To post a question on a bid, you will first navigate to the main page of the bid. A guide to locate a bid on the site can be found at this link.
Once on the bid, click on the Q&A tab in the yellow-orange bar in the center of the page.
Once on the tab, the site will always list the Q&A deadline, any other questions and answers that have been posted, as well as an option to print all of the current questions and answers.
If you are able to post a question, there will be an "Ask a question" button next to the print option. Clicking on this opens a pop-up for you to enter your question in text form. Please be aware that the pop-up is a simple text field and does not support uploading any files. If you need to link any files to your question, you will need to upload them to an online storage and provide the link to the files. There is also a limit of roughly 500 characters, so if asking several questions, it is best to add them individually.
Once a question is posted, a message will be sent to the bid contacts, letting them know that there is a new question. If your notifications are turned on for the bid, you will also be sent an alert for when an answer is posted to any of the questions. You can turn on notifications to a bid by clicking the "Notify me about this Bid" button. If that button is not visible, notifications are turned on.
If the "Ask a question" button is not visible, it is usually due to one of the following:
- The Q&A deadline may have passed already. Once that time passes, the system removes the "Ask a question" button to prevent any questions from being posted after the deadline.
- Your account may need to be validated. If you are seeing the following message, it may be that your account has been recently created and has yet to be validated. Another cause for the same message is that your user does not have the permission needed to interact with bids. If you see this message, please call support at 800-990-9339, and choose option 1 (and then again) from the automated phone menu. If you do not see the text in red on the bid, then this does not apply.
- The agency has marked at least one qualification as required for the bid. Agencies are able to create and manage qualifications within this application. If they have marked any as a prerequisite for the bid, the system leaves you in a "view only" mode until those qualifications have been submitted within the site. If you do not see the text in red on the bid, then this does not apply.
Agencies also often post a primary bid contact, which can be found on the Details tab. Select "See contact information" to view a pop-up of available contact details (such as Name, Phone, Email, etc) and then reach out by your preferred method from the available options:
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