DIRECTORATE GENERAL
<INFORMATICS>
User Manual for Economic Operators of the e-PRIOR e-Submission Open Source Version
Date: / 27/09/2013Version: / 0.02
Authors: / Eli Garcia
Revised by: / Didier Thunus
Approved by:
Public:
Reference Number:
Feasibility Study–pre-Award e-ProcurementPage 1 / 1
Document Version 0.019 dated 20/06/2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.Introduction
1.1. Welcome
1.2. Purpose of this manual
1.3. Intended audience
1.4. Glossary of terms
2.Getting started
2.1. The pre-award process for open procedures
2.1.1. The description of the modules
2.2. E-submission in a nutshell
2.2.1. The process flow to prepare and submit a tender
2.3. Common icons used in e-submission
3.System requirements
3.1. Hardware
3.2. Internet and network
3.3. Operating systems
3.4. Browsers
3.5. Additional software requirements
3.6. Configuration requirements and recommendations
4.Access to e-submission
4.1. Launch e-submission module
4.2. Login to e-submission
4.3. Initial screen layout
5.How to prepare a tender
5.1. Create a new tender
5.2. Understanding the "tender data" section
5.3. Identification of the tenderers
5.3.1. Create tenderer
5.3.2. Create consortium members
5.3.3. Create subcontractors
5.4. Select lot(s) to participate
5.5. Reply to exclusion criteria
5.6. Selection criteria
5.6.1. Reply to technical criteria
5.6.2. Reply to financial criteria
5.6.3. Reply to completed tasks
5.7. Tender
5.7.1. Tender offer
6.How to consolidate and submit your tender
6.1. Validate tender
6.2. Consolidate tender and finalise package
6.2.1. Consolidate tender documents
6.2.2. Sign preparation report
6.2.2.1. Blue-ink signature
6.2.2.2. Electronic signature
6.2.3. Attach the signed preparation report
6.2.4. Validate electronic signature
6.3. Submit tender
7.How to view submitted and received tenders
7.1. View submitted tenders
7.1.1. View details of tender sent
7.2. View received tenders.
7.2.1. View tender receipt
8.Additional functionality
8.1. How to save a draft tender
8.2. How to open a draft tender
8.3. How to delete a document already attached
8.3.1. Select the entry to delete
8.3.2. Delete the entry completely
8.3.3. Delete the document line
8.3.4. Delete the attachment
8.4. How to delete a tenderer member
9.Troubleshooting
9.1. Tender validation unsuccessful
10.FAQ
Annex a.Understand the tender preparation report
Annex b.Digital fingerprint and cryptographic function sha-512
1.Introduction
1.1.Welcome
Welcome to the open source version of“e-Submission”, a tendering system which allows the submission of Tenders during the procurement process.
e-Submission is a system which allows Economic Operators to prepare and submit tenders related to a Call for Tender, and Contracting Authorities to receive and open the tenders during the opening session.
1.2.Purposeof this manual
The aim of this manual is to explain the steps Economic Operators should follow to respond to Calls for Tenders through the use of the e-Submission module. In particular, the manual explains how to:
- Create a new Tender
- Open an existing Tender
- Fill the Tender forms
- Consolidate and submit a Tender
- Troubleshoot common problems
1.3.Intended audience
The content of this document is intended tousers ofEconomic Operators(Suppliers) responding electronically to a Call for Tender.
1.4.Glossary of terms
The glossary below provides the reader with an overview of terms used in this document.
Term / DescriptionCA / Contracting Authority – State, regional or local authorities, bodies governed by public law, associations formed by one or several of such authorities or one or several of such bodies governed by public law, subject to the European regulatory framework on public procurement.
Call for Tender (CfT) / A call for bids, Call for Tender (CFT) or Invitation to Tender (ITT), is a special procedure for generating competing offers from different bidders looking to obtain an award of business activity in works, supply, or service contracts.
EO / Economic Operator – Generic term for a contractor, supplier or service provider in a public procurement. The terms "contractor", "supplier" and "service provider" mean any natural or legal person or public entity or group of such persons and/or bodies which offers on the market, respectively, the execution of works and/or a work, products or services.
e-Procurement / A public procurement initiated, negotiated and/or concluded using electronic means, i.e. using electronic equipment for the processing and storage of data, in particular through the Internet.
Non-repudiation / The inability to deny having signed a transaction or file. Transactions cannot be repudiated through notarization.
Open e-PRIOR / Open source version of e-PRIOR, which can be re-used by Member States' public administrations.
Pre-Award phases / Public procurement phases taking place before and including the awarding of a contract.
Public Procurement / A procedure initiated by a Contracting Authority with a view of acquiring goods, services or public works for the fulfilment of its tasks.
Supplier Portal / A portal through which the Contracting Authority can interact with the Economic Operator.
Tender / A Tender is an offer to do or perform an act which the party offering, is bound to perform to the party to whom the offer is made.
Tender Bundle / Group of electronic documents prepared in response to a Call for Tender.
