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Quest vBid Provider/Soliciting Agent Process A. Requirements before using Virtu-Bid 1. Upgraded security is essential before your first use of Quest VirtuBid. a. The Administrator of your account is the only one that will have access to the My Account section. b. Administrator should go to My Account and update their own Password and set up the On-Line Bid ID code per the screens below. Minimum of 8 characters including uppercase, lowercase and numeral is required for each of these. Please save when finished. ---PAGE BREAK--- c. Administrator must also go to Edit Users and give permissions to every other user on the account. The options are: Project Access and vBid Access and whether the individuals have no access or access to just their projects or all projects per the screen below. d. Individual users can update their own passwords by using the” Forgot Login Information?” link on the Log-in page for B. Set-up Project 1. Add a New Project in the normal way, noting 3 new fields – “On-Line Bidding Fee Selection”, “time zone” and “prequalification required”. a. “On-Line Bidding Fee Selection” – choose “No on-line bidding for this project” if you do not plan on offering on-line bidding, otherwise select the correct method of payment for this project. A method of payment must be selected before setting up the on-line bid. Important note - Once downloads of your plans and specs have occurred, you will not be able to change this area! b. “time zone” is the time zone in effect at the Bid Location and defaults to the time zone setting in the” My Account” section for the Soliciting Agent. c. “prequalification required” defaults to “No” – when set to yes, bidders will not be able to access the On-Line bid until the Soliciting Agent has preapproved them on the Plan Holder list. 2. Once the project has been added, if an On-Line Bid is going to be provided for this project, go to Modify Projects, Select the Project and then click the “Create Bid” button at the top right of the Advertisement (you must have selected the method of payment for on-line bidding first - this button then changes name to “View bid”). 3. Once it has been created, the On-Line Bid for the project can be accessed either by the “View Bid” button (which takes you directly to the project after logging into vBid) or by the “On-Line Bidding” button on the “Projects” menu (this takes you to vBid and after logging in presents a list of all your vBid projects) ---PAGE BREAK--- C. Quest vBid Entry Process 1. Select your project from the “Bids Not Published” menu (or if already selected continue to next step). 2. You are brought to the Qualification page ---PAGE BREAK--- 3. Fill in Bid Bond Information and select files for uploading as follows: 4. You can upload each document as you go or make a series of selections and then press Upload or Save – all uploads are then performed. See Exhibit A for Bid Bond information. a. “Certify receipt of these documents” cause your bidder to have to download. b. “Attach and certify completion of these forms” cause your bidder to have to download the form and upload a response. c. “Certify document uploads” cause your bidder to have to upload a document that you have requested be part of the bid submission e.g. a copy of their Business License. d. The final section on this page allows you to call for some documents to be submitted after bid closing. You can specify the due date and time for these submissions and choose whether you are providing a form or just specifying a document they already have. ---PAGE BREAK--- 5. You can continue making changes to this Qualification page, adding and/or deleting files & also renaming files after the upload is complete. Be sure to “Save” when finished. You can proceed to the Worksheet and then come back here and make more changes. The Bidder does not have access to your bid package until you have finished and chosen to “Publish” the Bid! 6. Continue to next page for Worksheet Instructions. ---PAGE BREAK--- D. Setting up the Worksheet 1. After clicking on the Worksheet Tab you are brought to a page where you can create your Bid Form. If you have set up a Bid Form in Xcel (or some other Spreadsheet) you can modify it to fit our import format (see Exhibit B) and save it to a CSV format and choose Import from CSV on the screen below, or you can use the following instructions to build your worksheet here. 2. First choose Add Section and select the type and fill in the Section name a. Section Types: i. Required is a normal Bid Item – Bidder must fill in a price and it is added to Base Bid Total ii. Optional is a normal Alternate – Bidder does not have to bid and the section is not added to Base Bid Total ---PAGE BREAK--- iii. Fixed – Items in this section must have an Engineers Estimate and All Bidders will be forced to bid the Engineers Estimate. Typically used for Allowances. 3. Continue adding Section Headings as required (must have at least 1 Section Heading) 4. Click on any Section Heading and then select Add Item to add individual line items to your Work Sheet as shown below ---PAGE BREAK--- 5. When filling out Line Items, The Line Item number must be unique for the entire Work Sheet. When completing Item Code, you can choose an Item Code from your organization’s Standard Item Code List (see Exhibit C for building and maintaining the Item Code List) or create Item Codes as necessary – Descriptions and Unit of Measure can be used as defaulted to, chosen from a drop down menu, or changed as required. A quantity must be filled in (use 1 in case of Lump Sum items), but Engineer’s Estimate is optional (except when using a Fixed Bid Section). 