The tendering process can be a complex landscape of information, deadlines, and collaboration. This guide breaks down the primary sections you will see when accessing a tender, ensuring you grasp every essential aspect.
You will be looking at the Tender’s Brief, Key Dates, Attachments, and the collaborators' invitation features. The actions you can undertake when viewing the “Proposal” tab are covered in the Navigating your Direct Instruction Proposal guide. To learn how to add team members to your proposal, see Inviting Collaborators to your proposal.
Step 1: Access the tender
To access a tender, navigate to the Tender’s Index and search for the relevant tender (see Searching and Filtering your Tenders) . Once you have done so, click on the “Proposal” tab. Alternatively, access the law firm’s proposal by clicking on the link found in the email notification received at the date the tender was received.
Step 2: View the tender’s brief
When opening a tender, you will see the tender’s
Brief,
Proposal Status (if you have yet to start working on your Proposal, this section will be left blank with a message prompting you to create your proposal. See Creating your Tender Proposal).
Upcoming Key Dates.
Key details.
Step 3: Access the tender’s key dates
To view the tender’s key dates, click on the “Key Dates” tab. You will then be able to see all of the tender’s upcoming key dates. Click on the “Past Key Dates” tab to view the past key dates for your tender.
Step 4: Access the tender’s attachments
To view the tender’s attachments, click on the “Attachments” tab. You will then be able to see all files shared with your firm. You can filter viewing your attachments through the locked and unlocked tabs. The locked tab will display files that were not shown during the conflict check and the unlocked tabs will show documents that were accessible during the conflict (see Receiving a Tender Invitation). Simply click on the relevant tabs to filter through the document types.
Step 5: Find direct instruction attachments
In the “Attachments” tab, you can use the search bar to quickly find keywords or phrases across documents when searching for a file. To suit different search needs, you can also sort through the documents by
Alphabetical order, or
Most recently updated document.
To sort the Direct Instructions documents, click on the “Sort” icon situated directly under the search tool, before selecting the sorting criterium.
Step 6: Download attachments
To download an attachment, click on the three dot vertical icon on the far right hand side of the document. A pop up will appear, with the option to download the document.
Step 7: Use the Q&A feature
To facilitate your communication with your client, you can use the Q&A feature to send questions to the legal department. This is particularly useful when you are seeking additional information regarding the Tender. For more information, see Using the Q&A Feature.