Timestamping / Trusted timestamping is the process of securely keeping track of the creation and modification time of a document. Security here means that no one — not even the owner of the document — should be able to change it once it has been recorded provided that the integrity of the timestamp is never compromised.
XML / Extensible Markup Language - a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C.
2.Getting started
2.1.The pre-award process for Open Procedures
The diagram below depicts the pre-Award process for Open procedures and the modules that should support them.
This manual covers the description of the e-Submission module and the necessary communication with e-Access, the remaining processes are not covered in this manual nor in the solution of e-Submission.
2.1.1.The description of the modules
e-Notice
The e-Notice module is the starting point of the e-Tendering process where the market procedures and related documents are being prepared. These documents include notices such as prior information notice or contract notice, but not the Call for Tenders and its annexes.
This module is responsible for the Call for Tender master data including setting the Opening and Evaluation Committees. It can start with the planning of the Call for Tender and stops when the publication process starts. It is not mandatory for the e-Submission module.
e-Access
The e-Access module allows Contracting Authorities publishing their calls for Tenders and technical specifications. This module allows also answering to questions from Economic Operators.
It may be integrated with the e-Notice module (if / when available) and must be integrated with the e-Submission Back Office module to gather Tender templates and encryption key.
On the Economic Operator side, this module is responsible for giving access to Call for Tender specifications and possibility to ask for questions and receive answers to the Call for Tender. It is integrated with the e-Submission module for Economic Operators willing to participate to a Call for Tender.
e-Submission
The e-Submission module allows Economic Operators to respond to Call for Tenders by preparing their Tenders in a structured and secured way, and submitting their Tenders. The e-Access module should be the starting point for launching the e-Submission module.
On the Contracting Authority side, this module is responsible for generating the necessary templates and encryption key, and to securely open the received Tenders.
e-Evaluation
The e-Evaluation module provides tools to support the evaluation of Tenders by the Contracting Authority. This module covers typical Back Office functionalities and ideally should provide also automatic evaluation of Tenders.
e-Awarding
The e-Awarding module prepares the contract award notice for awarded Tenderers and notification to non-awarded Tenderers. This module is responsible for ensuring the exchange of documents with the Tenderer during the awarding phase.
This module is responsible for establishing the contractual agreement from the selected Tender. It may use the e-Evaluation module, and must use the e-Qualification module and Exclusion system.
2.2.e-Submission in a nutshell
The image below depicts the main process on how e-Submission works within the pre-award process
User Manual of e-Submission Open version for Economic OperatorsPage 1 of 58
User Manual of e-Submission Open version for Economic OperatorsPage 1 of 58
2.2.1.The process flow to prepare and submit a tender
Below is the process flow to prepare and submit a tender and which this manual explains each of one of the process
User Manual of e-Submission Open version for Economic OperatorsPage 1 of 58
User Manual of e-Submission Open version for Economic OperatorsPage 1 of 58
2.3.Common icons used in e-Submission
Below are some of the most common icons used in e-Submission
Icon / Meaning/ Adds new information to the Tender (i.e. a new document)
/ Deletes information from the Tender (i.e. a document previously attached)
/ Allows to select a file to be attached the tender
/ Delete a file already attached to the tender
/ Icon representing the main tenderer
/ Iconrepresenting a consortium member
/ Iconrepresenting a subcontractor
User Manual of e-Submission Open version for Economic OperatorsPage 1 of 58
3.System requirements
3.1.Hardware
Some encryption functions (signature, file encryption and decryption) require significant disk memory and RAM. For submittals with files lower than 100 MB, the following configuration is recommended:
- Processor > 2 GHz
- RAM > 1 Go
- Java Virtual Machine memory allocation (if encryption applets are used) > 512 Mo
Contact your system administrator to know the details of your local internet and network.
3.2.Internet and network
- Internet access: broadband Internet access is required for file transfer and smooth navigation in this application.
- Network: any IT equipment located at the user's end (proxy, reverse proxy, firewall, etc.) must be configured to:
Enable unrestricted HTTPS access to the application (the application's IP address must be whitelisted in each piece of equipment)
Enable download of executable files from the browser environment (applets, JavaScript, etc.)
Contact your system administrator to know the details of your local internet and network.
3.3.Operating systems
The eSubmission module has been tested in the following Operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows XP, with all Microsoft updates installed (windowsupdate.microsoft.com
- Microsoft Windows Vista, with all Microsoft updates installed (windowsupdate.microsoft.com)
- Microsoft Windows 7, with all Microsoft updates installed (windowsupdate.microsoft.com)
3.4.Browsers
The following Browsers are supported by the system:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 8 or higher
- Mozilla Firefox, version 5 or higher
- Chrome, latest "stable" version
3.5.Additional software requirements
- Java Runtime Environment (JRE), the workstation must have Java J2SE version 1.6 update 10 or higher installed. The latest version can be downloaded from the Java website:
- Adobe Reader, version 8.1.3 or higher. The latest version can be downloaded from the Adobe website:
3.6.Configuration requirements and recommendations
- Cookies: the workstation must be configured to accept cookies from the application's server.
