When the draft is ready, the publish panel in the right column shows what is missing. When the list is complete, the Publish Tender button (Start Pre-qualification in a tender with pre-qualification) becomes available.
Checklist
| Row | How to complete it |
|---|---|
| Add at least 1 item | In the wizard or with Add Item. No item may have an empty quantity. |
| Invite at least 1 supplier | From the Invite Supplier panel. |
| Add pre-qualification questions | Only in a tender with pre-qualification. With Add Question. |
| Criteria weights | If you added criteria, a total of 100 and exactly one price criterion. Without criteria, this row causes no problem. |
| Assign an owner | The person who opened the tender is the owner automatically; an Admin can change it. |
| Select a bid deadline | In a tender without pre-qualification, with Edit in the title, a date in the future. A tender with pre-qualification does not have this row; you choose the date when pre-qualification ends. |
Pre-publish Check
Click Check on the Pre-publish Check card in the right column. The check takes a few seconds and lists the findings by severity. It does not block publishing; it only warns.
- Setup: items without a quantity, criteria whose weights do not total 100, no ceiling price in a sealed bid, no documents in a multi-item tender.
- Competition: no suppliers, or fewer than 4 suppliers invited.
- Timeline: no bid deadline, a past one or a short one. Under 3 days counts as short; under 5 days for a tender with more than 20 items.
- Specification: the documents you uploaded are read; brand lock-in (wording that points to a single brand), contradicting clauses and missing clauses are looked for.
If you try to publish while there is a high-severity finding, you are asked "There is a high-severity finding. Publish anyway?". You can fix the finding and click Check again, or continue knowingly.
What happens when you publish
- The invitation email goes to every supplier on the invite list at the same moment.
- In a tender without pre-qualification, bid collection starts and round 1 opens. In a tender with pre-qualification, suppliers start answering the questions.
- One of your free tender allowances is used.
- Items, the invite list, criteria and bid conditions are locked. From then on, the way to add or correct something in the tender is to publish an addendum.
If your company has a workflow rule for tenders, it is checked at publishing. If the rule stops publishing, or there is an incomplete step or task, the tender is not published and the reason appears on screen.
Tell us what you see on screen and we will look at it together.