In a sealed bid, suppliers submit their bids privately. This confidentiality applies not only to competitors but to you as well: until the bid deadline you cannot see the amount of any bid.
Why you cannot see them either
The value of the envelope is the supplier's confidence that "no one holds my price until the opening". If the buyer could see bids before time is up, it could pass a price on to another supplier, or cancel the tender and reopen it with the prices it saw. When a supplier knows this, it does not give its best price.
That is why the lock is not only on screen: until the envelope opens, bids are not sent from the database to any user in your company, including administrators.
What you see while time runs
- Whom you invited and the invitation statuses: Invited, Viewed, Bid Submitted, Declined.
- How many suppliers have bid in this round and the time remaining.
- What you cannot see: the amounts and the content of the bids.
During this time a supplier can update or withdraw its bid. Since you cannot see it, this has no effect on competition. If a supplier withdraws its bid, you get a notification.
When the envelope opens
- Automatically when time is up. The moment the bid deadline passes, the bids become visible; you do not need to do anything.
- Early, in one case only. If everyone expected to bid has bid, there is no one left to wait for, and the Open Round 1 Envelopes button in the title becomes active.
A supplier expected to bid is one that has not declined the invitation, has passed pre-qualification in a tender with pre-qualification, and from the second round on has been called to the round. If the button is grey, hovering over it shows the reason.
Once you open the envelope, no new bids can be submitted in that round, and suppliers can no longer change or withdraw their bids.
After the envelope opens
- In the Received Bids tab, all bids appear with item prices, commercial terms and documents. Suppliers receive a "Your Bid Is Under Evaluation" email.
- The ceiling price and valuation parameters are locked. The rule cannot be changed after seeing the prices; if it could, the ranking could be adjusted to the result.
- You have two options: ask the suppliers you choose for a better price with Open New Round, or select the winner.
- Suppliers never see competitors' prices at any stage. When starting a new round, you can choose to show them only their rank.
The envelope in a new round
Each round works with its own envelope. Bids in the new round are also sealed until that round's bid deadline and open under the same rules. In a new round, each supplier's item amount cannot exceed its amount in the previous round.
Tell us what you see on screen and we will look at it together.