6. Next when finished adding items to the worksheet, be sure to click “Save” before moving on. 7. Go to Letting Close Options if required – system defaults to Base Bid Totals for both. These set the level of detail shown when first opening bids and when posting results directly to ---PAGE BREAK--- E. Publishing and Unpublishing Bids 1. When all pages are correctly filled out (Qualification and Worksheet) you can choose Publish from the bottom of the screen. You will need to enter your organization’s On-Line Bid id code and choose to accept the Terms and Conditions. Each organization has its own On-Line Bid ID code, which is entered and maintained under the My Account page at Check with your Account Administrator if you need this code. 2. Once Published, you can no longer make changes to the On-Line bid without Unpublishing – see following page for information about Unpublishing ---PAGE BREAK--- 3. If you need to Unpublish to make changes to your On-Line Bid information, click the Unpublish button at the bottom of any of the pages. The following is what happens (also, if you issue an addendum the following automatically happens): a. Bidders that have submitted bids i. will have their bids unsubmitted ii. will be notified via email, that the Bid has been unpublished and that they will need to resubmit once you have published the bid or they have acquired the addendum iii. The work they have already done will be saved and they will only have to work on areas that you have changed iv. They will be able to see the project in their Bids Started list, but will not be able to work on the bid until you have republished b. Bidders that have not started a bid, will not be able to start a bid until you have republished. c. Your Advertisement will not show the On-Line Bid button or the on-line bidding: Available as shown in the advertisement below – these will be restored once the ad is republished ---PAGE BREAK--- F. Bid Letting 1. The Bid Letting Menu is available once you have Published your bid. a. Prior to the close time, the top 2 buttons shown on the screen below are the only options available – continue to step 2 on the next page for after bid closing time. b. The “View” button will let you see the names of the companies that have submitted bids – but only the names and submitted time. Just like seeing the return address on an envelope. If a bidder chooses to Unsubmit their bid, they will no longer show in this list. c. The “Show Bid Room Clock” displays a large screen with the Local Time and the time remaining till bid close, displayed prominently in Red. You can use this if you are doing a Public Bid Opening, either in person or virtually (On-Line using GoToMeeting or a similar service). Remember, both you and your bidders are using the exact same clock when you use VirtuBid for your on-line bidding. ---PAGE BREAK--- 2. Once the countdown clock has hit 0:00, refresh your screen and the bottom 3 buttons will become active. Now you can use these to complete your actual opening of the submitted bids. a. First the definitions – i. Enter Paper Bid – if you are accepting paper (or manual) bids, you use the Enter Paper Bid functions to enter their Bid Form and to scan and upload any documents that were provided as part of the bid submittal. ii. Bid Acceptance and Review – this function allows you to review all the paper work that has been submitted as part of the electronic bids. You must at least come here and Accept the bid before you can display the Bid Forms. iii. Bid Display – this function displays the bids submitted for all bids that you have accepted under ii. above. They display from low to high. b. Suggested sequence – if you are accepting paper bids, we would suggest that follow these steps: i. Use the Bid Acceptance and Review function to check any paperwork that you need to check before opening the actual bid. Use the notes function in this section to record anything special that you want to recall later. Then accept those bids that you want to open. ii. Proceed to Bid Display and show and read the electronic bids that you have received. Once here, remember that you can change the level of detail being shown and/or turn on the Engineer’s estimate and analysis functions as desired. If all bids were electronic, you can complete everything now by selecting “Post Preliminary Bid Tabs”. iii. Now proceed to open and read your paper bids and use the Enter Paper Bid function at your convenience. c. Proceed to section 3 below for the details on each of these 3 functions. ---PAGE BREAK--- 3. Enter Paper Bid a. Choose the company which to enter the paper bid for. You can select from an existing Plan Holder or enter a Quest Member number b. Complete the qualification page by placing the checkmarks of completed items and scanning and uploading documents ---PAGE BREAK--- c. Complete the Bid Worksheet by filling their unit prices into the form below d. Once both Qualification information and the Worksheet are completed, click the Submit button. Your entries will be checked for completeness and you will be notified of missing information or given a Successful Completion message. e. Continue to Section 4 on the next page for Bid Acceptance and Review. ---PAGE BREAK--- 4. Bid Acceptance and Review a. This screen has a line for each bid submitted (including any “Paper Bids”). Each line contains a column to indicate “Status”, a column for each document submitted as part of the bid and a column for notes. b. Review any of the documents by clicking on the link and make any notes that you would like to make about the submission in the provided column c. Change the “Status” to Accepted or Rejected as appropriate. d. You can leave them as Under Review – but only bids that have been Accepted will be displayed when we actually “Open bids” in the Bid Display – see section 5 ---PAGE BREAK--- 5. Bid Display – Click on Bid Display a. When you display the bids, they show at the level of detail you chose in the Letting Close Options section. The following is set to Detail b. Thereafter, you can click on the “Show Evaluation Options” checkbox and you can add in the Engineer’s Estimate and choose between evaluating the bids against the Engineer’s Estimate and against the average of the bids. As shown, you can