QuickSource is a fast and robust tool that will help a user streamline the process of obtaining and awarding bids for a site.  VIVE has two training videos to support users for this exciting feature:

Part 1:  How to enter a QuickSourceBid   https://vimeo.com/356046210

Part 2:  Managing a QuickSourceBid        https://vimeo.com/356048775

 

Overview

QuickSourceBids is a powerful and quick bidding system that provides companies with a convenient way to obtain bids for required proposals.

 QuickSourceBids allows companies to complete and release a proposal in minutes:

• Simple Proposal Requirements Input
• Source Document Uploads and Storage
• Use your Approved Vendor List for Bid Candidates or Add New Vendors
• Easy Job Site Selection through the VIVE Database
• Manage Bid Due, Bid Reminder, and Job Start Dates
• Release Proposal to All Selected Vendors with One Mouse Click
• Vendors Submit Bids Directly through the VIVE Platform
• Review All Bids through Comparative Bid Analysis Tool
• Notify All Vendors of Bid Outcome including Rejected and Accepted Bidders

The following includes step-by-step procedures for system access and use.

Create a Bid

Creating a bid (request for proposal), allows users to seek bids and provide bid material. Bids may be sent to vendors already approved within VIVE, as well as vendors not yet registered. Approved vendors are easily accessible during the bid creation process.

Log in and access the QuickSourceBid page

QuickSourceBids is a site-based feature. In order to create a bid, a site (or property) must be chosen. Log into the VIVE platform at GetVIVED.com and chose the “My Sites” icon at the top of the screen.  A list of properties that you have been assigned to manage will appear. Choose the site in which you wish to create the bid by double-clicking on the site name. The site chosen will appear with an overview of details regarding the site. (see Figure 1: My Sites)

Sites are assigned by Admin users. If you do not see a site, contact your company's VIVE Admin for assistance.

Figure1 My Sites

 

Click on the “QuickSourceBids” option on the left side of the screen. The QuickSourceBids screen appears. (see Figure 2 QuickSourceBids)

 

Figure2 QuickSourceBids

Step 1: Create a new bid

Choose the “Add New QuickSourceBid” button.

Step 1 of the bid creation process appears. (see Figure 3: Location & Contact Info)

 Figure 3: Location & Contact Info

Fill out all required fields indicated by a red "*" and any additional information you wish to include in your bid.

1. Enter the Bid Proposal Name.
2. Either click “Copy Current Site Location” in order to quickly populate the fields with the stored site location information or manually type in the location in which the work will be performed.
3. Either click “Copy Current Site Contact” in order to quickly populate the fields with the stored site contact information or manually type in the contact information for the bid. The email address(es) entered in the "QuickSource Contact Details" section will receive an email anytime a bid is responded to. If you wish multiple employees to receive notification of response to a bid, enter multiple emails separated by a comma or semicolon.  
4. Click “Next” to go to the next screen.
5. Please note: You may click “Save & Close” in order to save the entered information. You will be able to come back to the bid and continue where you left off at any time.

Step 2: Creating a New Bid

Upon clicking “Next”, Step 2 of the bid creation process appears. (see Figure 4: Dates, Pricing & Instructions)

 Figure 4: Dates, Pricing & Instructions

Proposal Dates: The following proposal dates are required fields and must be entered prior to going to the next screen of the proposal.

1. Enter the Bid Due Date: This is the date on which all bids must be submitted. The Bid Due Date must be prior to the Start Date.
2. Enter the Bid Reminder Date: This is the date on which you want all vendors to receive a reminder that there is a bid waiting to be bid upon. This date must be prior to the Bid Due Date.
3. Enter the Start Date of the Proposal: This is the date on which the work will begin. Please note: Vendors may enter a different Start Date when responding to a bid.

Date Format: When entering a date, either type the date in using the text box or click on the calendar icon to bring up a calendar allowing the user to choose a date. Click the forward or back buttons to navigate through calendar months. 

Changing months: In order to choose a different month, click on the month/year on top of the calendar (in the example click on April 2023). A list of months appears. Click on the month you wish to view within the calendar.

Changing years: In order to choose a different year, click on the month/year showing twice (in the example click on April 2023 twice). The first click will list months and the second click will list years. Click on the year you wish to view within the calendar.

Choose “Close” to close the calendar and return to the date text box.

