Thanks for tuning in again! Last time I showed you how to find the RFQ you’ve posted to LGP approved suppliers & we’ve explored everything we can do with it right up until the RFQ closes. And by closes, I mean – that the time you have specified for suppliers to be able to respond to you has now elapsed.
So, what next?
Accessing Reponses
Curious about how many responses you’ve received? By hovering over the “people” icon you can quickly see how many. If this is icon is green, you have responses waiting for you.
From the home page you can also quickly see which stage your request is at too, very helpful when you have multiple requests on the go! You can see this request below is ready to Evaluate (and is also Overdue!).
Never evaluated an RFQ? Read on. Click the Access Responses button to view the details of the Supplier submissions. Until you do this your RFQ will remain LOCKED as per the below.
Please note, & as mentioned above, you cannot reopen the request once you unlock responses. You cannot reverse this once you’ve unlocked the responses as this finalises the response submission stage.
Evaluating
When you originally posted your RFQ, you would have provided an expected evaluation timeframe & also selected an evaluation method type.
The two most used are, Quick Select & the Evaluation Matrix. You can change this here if you need to by clicking “change” – located next to Evaluation Method in the below image.
Evaluating: Quick Select
The simplest option, allowing you to either “Select” or “Decline” each supplier response. This method is appropriate for evaluations undertaken offline or external to VendorPanel. See above for detail.
Evaluating: Evaluation Matrix
To use this method, you must create an evaluation matrix, where you’ll make up a weighting for your desired criteria to evaluate each response. The only catch being that all created criteria must add up to 100. The responses can then be compared by their scores on the matrix.
Select “Add New” & for each criteria enter a name, a description & a weighting. Use the wizard to guide you through the process. Click the blue font for help. If the decision is about cost or price – tick the box provided and this will automatically score & weight the cost. Remember to Save!
Finalising Your Request
You will need to have either selected or declined each supplier response.
To finalise the request, click the “Go to Finalise” button at the top of the responses page as shown below.
Then click the Finalise this Request button at the top of the next page.
Suppliers will then be advised of your decision by an account notification & an email. To finalise, click the “Finalise this Request” button shown below – bottom left, then click OK to confirm.
You will receive the following notification confirming the request has indeed been finalised. A summary of key details will appear & you will notice the “YOUR DECISION” panel is now coloured green with a tick & the option to “Issue docs” is now available.
As per the below screen grab you can click the “Download” icon which will pull every detail from the RFQ into a zip file for your Contract Management System.
Good news! The VendorPanel side of things is now complete!
When you look at your RFQ now from the home screen, you will see it now looks like this:
Congratulations!!
Next month I’ll run through the next few things you’ll want to consider outside of VendorPanel.
If you want to read on, or for more details on the above, follow the link below where you’ll find some great information including our 3 guides to using LGP Contracts & VendorPanel:
Next VendorPanel Online Training Sessions:
- Monday, May 13th, 2pm-2:45pm / Registration link here.
- Wednesday, Aug 14th, 2pm-2:45pm / Registration link here.
- Thursday, Nov 7th, 2pm-2:45pm / Registration link here.
Before I leave you, remember to check out our new “LGP’s Guide To Amending LGP Customer Contracts and Other Options” on the LGP website here:
How Do I Get A Quote? – Local Government Procurement (lgp.org.au)
Questions?
Send me an email at [email protected]
See you next month!