- Workstation administration rights: the software requires that the user have administration rights on his workstation to enable the installation of executable files from the browser environment (applets, JavaScript, etc.). Contact your system administrator for enabling administration rights.
- Screen resolution: It is recommended to have a screen resolution of 1024 x 768.
4.Access to e-Submission
4.1.Launch e-Submission module
e-Submission starts after the user has selected in e-Access the Call for Tender to which he wants to respond. An e-Access solution connected to e-Submission should be provided in by Contracting Authority.
* e-Access module does not form part of e-Submission and should be provided by the Contracting Authority.
4.2.Login to e-Submission
When e-Submission is launched, a login page is displayed. Example
Type-in the user and password
After login, you may be prompted with a security warning to request if you want to run e-Submission,you need to tick on "I accept the risk and want to run this application" and click on "Run"
4.3.Initial screen layout
This is the initial screen presented after launching the e-Submission module from e-Access
5.How to prepare a tender
5.1.Create a new tender
1) The option "Create a new tender for <Name of tender>" will allow you to create a "blank" form in which you can introduce all the information required by the Call for Tender. To do this, follow the instructions below.
2) Click on button "next"
3) The following screen appears after selecting "Create a new tender for: <Name of the Call for tender>"
User Manual of e-Submission Open version for Economic OperatorsPage 1 of 58
User Manual of e-Submission Open version for Economic OperatorsPage 1 of 58
5.2.Understanding the "Tender data" section
The "Tendering Data" section allows you to review the key information from the Call for Tender.
1) Select "Tendering data" from the navigation tree.
The screen shown in below displays the following information:
- Internal Data. This is the identification of the Call for Tender
- Procurement Project. Contains the details of the CfT
- Contracting Authority. Shows the details of the Contracting Authority that published the CfT
- Conditions of participation. Lists the main requirements for this Call for Tender
- Tendering milestones. The most important dates for the CfT
- Certificate Information. The details of the certificate to ensure the security of the tender
5.3.Identification of the Tenderers
5.3.1.Create Tenderer
All tenders need to have a Tendererwho is the principal responsible to the eyes of the Contracting Authority. The main tenderer can be in form of a consortium or a company if the company is bidding alone.
1) Select " Tenderer" under "Identification of Tenderer" from the Navigation tree
2) Click on Button "Add new Party". Note: There can only be only one "Main Tenderer" per Tender
3) Fill-in the required information that appears on the different tabs.
Note: Only fields with a star (*) are required.
5.3.2.Create Consortium members
If a consortium group is responding to the Call for Tender, each member of the consortium must be added in this section. In case there is no consortium you can only use Main tenderer and (if required) Subcontractor data
1) Select "Consortium member" under "Identification of the Tenderers" from the Navigation tree
2) Click on Button "Add new Party"
Note: There can several Consortium members.
3) Fill-in the required information that appears on the different tabs.Only fields with a star (*) are required.
You need to tick "Consortium Leader" for the leader of the consortium,only one party of the consortium can be the Consortium leader
5.3.3.Create Subcontractors
If the tenderer is planning to employ subcontractors, then all subcontractors must be indicated in this section.
1) Select "Subcontractor" under "Identification of the Tenderers" from the Navigation tree
2) Click on Button "Add new Party"
Note: There can be several Consortium members.
3) Fill in the required information that appears in the different tabs.
Note: Only fields with a star (*) are required.
5.4.Select lot(s) to participate
When a Call for Tender has different lots, the tenderer has the choice to participate in one or more lots depending on the restrictions of the Call for Tender.
If the Call for Tender does not have lots, this option will be disabled.
1) Select "Interest in the following lots"
2) Select the lot(s) to which you want to respond
Note: The lots you add appear in the Navigation tree under the section Tender Tender Offer
5.5.Reply to exclusion criteria
e-Submission allows to add multiple documents for different types of exclusion criteria, the following steps show the steps required to add exclusion criteria
Please note that multiple exclusion criteria can be added to each of the participants of the tender: Main tenderer, Consortium members and Subcontractors.
1) In the navigation tree, select the desired tender participant to add an exclusion criterion
2) Select "Exclusion type" from the predefined list
3) Click on the button to add the selected exclusion criteria type
4) Click on the button from the "Documents" section to add a new document for the selected type of exclusion criteria
5) Click the button to attach the document. This button will open a dialog box to select the desired document to attach
6) Type-in a short description of the document being attached
Document for exclusion criteria successfully added
5.6.Selection Criteria
5.6.1.Reply to Technical Criteria
e-Submission allows to add multiple documents for different types of technical capabilities. The following steps show the steps required to add a technical capacity
Please note that multiple technical capabilities can be added to each of the participants of the tender: Main tenderer, Consortium members and Subcontractors
1) On the navigation tree, select the desired tender participant to add a Technical capacity
2) Select the type technical capability from the predefined list
3) Click on the button to add the selected technical capacity type
4) Click on the button from the "Documents" section to add a new document for the selected type of exclusion criteria