Bid Maintenance

Description

This screen allows business partners and authorized PENNDOT users to submit bids for construction projects. It can be accessed by Contractor business partner Principals or "Other Officers" from the Submit Bid button on a published Bid Package. PENNDOT users can access the screen when they enter the project number and click the Go button on the Electronic Bidding home page or click the Project Number hyperlink on the Bids to Open screen. For Contractor users, the current date must be within the "Bid Submission Window" (not more than three days prior to scheduled let date but before the let date and time has passed). PENNDOT users may submit a bid on behalf of a contractor during the Bid Submission Window and up until the time the bids are actually opened. For Contractor users, the current date and time must be prior to the scheduled let date/time.

The user accesses this screen and clicks the Browse button to navigate to the location on their local machine or network where their bid file is located. When the user submits the bid, the bid file name is validated, and the bidder's prequalification status is verified (if required). If the bid is successfully accepted by the system, an email notification is generated and sent to users in the Principal and Other Officer user groups for the business partner. Similarly, when a bid is withdrawn, the system generates and sends an email notification to the same user groups. In both cases, historical fields at the bottom of the screen are populated to show the action, date, time, and user name, as well as the result and any system messages.

This screen can also be used to withdraw a bid for a project where the bid file has been submitted, but bids for the project have not yet been opened.

Note: If a valid bid exists for a contractor, they must withdraw it (by clicking the Withdraw button on this screen) prior to submitting a new bid file. The withdraw function is only available to contractors prior to the let date/time; however, PENNDOT users may withdraw the bid on behalf of a contractor prior to opening the bids.

Fields

Field Name	State	Description
Project Header	Display	The full project header fields are displayed as a standard throughout much of ECMS. The header displays general project information including Project number, Short project description, District number, County, Project Status, SR, Section, Municipality, Group and Admin Org Code. The header also provides quick navigation to other screens related to the same project: Contractors click the word "Project" to navigate to the Contractor Project page. The words "Project Team" take Contractor users to the Third Party Project Team screen. PENNDOT, FHWA, Municipal, and Consultant users click the word "Project" to link to the Project Information or Construction Project Information screen (depending on Project Status). The words "Project Team" take these users to the Project Team screen. The header also provides a 'fast path' to the same screen for a different project number. Users navigate by typing the destination project number in the Project field (next to the Project link) and clicking the GO button.
Certification	Display	This text provides the certification statements the bidder certifies to when they confirm the bid submission.
Contractor	Drop-down list	See the "Actions" section at the end of this document.
BPID	Optional	This field is used in conjunction with the GO button to refresh the screen with the contractor information for the entered business partner. PENNDOT uses this function to submit a bid that has been received on diskette on behalf of a contractor whose name has not been added to the list of planholders.
Bid File	Required	The file name field displays the expected name for the bid file beneath the edit box. The user selects the bid file they wish to submit by clicking the Browse button and navigating to the file location. Note: For a list of bid rejection reasons the system may assign after the bids for the project are opened, see "Tell Me About Bid Results" under the eBidding category of the Help system.
Time of Action	Display	The date and time the action occurred.
Transaction ID	Display	The identifier for the transaction.
User ID	Display	The name of the user who performed the action.
Action	Display	The name of the action, for example, Start Bid Submission, End Bid Submission.
Result	Display	The result of the transaction. For example, the Bid Submission result may be Successful or Unsuccessful.
Message	Display	The system-generated message describing the action and result. Note: If PENNDOT moves the let date for a project (without making any other changes to the project), any submitted bid files are retained, but no email notification is sent to the contractor who submitted the bid; text explaining that the files have been retained is inserted into the "Let Date Move" field on the Addendum. If PENNDOT makes any changes to the project (e.g., schedule of prices, special provisions, etc.), all submitted bid files are deleted, and the system sends an email notification to the contractor (all Contractor Principals, Other Officer, and Contract Admin users). This occurs, even if the let date for the project was moved within the same addendum. If PENNDOT withdraws the project from bidding, all submitted bid files are deleted, and the system sends an email notification to the contractor.

Actions

Action	Description
? (icon)	When the user clicks this icon, they are taken to the screen's "Tell Me About" Help document, which provides a brief screen description, a definition of each field, and a definition of each 'action' (link, button, icon).
Up/Down Arrows (icon)	When the user clicks the up arrow at the top left corner of the display, they are taken to the top of the screen view. When the user clicks the down arrow at the top left corner of the display, they are taken to the bottom of the screen view. TIP: The function buttons such as BACK, EDIT, and SAVE are always located at the extreme bottom of the screen. Use the down arrow to quickly move to the buttons you need.
Contractor (drop-down list)	When the user clicks the arrow to the right of this field, a list of contractors is displayed. The list consists of all business partner IDs from the List of Planholders associated with the bid package. The user must select the contractor whose bid they are submitting or withdrawing. This field is only displayed to authorized PENNDOT users and, when displayed, is required. Note: If the business partner's name does not exist on the List of Planholders (not manually added by the business partner nor automatically captured when a user associated with the business partner downloaded the EBS file), enter the business partner's BPID in the BPID field and click the GO button to refresh the screen with the contractor information.
Go (button)	This button is used in conjunction with the BPID field to refresh the screen with contractor information for the entered business partner.
Browse (button)	When the user clicks this button, they are taken to an Open File dialog which allows them to navigate to the location of the bid file. The user selects the bid file by double-clicking it.
Submit (button)	When the user clicks this button, the bid file is validated (file name matches text of file name beneath edit box), and the bidder's prequalification status is checked. If these edits are passed, the bid is accepted. An email notification is generated and sent to the business partner users in the groups Principal and Other Officer. Note: The bid file remains encrypted on a secure server until the bids are opened or until the bid is withdrawn (bid file deleted by system). When bids for the project are opened, the system performs additional checks based on the data contained in the file. If the bid fails any of these checks, it is statused as "Rejected" on the Bid Results screen. For a list of edit checks the system performs upon opening the bids, see "Tell Me About Bid Results" under eBidding in the Help system.
Reset (button)	When the user clicks this button, the bid submission is restarted. This button is only displayed if the bid submission was begun but did not successfully complete.
Withdraw (button)	When the user clicks this button, the previously submitted bid file is deleted (without being decrypted), and a record is written to the Bid File Audit Log. The bid is statuses as "Withdrawn" on the Contractor Bid table. This function is only available prior to bid opening.
Back (button)	When the user clicks this button, they are returned to the previous screen in the browser history.

Created by	Last Modified by
Joseph D Howe/PennDOT on 03/16/2005 at 10:48:27 AM	Wanda Taylor/PennDOT on 03/18/2005 at 01:32:28 PM