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eTenders TutorialQuestions and Answers (Q&A) Module Supplier Guide

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Q&A User Guide - Supplier

Introduction to Q&A Module

Section 1 - Supplier begins the Q&A process

Section 2 – Supplier reviews all questions

Section 3 – Contracting Authority answers questions

Section 4 - Supplier receives notification of a publication

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Introduction to Q&A Module

The Q&A (Questions and Answers) is a module within a tender which can be used for broadcasting answers when a question is initiated from the supplier during the pre-closing period.

• The suppliers ask questions during the tender, the contracting authorities have the possibility to revise the questions to remove any specific supplier information and then publish the answers to all suppliers.

• The published answer and the question is available to any supplier who has expressed interest in a tender.

• The supplier will not have the ability to ask any clarification questions through the Q&A module once the deadline for clarification questions has passed.

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Introduction to Q&A Module

• If the deadline has been passed but then is extended by the buyer, the Q&A functionality resumes as normal and the supplier can resume asking questions.

• The questions which have been answered and broadcast remain visible even once the deadline has passed.

• A buyer can still answer, edit and broadcast within the Q&A module after the clarification deadline has passed. It is worth noting for a supplier, therefore that they may continue to receive broadcasts through the Q&A module even after the deadline.

• If during the pre-closing period, the Supplier wishes to send any documentation to the Contracting Authority, the normal messaging facility can be used for this purpose. The Supplier can attach documents to messages there.

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Section 1: Supplier begins the Q&A process

• The supplier can initiate the process of asking the Contracting Authority (CA) a question by clicking on the Supplier questions and answers link on the My Response tab. and then clicking on the Ask Question button there.

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Section 1: Supplier begins the Q&A process

• Once in the Supplier Questions and Answers link, the Supplier clicks the Ask Question button to create a new question to the Buyer.

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Section 1: Supplier begins the Q&A process

• Clicking the Ask Question button will bring the supplier to the Ask Question screen where they can enter the subject of their query and the details of their question as can be seen in the image below.

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Section 1: Supplier begins the Q&A process

• The Supplier can opt to click the button “Request this question to be commercially protected” and this would mean the answer would not be broadcast to all, only the supplier who asked the question would get the reply.

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• The Buyer can however decide to broadcast to all after redacting some elements and making it relevant to all.

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Section 1: Supplier begins the Q&A process

• Before the supplier’s question is submitted they will be prompted to confirm that they are ready to submit the query, giving them the opportunity to review their question before it is released.

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Section 2: Supplier reviews all questions

• The supplier can review the question after it has been submitted by clicking on the Supplier questions and answers link on the My Response tab.

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Section 2: Supplier reviews all questions

• Here, the supplier can also see all questions posed by other suppliers who will remain anonymous when viewed from the supplier side (see example screenshots below).

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Section 2: Supplier reviews all questions

• It is worth noting here that a supplier can not see questions raised by other suppliers until they have been answered and broadcast by the buyer, at which point they become available to all suppliers on the tender.

• An unread Q&A will remain in bold here until it is viewed.

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Section 3: Contracting Authority answers questions

• The CA will be notified by email when a supplier has asked a question in relation to an RFT

• The CA can also review all questions asked by various suppliers by entering the Q&A Module

• From here, the CA can open a question and write their response. The CA can then decide to publish the response so that the supplier posing the question can see the answer, as well as the other suppliers who have accepted the tender.

• The CA can publish any new changes made to the current list of questions and answers.

• The CA can redact any details that could expose the identity of the supplier who posed the question.

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Section 4: Supplier receives notification of a publication

• When the CA has published an answer to a question, each supplier who has accepted the tender will receive an email notification containing a hyper-link to the QnA module.

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Section 4: Supplier receives notification of a publication

• The supplier will see any unread answers appear in bold in the list.

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Section 4: Supplier receives notification of a publication

• The Supplier can click in to each question and view question and answer.

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