Attachment C - Online Bid Response Instructions.pdf
PDF 874 KB Posted
- Attached to
- RFI 758 2300000006 - Printing Services
- Solicitation number
- RFI 758 2300000006 3
- Issued by
- Elliott County, Kentucky
About this file
This file is an instructional guide from the Commonwealth of Kentucky for submitting online responses through the Kentucky Vendor Self Service (VSS) system. The document provides comprehensive step-by-step instructions for vendors responding to state solicitations, including Request for Bids (RFBs), Request for Proposals (RFPs), Request for Quotes (RFQs), Request for Information (RFIs), and Public-Private Partnership (P3) notices. The guide covers the process of locating published solicitations through multiple navigation methods, reviewing solicitation details and attachments, and selecting line items for bid responses. Vendors must have an active VSS account to submit responses and can search solicitations by status, category, type, and keyword fields including solicitation ID, description, agency, and buyer name.
The submission process consists of six sequential steps: selecting lines to bid, responding to individual line items with unit prices and delivery days, completing evaluation criteria and scoring checklists, entering general comments, uploading supporting attachments (limited to ten documents per upload with a maximum file size of 65 megabytes), and reviewing the complete response before final submission. Vendors can save work at any point and must resolve all errors indicated by red markers before submission, though warnings indicated by orange triangles do not prevent submission. The system provides confirmation of successful submission through an on-screen message and email notification, and vendors can subsequently track all submitted responses through the My Responses section showing response status as either Accepted or other statuses.
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Text version
COMMONWEALTH OF
KENTUCKY HOW TO
SUBMIT AN ONLINE
RESPONSE THROUGH
THE KENTUCKY VENDOR
SELF SERVICE (VSS)
Online bid submission through Kentucky’s VSS
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY HOW TO SUBMIT AN ONLINE RESPONSE THROUGH THE KENTUCKY VENDOR SELF
SERVICE (VSS)
How to Submit an Online Response for a Business Opportunity The Commonwealth of Kentucky has many business opportunities. These business opportunities or solicitations are posted on Kentucky’s Vendor Self Service (VSS) application.
All online responses to Kentucky’s solicitations must be submitted through VSS. To respond to a solicitation, a vendor must have a VSS account. To register for an account, refer to the KY Vendor Self Service Registration
Guide (available on the VSS website from Download Vendor Forms and Quick Reference Guides).
This guide covers the following topics:
• Solicitation Types
• Submit a Response
• View Solicitation Responses
1 Solicitation Types
There are five different types of solicitations that may be available in VSS:
• P3 – Public, Private, Partnership Notice
• RFB – Request for Bid
• RFI – Request for Information
• RFP – Request for Proposal
• RFQ – Request for Quote
The Submit a Response section details how to respond to a solicitation.
2 Submit a Response
The following steps outline how to submit an online response to a solicitation on Kentucky’s VSS.
How to Submit a Response:
Enter User ID and Password. Click Sign In.
You must have a VSS account to submit a response. If you do not have an VSS account, click Sign Up and refer to the KY
Vendor Self Service Registration Guide for more information on how to register.
From the Home page, navigate to the Published Solicitations in one of the following ways:
i) Click the Published Solicitations icon.
ii) On the left-hand navigation menu, click the Business Opportunities icon. Click Business Opportunities then click Solicitations.
iii) On the left-hand navigation menu, click the Business Opportunities icon then click Business Opportunities Landing Page. From the landing page, click Business Opportunities then click the Solicitations tile.
Locate the desired solicitation.
• You can search by the following fields o Show Me (Open, Closing Soon, Recently Published, Recent Amendments, Recent Awards) o Category (Agricultural, Animal Related, Clothing, etc.) – this is not required and may not always be available o Type (P3 Notice, Request for Bids, Request for Information, Request for Proposals, Request for
Quotes) o Keyword Search (can search by Solicitation ID, Solicitation Description, Agency, and Buyer) o Status (Awarded, Closed, Amended, Open, Reopened, Cancelled)
In the Solicitation Number / Type / Category column, click the solicitation number link to view the details of the solicitation.
Review the solicitation details. Be sure to go through each tab, especially the Attachments tab, and check the requirements and documentation associated with the bid requirements. There may be documents that must be completed and uploaded in order for your bid to be deemed responsive.
Click Respond Online to create a Solicitation Response.
On the Solicitation Response (SR) page, there are six steps to complete:
(1) Select Lines – used to select the lines for which you want to submit a response.
(2) Respond to Lines – used to respond to each line on the solicitation.
