updates concerning this bid.

8. After acknowledgement, the bid will open.

The top left half of the page contains the following information:

a. Purchaser

b. Department

c. Contact for this bid

d. Type of purchase

i. Open Market

ii. Blanket

e. Pre-Bid Conference details (if applicable)

f. Ship-to and Bill-to addresses

g. Any attachments to the bid, which may include essential bid terms, response forms, etc.

The top right half of the bid includes the following information:

h. Bid Date

i. Required Date

j. Bid Opening Date – date the bid closes and no further quotes will be accepted

k. Informal Bid Flag

l. Date goods/services are required

9. The lower half of the page provides information about the specific goods/services the bid is requesting.

10. Click Create Quote to begin.

11. The General tab for a new quote opens. This page is populated with some information from the bid. Fields available to update include:

a. Delivery days

b. Shipping terms

c. Ship via terms

d. Is “no” bid – select if you will not be submitting a quote for this bid

e. Promised Date

f. Info Contact

g. Comments

h. Discount Percent

i. Freight Terms

j. Payment Terms It is important to note that the bid documents (RFP and attachments) may specify some or all of these terms and may prohibit you from altering these terms in your response. Read the bid documents carefully and fill in only those items that are applicable to the bid to which you are responding.

Update these fields as applicable to the bid and click Save & Continue to save any changes and create a Quote Number.

The page refreshes and messages display. Any message in Red is an error and must be resolved before the quote can be submitted. Any message in Yellow is only a warning and will allow processing to continue.

The following messages are received:

Terms & Conditions is not acknowledged – to resolve this, click on the Terms & Conditions tab and accept the terms. Your quote has not been submitted – information message; no action required

12. Click on the Terms & Conditions Tab. This tab refers to the terms and conditions that apply to this bid. The terms and conditions must be accepted before your quote can be submitted. If your acceptance is subject to any exceptions, those exceptions must be identified here. Exceptions cannot contradict the requirements of the RFP, or required Commonwealth standard forms and attachments for the bid. For instance, an RFP may specify that exceptions may or will result in disqualification of your bid.

13. Click the Items tab. The Items tab displays information about the items requested in the bid. To view additional details about an item, click the item number (blue hyperlink) to open.

14. The item opens. Input all of your quote information and click Save & Exit.

15. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION: If documents uploaded in your quote response contain confidential information (security sensitive, EFT, W9, Commonwealth Terms and Conditions), you must mark each item as confidential. The confidential column on the Attachments view allows the user to select whether the attached form is confidential or not. Place a check box under the confidential column for each confidential attached form.

16. Click on the Attachments Tab. Follow the prompts to upload and name all required attachments and forms and bid response documents in accordance with the instructions contained in the solicitation or bid documents. After uploading each individual file or form, click Save & Continue. After you have uploaded all required documents click Save & Exit. Be sure to review your attachments to make sure each required document has been submitted.

17. Click the Summary tab. Review the information and update/correct, as needed. If the information is correct, click the Submit Quote button at the bottom of the page.

18. A popup window displays asking for verification that you wish to submit your quote. Click OK to submit the quote.

19. The Summary tab redisplays with an updated Status for the quote of Submitted.

20. Your quote submission is confirmed only when you receive a confirmation email from COMMBUYS. If you have submitted a quote and have not received an email confirmation, please contact the COMMBUYS Help Desk at COMMBUYS@state.ma.us.

If you wish to revise or delete a quote after submission, you may do so in COMMBUYS: (1) for a formal bid, prior to the bid opening date, or (2) for an informal bid (which may be viewed upon receipt), prior to the opening of your quote by the issuing entity or the bid opening date, whichever is earlier.

Bidders may not submit Multiple Quotes in response to a Bid unless the Bid authorizes Multiple Quote submissions. If you submit multiple quotes in response to a bid that does not allow multiple quotes, only the latest submission prior to the bid opening date will be evaluated.

image1.jpg