commbuys.jobaid.sellers.submit.questions.view.answers.QA.tab.4.17.15.pdf

Job Aid:

Submitting Questions & Viewing Answers with the Q&A Tab

JA_Seller_Q-and-A-tab_2015-04-17 1 Seller Job-Aid: Q&A Tab

This Job Aid shows Sellers how to:

Submit Questions to buyers

View answers to Questions

Of Special Note:

Not all bids allow for Q&A. Questions may only be entered into the Q&A tab when buyers have activated this feature.

This job-aid walks sellers through the process of submitting questions to buyers who have posted bids in COMMBUYS and the RFR allows for submission of questions.

If a department accepts written questions regarding a bid, all accepted written questions and answers must be published as part of the bid record in COMMBUYS. This requirement may be met by attaching a Q&A document to the bid or by using the COMMBUYS Bid Q&A functionality.

COMMBUYS will not prevent sellers from asking questions using the bid Q&A functionality up until the Bid Opening Date/Time. In their bids, departments may set a date/time after which they reserve the right not to respond to questions.

Screenshot Directions

1. Launch the COMMBUYS website by entering the URL for COMMBUYS (https://www.commbuys.com) into the browser.

Enter your login credentials and click the Login button on the COMMBUYS home page.

http://www.commbuys.com/

JA_Seller_Q-and-A-tab_2015-04-17 2 Seller Job-Aid: Q&A Tab

2. Upon successful login, your home page displays with the navigation bar, header bar, and control center. The control center allows you to easily access and view documents that are assigned to you.

Click on the Bids tab.

3. Clicking on the Bids tab opens four sections:

Request for Revision

Bids / Bid Amendments (Unacknowledged)

Open Bids

Closed Bids

Click on a blue Open Bid hyperlink to open and review a bid, or click the blue Bid Q&A hyperlink.

4. If the seller has not previously opened and acknowledged the bid, a new page opens with a message requesting acknowledgement of the bid.

Click Yes to acknowledge receipt of the bid.

JA_Seller_Q-and-A-tab_2015-04-17 3 Seller Job-Aid: Q&A Tab

5. The bid opens. Information found on this screen includes:

Purchaser

Department

Contact for this bid

The type of purchase:

Open Market

Blanket

Pre-Bid Conference details

Ship-to and Bill-to Addresses

Any attachments to the bid

6. Scroll to the bottom of the page. Click on the Bid Q&A button.

7. The Q and A screen opens. Posted answers appear on the top half of the screen. The seller may post questions in the lower section of the screen.

For each question asked through the bid Q&A functionality, COMMBUYS displays the name of the seller who asked it.

In cases where displaying the names of the sellers may undermine the fairness or competitiveness of a procurement, the department may choose to post questions and answers as a document attached to a bid.

JA_Seller_Q-and-A-tab_2015-04-17 4 Seller Job-Aid: Q&A Tab

8. If a seller wishes to submit a question to the buyer, the seller must enter a subject for the question in the Question Subject column and then type the question in the Question column.

Questions may be up to 2000 characters long.

9. Click on the Save & Continue button to save the newly-added question and remain on the screen to add another question.

Click on the Save & Exit button to save the question and exit this screen.

Clicking either button sends the question to the buyer.

10. Printing the Q&A tab Information:

A seller may wish to print the Q&A tab records. As there is no ‘Print’ button on this tab, printing may be done via one of the following methods:

i. Right-click in the browser window and choose Print.

ii. Press CTRL + P, and click Print.

iii. Press the Print Scrn key on the keyboard to capture the information, then paste the screenshot into a program such as Word, then print the document.