(3) Checklist/Scoring Criteria – used to respond to Evaluation Criteria defined on the solicitation.
(4) Enter General Comments – used to add any overall comments for the response.
(5) Add Attachments – used to upload files and attachments to support the response.
(6) Review & Submit – used to review your response before submission.
To save your work at any time, Click Save & Close.
Click Exit to leave page without saving recent changes.
Step 1. Select Lines
On the Select Lines step, select the line(s) you wish to respond to.
• For selected lines, you will enter the bid price on the Respond to Lines step.
• Lines that you do not select on this step will default a Response Type of No Bid on the Respond to
Lines step.
o Some solicitations may require that you bid each line item. Check Terms and
Conditions/Attachment A for each solicitation to determine if you are required to bid each line. Selecting No Bid for some solicitations may deem you non-responsive.
• ALL commodity lines require a response.
Click Continue.
Step 2. Respond to Lines
On the Respond To Lines step, all lines appear.
• For the lines that were selected on the Select Lines step, the Response Type infers to Bid. For lines that were not selected, the Response Type defaults to No Bid.
• In the Response Type drop-down field, select Bid, Bid with Condition, or No Bid.
For Bid with Condition or No Bid, the Comments field must be completed.
On the top right, click the page 3-dot menu for additional options. For example, you can click Hide No Bid Lines to display only the lines that have a Response Type of Bid.
For an item line, a Unit Price and Delivery Days must be entered.
• If Delivery is not applicable, but the line type is an item, enter 0.
• Enter Comments, as appropriate. There are 1500 characters available
Click the Additional Specs button to enter additional commodity specifications.
On the Additional Product Specs page, enter specific product specifications, if applicable. If alternative specifications are not permitted, the Alternate fields will be grayed out.
Step 3. Checklist/Scoring Criteria
The Checklist/Scoring Criteria section shows all the criteria for the solicitation. Some criteria may show default information.
• For criteria that require a response, review the Description and enter or select a value in the My Response column.
• If “Response Type Expected” is None, or there is not any Criteria listed, click Continue or move on to 4 (Enter General Comments)
If Responses are required, respond to each question, click Continue to proceed to the next step.
Step 4. Enter General Comments
The Overall Response Comment field can be used to enter text for the entire response. There are 1500 characters available. You can make the field larger by clicking and dragging the bottom right corner of the field.
Click Continue to advance to the next step.
Step 5. Add Attachments
On the Add Attachments step, you can upload documents to support the response.
• Click the Add Attachments button.
• Maximum Attachment Size per file is 65000 KB
On the Attachments page, click Browse to locate the file to upload. You can also drag and drop the file onto the page.
On the Open page, search and select the file from your computer or local network.
Click Open to select the file.
On the Attachments page, click Browse to search and select additional files. Once all files are selected, click Upload. You can also “drag” and “drop” files in the center of this page.
• You are limited to ten (10) documents at a time.
Verify the “Successfully uploaded 1 file” message displays.
Or you can just “drag” and “drop” files.
Click Close.
Review the attached file(s). Click Add Attachments to add a new file. Click Delete to remove a file.
If all files are attached, click Continue to proceed to the next step.
Step 6. Review & Submit
On the Review & Submit step, review the information entered.
If all information is correct, click Submit Response.
Errors are indicated with a red x. Errors must be resolved in order to submit the response. Warnings are indicated with an orange triangle.
Note: You can submit a response with warnings. Click Submit Response again to submit with warnings.
Click the icon to view all of the errors and warnings or use the arrow icons to view one at a time.
Verify the “Thank you for your response. It has been successfully submitted.” message displays.
All responses will be listed. If you do not see your solicitation ID listed, you can enter the solicitation ID in the Keyword Search. A successful submission will have a Response Status of Accepted.
Look for an email notification from VSS notifying you that your response was accepted.
3 Solicitation Responses
Responses can be viewed on the My Responses section. Additional information can be found in the How to Locate a Response for a Business Opportunity guide (available on the VSS website under Download Vendor Forms).
How to View Your Responses
Log in to VSS.
From the Home page, use one of the following methods to access the My Responses page:
i) On the Home page, click My Reponses.
ii) On the left-hand navigation menu, click the Business Opportunities icon. Click Solicitation Response then click My Responses.
iii) On the left-hand navigation menu, click the Business Opportunities icon then click Business Opportunities Landing Page. From the landing page, click Solicitations Response then click the My Responses tile.
The My Responses page displays all the responses for your vendor code.
The Link to Response column has a link to view the response. Click the link to view.
The Response Status column shows the status of your responses. Only Accepted statuses are successfully submitted responses.
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