To submit their response to a Buyer’s Request or Tender, Suppliers will need to Create a Response using the Response Wizard in VendorPanel. This allows them to send documents and any other necessary information to the Buyer.
To provide this information to a Supplier, please use this link to the same article in the VendorPanel Supplier's Help Centre: https://vendorpanelsuppliers.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/900002616086-Responding-to-a-Request-or-Tender
Creating a Response
To create their response they will need to click the pen and paper icon to the right of the Request or Tender.
This will open up a Response Wizard where they will be able to create their response. Steps for completion are outlined at the top of the page.
They will need to follow the prompts to complete each step. They will need to finish all the required fields and steps before they can submit the response.
As they progress through each step, clicking on Update (or Save) & Continue at the bottom will save their progress as a draft response. They can come back to their draft before the closing date and time to complete and post their response.
Supplier Details
The first step is confirming the Supplier List they are responding against and the Supplier they are responding as.
In most cases, there will only be one option for both and will be automatically selected. If multiple Supplier Lists were selected on the Request then they will have multiple options to choose from. If they are registered on the same list as a Vendor Admin and as a Colleague to someone else using different business details then they will have multiple options to choose from.
Once they've made their selections they can press the Save and Continue button to proceed to the next step.
Response Details
The next step is Response Details. They must ensure that they complete the ‘Enter the details of your response’ section as this is required.
Anything relevant to their response can be entered here, however, if they’re attaching documents as the core of their response then they can use this field to indicate this to the buyer (eg. "Refer to attached documentation").
The remaining fields are optional but can be used if needed.
Press Update and Continue to head to the next step.
Answer Questions
The Answer Questions step will only be visible if the Buyer has elected to add questions to their RFx. Questions that they are required to answer will be marked as red where required.
Once they have answered the questions, they can press the Update and Continue button to proceed.
Add Files
The Add Files step allows Suppliers to attach documents.
The Multiple file upload mode allows them to attach up to 50 files to upload at the same time at a maximum of 15Mb each.
If the file size of their documents is above this limit they can click the Switch to large file upload mode button. Switching to the large file upload mode allows them to attach a total of 5 documents (one at a time) greater than 15Mb up to 150Mb each in size.
They cannot upload documents larger than 150Mb to their response.
Once they've uploaded all of their attachments they can press Update and Continue.
Pricing Mode
On the Pricing step, they will be asked to choose to use either the Detailed pricing Mode or the Summary pricing Mode.
Detailed pricing allows them to build a detailed quote providing prices line by line, whereas the Summary mode allows them to enter an overall value.
You can find an overview and instructions on how to use the Detailed mode here: How Suppliers Respond to a Detailed Quote using QuoteBuilder.
When selecting the Summary mode, they'll need to enter their overall price, tax component and select if the price is estimated or fixed. They'll also have the ability to add any notes or comments into the textbox (eg. "Refer to attached pricing schedule").
When Buyers are creating a request they will select whether it's mandatory for a supplier to provide a price with their response or not.
- If it states on the page that the buyer has requested you to provide the following pricing details, this will mean the buyer has made providing a price mandatory and the supplier will need to enter a value to progress to the next step.
- If providing a price has been set to Optional by the Buyer then the supplier will see this listed on the Summary Prices page.
They can click on the Update and Continue when they've entered in their price.
If they have selected one of the methods and wish to switch to the other, they can use the button in the top right to do so. Switching from one mode to the other will mean they lose any progress they made on that mode.
Account Details
The Account Details step requires suppliers to check and confirm their business number and name that will be invoiced are correct. These details are prepopulated by what is set on the Suppliers profile.
They can click on the Update and Continue button to move on to the final step.
Save Response
The final step is Save Response. Here they can choose to either post their response or save it as a draft.
By clicking the Save as draft button, their response will not be sent to the Buyer. To submit their response to the Buyer they will need to click the Post to Buyer >> button before the Request/Tender closes.
Response Wizard Controls
At any point during the Response Wizard, Suppliers can Preview, Delete, or Exit the Request.
- Preview: Shows the version of the Response that Buyers will see.
- Delete: Will delete the Response they are working on.
- Exit: Will take them out of the Response Wizard. All saved changes will be kept as a draft. Anything unsaved will be lost.