choose your own percentage of variation. ---PAGE BREAK--- c. Once you are satisfied with the bids and which ones you are accepting for further evaluation, you can use the buttons at the bottom of the screen as follows: i. Choose Post Prelim Bid Tabs – automatically posts the “As Received” results to the system, allowing bidders to get the Bid results right away at your Quest Custom private Interface. The level of detail posted is based on the level you have selected in the Letting Close Options tab for this project. This level can still be changed by going to this selection screen at any time and changing it. ii. Export to CSV – this will export a CSV file of the entire Bid Abstract including the Engineer’s estimate column. This file can then be brought into Excel for further evaluation of possible bid award and can also be imported into any software you might use for managing the construction process. ---PAGE BREAK--- Exhibit A – Bid Bond Information Bid Bond Set-up The system provides 2 options for receiving a Bid Bond – first set the bond % then choose: 1. Accept Electronic Bid Bond – this option allows the Bidder to upload a file as their Bid bond. This most likely is a PDF from their Insurance provider. 2. Accept Surety 2000 bid bond code – Surety 2000 is a third party certifier of Bid Bonds. This firm is used by many DOT’s around the country. See the following information on how to use Surety 2000. 3. You can choose either one of the above, or both. If you choose both, the bidder can provide a Bid Bond by either method. Surety 2000 Documentation In order to use Surety 2000, “All Parties” to the Bond must first be registered with Surety 2000. In order to accomplish this, the Owner, The Insurance Carrier, the Broker and the Contractor each must go to Surety2000.com and select the appropriate link from the home page in order to complete their respective registration. For this document, we will assume the Insurance Carrier and Broker have already completed this process, if not they must do so. The Owner completes their own registration with Surety 2000 and then they (or their soliciting agent) can choose Surety 2000 as a method of receiving the Bid Bond on the project Qualification Information page. That is all they need to do unless they issue their own Vendor Numbers to the bidding community. If they issue their own Vendor Numbers, they need to check the Check Box at the Vendor Number Required – this affects which number the Contractor will use with their Insurance Broker. The following page shows what the bidder and Insurance Broker must do to fulfill the transaction. NOTE: City of Middleton does not support Surety 2000 service at this time. ---PAGE BREAK--- Instructions related to fulfilling Surety 2000 Bid Bond Contractor must be registered with Surety 2000. There is a small annual fee for this registration that varies by state. If the bidder only bids on one contract a year requiring a Surety 2000 authentication, they can request a single use registration at a reduced cost. Contract Number –This number is supplied by VirtuBid System automatically and is the eBidDoc# from The Bidder must give this number to the Insurance Broker. Contractor ID – This number will be either the Member number or the Owner’s vendor number if the owner requires a vendor number. In either case it will be autofilled. This number must also be provided to the Insurance Broker by the bidder. Bond ID – This item is provided by Surety 2000 to the Insurance Broker who in turn provides it to the Bidder. This is the only item the Bidder inputs. Steps to follow: 1. Bidder (already registered with Surety 2000 as above) contacts Insurance Broker and requests a Bid Bond certified by Surety 2000. 2. Bidder provides Insurance Broker the Contractor ID, the Contract Number, the Bid Bond % required and the estimated Bid Amount. 3. Insurance Broker logs into Surety 2000 and fills in the data for this Bid Bond. 4. The Surety 2000 System gives the Insurance Broker the Bond ID Number 5. After getting the Bond ID number from the Insurance Broker, the Contractor completes the transaction by filling in the Bond ID number field on the Qualifications page. ---PAGE BREAK--- Exhibit B Importing a Bid form CSV If you already have a Spreadsheet of your Bid Form, you can choose to import it instead of filling in the Worksheet manually. 1. First modify your spreadsheet to fit this format: 2. All items must be in the correct columns. Leave no blank lines. 3. Special Definitions for section headings (most others are self explanatory) – a. The Section Heading goes in column 1 and the type of section goes in column 2 b. Required adds to base bid total and the bidder must provide a unit price in order to submit c. Optional is an Alternate and does not add to base bid total – a bidder does not have to provide a unit price in order to submit a bid d. Fixed - you provide the unit price for Fixed and every bidder will be that price as it is filled in for them. Fixed adds to the Base Bid total 4. You then save this spreadsheet as a CSV. 5. On the Worksheet page, you select Import and then choose the file to be imported – it will replace any data already there – it does not append to existing data. 6. You can Export the existing Worksheet, make changes in Excel and reimport. ---PAGE BREAK--- Exhibit C – Building the Item Code List 1. You can build your own Item Code List as follows a. One option is to build it off line in and Excel Spreadsheet. Here is a sample of the format: b. Once you have built it, you do a Save As in the file menu and save it as a .csv file. You can then go to the “Item Codes” menu in VirtuBid and use the Import from CSV option to create your database. Note that importing will replace any item codes that were already there. c. The other option is to use the onscreen buttons on the Item Codes menu to add, delete or modify (just double click on any previously entered field) as shown below: d. Be sure to save your work when finished.