 

Pricing: The VIVE platform allows bid responses to be broken out into various categories if desired.

1. Click on the “Add Line Item Requirements to Bid Request” checkbox
2. Add pricing categories: Enter either one category to receive bid responses with one total price, or add up to five pricing categories to receive pricing broken out by specific categories, allowing for further details when comparing vendor bid proposals.

Proposal Instructions: Type any relevant Instructions and uploaded corresponding documentation. All bids require either typing in proposal instructions or uploading a minimum of one document in order to move to the next screen. All proposal instructions and documentation will be sent to vendors upon the release of the bid.

1. Within the Proposal Instruction box, type in all proposal instructions that you wish to be available to vendors invited to bid.
2. To upload documents, such as scope documents, drawings, specifications, etc., click on the “Upload File” icon. All documents that you wish to be made available to vendors receiving the bid request should be uploaded. Documents may be uploaded one at a time.
3. As soon as a document is uploaded, a message saying “File has been uploaded successfully” appears. Uploaded files may be downloaded, by clicking on the “Download” option, as well as removed by clicking on the “Remove” option. (see Figure 5: Proposal Documents)
4. Error when uploading documents: Proposal details, including supporting documents uploaded to the bid, are emailed to vendors. Many email service providers, such as Gmail and Yahoo, limit the size of attachments. Due to this limit set by email service providers, VIVE sets a maximum individual file size limit of 10MB per file and 25MB total for all files attached to a bid. This is to prevent an error when VIVE emails the bid to a vendor. If a bid contains a considerable number of attachments, consider lowering the resolution and/or resize the images to reduce the size of your files. Documents may also be loaded to a document share platform and sent as a link within the proposal instructions section of the bid.

Figure 5 Proposal Documents

Available navigation buttons:

1. Next: Once the proposal dates, pricing line items, and instructions section are complete, click the “Next” button at the bottom right of the screen.
2. Save and Close: Save and Close may be selected at any time in order to save the current bid information. Save and Close will not release bid information to vendors. This option saves the information entered so that the user is able to come back into the application at a later date to complete the bid information.
3. Back: The Back button allows the user to return to the previous page. 

Step 3: Creating a New Bid

Upon clicking “Next”, Step 3 of the bid creation process appears. (see Figure 6: Add Vendors to Proposal)

 Figure 6: Add Vendors to Proposal

Users are able to add vendors registered with VIVE, including vendors not in an approved status and compliance exempt vendors.

Add VIVE Vendors: Click on the "Add VIVE Vendors" button and enter the trade category that is related to the bid proposal. VIVE approved vendors that perform the trade category entered will appear. A trade category is necessary to ensure only vendors approved within VIVE to perform work within the trade category appear. Vendors not approved to perform work within the trade category will be filtered out.

To view all vendors in VIVE, click on the Status down arrow next to the word "Approved" and click on the empty space to filter by all statuses, or click on the "Clear All Filters" button to clear both the status of approved and trade filter to view all vendors. Approved vendors are always preferred due to the protection that VIVE approval provides.

 

Click on the name of each vendor you would like to receive the bid and click “Next”. Each vendor, along with contact details will appear.

Vendors will receive the bid through the email(s) entered in the Email field. You may add multiple emails so more than one vendor contact receives the bid information by separating each email with a comma. Email is the only way bids are sent so please ensure an accurate and best email(s) is entered. (see Figure 7: Add VIVE Vendors)

Figure 7: Add VIVE Vendors

 

 

Click the "Copy Vendor Contact Email" button to have the email address the vendor used to register with VIVE automatically entered into the Email field. Click the "Remove" button to remove the vendor from the bid.

Adding Non-VIVE vendors to a bid

VIVE advises against sending bids to vendors not in VIVE as these vendors pose a higher risk to your company. If the user chooses to include a non-VIVE vendor, use the “Add Non-VIVE Vendor” button. Please note, VIVE strongly encourages that if a non-VIVE vendor is awarded the bid, the vendor is required to become VIVE Approved prior to beginning work.

