Responding on behalf of a Vendor

This feature allows the organisation to quote or decline an RFQ on behalf of a vendor which makes submission and tracking of quote status flexible when there are deadlines that need to be met and you want a single source of truth for coverage on RFQs.

It allows you to set a status and attach relevant documents received (say, over email) from the vendor. Status can be set to Manually quoted or Manually declined.

Quoting or Declining an RFQ on behalf of a vendor

To manually quote on behalf of a vendor:

1. Navigate to Projects > Requests for Quotation from the main menu.
2. Locate the RFQ that you would like to quote or decline on behalf of the vendor.
3. Click on the RFQ Name or hover over the ellipsis icon and select View Details from the options.
4. Navigate to the Vendors tab of the RFQ.
5. Locate the vendor that you would like to quote or decline on their behalf.
6. Click on the status button (e.g. Declined, Pending, Viewed) or hover over the ellipsis icon and select Update Response from the options. A popup modal will open.
7. In this modal, there is a Status field which has two options:
   • If you are quoting on behalf of a vendor, select Manually quoted from the dropdown.
   • If you are declining an RFQ on behalf of a vendor, select Manually declined from the dropdown.
8. Upload any relevant files using the dropzone in the Attachments section.
9. Enter any relevant notes in the Response notes section. These are only visible to your organisation, not the vendor.
10. Make a selection with the Email acknowledgment of response to vendor checkbox. (Optional)
    • By filling the checkbox, you are asking for the vendor to receive an email notification that you submitted or declined the quote for them.
11. Click the Update button.
12. A Confirm response entry box will pop up to have you confirm you are assigning the response (status and attachments) to the correct vendor. 
    • Check that you have the right vendor. The vendor will receive access to any attachments you added and their quote status will be updated.
    • Click the Confirm button when you confirm it is the right vendor.
13. Your response on behalf of the vendor is complete. You will return to the Vendors tab of the RFQ. If you elected to send the vendor an email, it will be sent immediately.

• Pricing cannot be added on behalf of the vendor (unless Pricing Schedule was used, in which case you can model the vendor's response in the Pricing Schedule Analysis tool).
• If you try to award to a Pending or Viewed vendor, you will be prompted first to respond on behalf of the vendor.
• You cannot engage a Manually quoted vendor as there is no pricing attached to a manual response.

• The Response notes will only be visible to the organisation, not to the vendor.

• Any attachments that you add will be visible to the vendor.

Modifying a response

There may be scenarios such as where you have manually declined on behalf of a vendor and then extended the close date allowing them to respond with a follow up email quote. With this feature, you can also modify a response to the vendor.

To modify a response to the vendor:

1. Navigate to Projects > Requests for Quotation from the main menu.
2. Locate the RFQ that you would like to modify the response for to the vendor.
3. Click on the RFQ Name or hover over the ellipsis icon and select View Details from the options.
4. Navigate to the Vendors tab of the RFQ.
5. Locate the vendor that you would like to modify the response for.
6. Click on the status button or hover over the ellipsis icon and select Edit Response from the options. The existing response will open in a popup modal.
7. Click the Edit button to modify the response.
8. Delete existing or upload more relevant files using the dropzone in the Attachments section.
9. Enter or update any relevant notes in the Response notes section.
10. Click the Update button.

• You are not prompted to send an acknowledgment email to vendors when editing a response. Email acknowledgments are only on creation of a response on behalf of a vendor.
• The Response notes will only be visible to the organisation, not to the vendor.
• Any attachments that you add will be visible to the vendor.

Deleting a response

The option to delete a manual response allows for vendors to submit their own response if circumstances have changed. An example includes where, say, you have extended the close date and they have time now to submit themselves.

To delete a response to the vendor:

1. Navigate to Projects > Requests for Quotation from the main menu.
2. Locate the RFQ that you would like to delete the response for to the vendor.
3. Click on the RFQ Name or hover over the ellipsis icon and select View Details from the options.
4. Navigate to the Vendors tab of the RFQ.
5. Locate the vendor that you would like to delete the response for.
6. Click on the status button. The existing response will open in a popup modal.
7. Click the Edit button then click the Delete Response button to delete the response.
8. Click the Delete button to confirm the deletion.

• The quote status for the vendor will change to its original status.

• The vendor will be able to access all sections they normally would in an RFQ.

• Any requested documents provided, questions that had been answered or comments made by the vendor will be visible to the vendor. This allows the vendor to continue where they left off in the quote before your manual response was added..