As with VIVE vendors, ensure all information is entered accurately and completely, including email addresses, since email is the sole way bids are delivered to vendors. Upon clicking the “Add Non-VIVE Vendor” button, the “Step 3: Add Non-VIVE Vendor screen appears. (See Figure 10: Add Non-VIVE Vendor)

Figure 10: Add Non-VIVE Vendor

Items with a red * are required fields and must have a value in order to successfully save the entered information and include the vendor in the bid request. Click on the “Back” button in order to not save the entered information. Once all required fields are entered, click on “Next”. The Non-VIVE vendor now appears in the “Non-VIVE Vendors” section of the screen. To view the vendor's information, click on the down arrow next to the VIVE vendor. A remove vendor button appears. Click on the “Remove” button in order to remove the Non-VIVE Vendor from receiving the bid request.

Once all vendors are added to the bid, click on “Next”. Step 4: Final Review screen appears. (See Figure 11: Final Review)

Figure 11: Final Review

The Final Review screen lists all bid proposal information. Click on any of the three down arrows to review the entered information. If information must be changed, click on the “Back” button until the step which needs to be modified is reached. All information is fully modifiable on each screen.

Upon review of all information, the user may click “Save & Close”. This will save all entered information but will not release the bid to the VIVE and/or Non-VIVE vendors entered on the bid request.

Click the “Release to Vendors” button to send the bid to vendors. The “Release to Vendors” button saves all information and VIVE immediately sends all chosen and entered vendors an email requesting the vendor to respond to the bid request. (See Figure 12: Bid Request Email) for a copy of the email received by the vendor. All attached are also attached to the email.

The client's email address entered in step one "QuickSource Contact Detail" will receive one copy of the bid for your records. This will help to ensure the email was sent to vendors upon release of the bid.

 Figure 12 Bid Request Email

Upon receiving the email to bid upon work, a vendor may log into VIVE and enter their bid response information. Once their bid response is entered, the manager assigned to the bid proposal will receive an email informing them that a vendor entered a bid.

As soon as a bid is created, a record will appear within the QuickSourceBids portion of VIVE. All icons under the "Actions" column allow action to be taken on the bid. Place your cursor over each icon in the actions column to view details regarding the meaning of each icon. 

 

The “x” will allow the user to cancel the proposal, the square will allow the user to close the proposal and the arrow will allow the user to submit a bid on behalf of a vendor or reward the bid to a vendor.

 

Edit Bid Proposal

In order to edit the proposal details, click on the pencil icon. When the mouse is hovering over this icon, the words “Edit Proposal” appear. Upon clicking on the edit proposal option, all bid information becomes fully editable. Save the updated information on the bid. Please note, when a proposal is edited, vendors are not sent an email with updated information. So send an email to vendors with the updated bid proposal information, click on the magnifying glass, and click the "Resend bid to unresponsive vendors" button. Resending the bid to vendors that have already submitted their bid response is not available at this time.

Cancel Bid Proposal

In order to cancel a proposal, click on the icon. A warning appears, “Cancelling this proposal will PERMANENTLY close it and no further changes can be made. All vendors that have been added to this request will also be notified. Would you like to continue?” Clicking “Ok” will cancel the proposal permanently. Once the proposal is canceled, all vendors assigned to the bid will receive notice of cancelation. (See Figure 13: Bid Cancelation Email) The only option available to VIVE users is to view the canceled bid. A canceled bid cannot be reactivated. 

 

Figure 13: Bid Cancelation Email

Entering Proposal for Vendor

Vendors may enter a bid until the bid due date or until the bid is closed for additional bids. If a vendor does not have access to VIVE, because they are not a VIVE-approved vendor, or if the vendor does not wish to enter their bid through the VIVE platform, the bid information may be entered for the vendor. In order to enter bid information for a vendor, click on the magnifying glass icon next to the bid name.  All vendors that have been invited to bid are listed in the table.

 

Click on the airplane icon next to the vendor's name to enter a bid on behalf of the vendor. The “QuickSourceBids: Proposal for Work” screen appears. (See Figure 14: QuickSourceBids: Proposal for Work)

 

Figure 14: QuickSourceBids: Proposal for Work

 

The Proposal information is listed on the left side of the screen. This includes documents that were uploaded when the bid was created. The right side of the screen allows for the vendor’s bid proposal information to be entered.

 

Enter the vendor’s proposed start and completion dates. These are required fields.

 

Pricing: If multiple line items were entered when creating the bid proposal, these line items will be available for breaking out the bid information. The Total Price will be automatically calculated directly below the line items. Each line item is a requirement field. Therefore, the bid must be submitted broken out amongst the various available line items.

 

Bid Comments: The user may submit supporting comments and/or attach supporting documents to your bid in order to successfully submit that bid. Either bid comments or support documents must be uploaded in order to successfully save the vendor proposal.

 

Bid Documents:

The user may upload supporting documents in order to submit the bid. Either bid comments or support documents must be uploaded in order to successfully save the vendor proposal.

 

Click “Back” to exit out of the vendor bid proposal screen and not save work. Click “Submit Bid” to save all entered information and successfully bid on the project. The bid details are saved and appear in the table view.

 

Once a bid is submitted, an email is automatically sent to the user that created the QuickSourceBid. (See Figure 15: Bid Submitted Email)

 

Figure 15: Bid Submitted Email

 

 

Decline a Bid: If a vendor chooses to decline the bid, this can also be done on behalf of the vendor. Click on the airplane icon associated with the vendor that wishes to decline the bid. Click “Decline to Bid”. A warning message appears requesting the verification that the bid is to be declined. Click “Ok” on this warning message. This vendor will now have a status of “Declined” next to their name.

 

If the vendor has declined the bid and later decides to bid, click on the airplane icon next to their name. The option to now submit a bid is available.

 

Viewing and Comparing Submitted Bids: In order to view all vendor’s bids, click on the arrow icon next to the bid name. A table listing all vendors that submitted bids appears. (See Figure 16: Submitted Bids Table)

 

Figure 16: Submitted Bids Table

 

This table can be downloaded as a pdf or csv file by clicking on the blue box to the right of the table.  Available download options appear.

 

The Submitted Bids Table lists information about each vendor invited to submit a bid. If a bid was submitted, the status column will have the word “Submitted” and all fields within the table will show the information entered by the vendor. If the bid was declined, the status field would have the word “Declined”. If a vendor has not yet responded to the bid request, the status field will have the words “Not Submitted”.

 

Viewing Submitted Documents

Locate the Bid you would like to view from either the QuickSoureBids widget on the Dashboard (See Figure 16.1 QuickSourceBids widget) which will take the user directly to a list of bids, or by clicking on the "My Sites" icon at the top of the screen, searching for the site attached to the bid, and clicking on QuickSourceBids on the left-hand margin of the screen. All bids associated with the site will appear.   Figure 16.1: QuickSourceBids Widget

 

 

Close a Proposal: In order to close a proposal to future bid opportunities, click on the square icon next to the proposal name within the QuickSourceBids table. When hovering over this icon with a mouse, the words “Close Proposal” appears. A proposal must be closed to future bid opportunities prior to be able to award the bid to a vendor. Once closed, vendors will be notified through email that the opportunity to submit a bid has come to a close and that a bid will soon be awarded. (See Figure 17: Closed Bid Email) Once a proposal is closed, VIVE will not allow future edits.

 

Figure 17: Closed Bid Email

 

Three options are now available. The ability to view the bid, cancel the proposal, submit a bid on behalf of a vendor, or award the bid.

Awarding a Bid: To award a bid, click on the arrow next to the bid. All vendors that have entered a proposal will have a trophy option. Click on the trophy for the vendor that will be awarded the bid. The Award Proposal to Vendor screen appears. (See Figure 18: Award Proposal to Vendor)

 

Figure 18: Award Proposal to Vendor

 

To exit out and not award the bid, click on the “Back” button. To reward the bid to the vendor, click on the “Award Bid” option. The vendor will immediately receive an email letting them know that they were awarded the bid. (See Figure 19: Bid Awarded Email) Vendors that have not been awarded the bid, will receive an email letting them know that they were not awarded the bid. (See Figure 20: Bid Awarded to Another Vendor Email)

 

Figure 19: Bid Awarded Email

 

Figure 20: Bid Awarded to Another Vendor Email

Once a bid is awarded, there are only two available options. The ability to view the bid by clicking on the eye icon. Viewing the bid shows all details regarding the bid, all vendors invited to bid, and their contact details. The second option is to click on the blue arrow. Clicking on this icon shows all vendors that were invited to bid, vendors that submitted bid information, and the status of each vendor. The vendor status shows if the vendor did not submit a bid, submitted a bid but was not awarded the project, or submitted a bid and was awarded the project. All details each vendor submitted are viewable.