Free cookie consent management tool by TermsFeed

Manage Solicitations

On This Page
This content applies solely to Award Management, which must be purchased separately from the Appian base platform. This content was written for Appian 26.9 and may not reflect the interfaces or functionality of other Appian versions.

Solicitation record

The Appian Award Management (AM) solution tracks the solicitations your agency issues to source vendors before making an award. The Manage Solicitations page explains how to create and update a solicitation, finalize it, and create an award from it. Line items and documents on a solicitation work the same way as they do on an award, so this page links to the award instructions for those tasks.

For an orientation to the Award Management site, see Navigate AM. To act on the award that results from a solicitation, see Manage Awards.

Note:  Solicitations are an optional feature that an administrator enables for your environment. The feature is turned off by default. If your Procurements menu does not include Solicitations, the feature has not been enabled.

A solicitation moves through the following statuses:

Status Description
Draft The solicitation has been created but not yet finalized.
Approved The solicitation has been reviewed and approved.
Released The solicitation has been issued to vendors.
Awarded An award has been made from the solicitation.

The solicitation record organizes its information across the following tabs:

Tab Description
Summary The key details, codes, team, and related procurement information for the solicitation.
Line Items The line items on the solicitation.
Line Item History The audit history of changes to the solicitation's line items.
Contract File The documents associated with the solicitation.
Checklist The checklist tasks for the solicitation.
Checklist Item History The audit history of the solicitation's checklist items.
Solicitation History The audit history of changes to the solicitation.
Related Actions The related actions available for the solicitation.

Solicitation record showing the header actions and the Summary tab with Key Details, Details, and Team sections.

Create a solicitation

You must have membership in the Solicitation - Create Solicitation permission set to create a solicitation.

To create a solicitation:

  1. Go to My Activities > Solicitations or Procurements > Solicitations.
  2. Click Plus icon CREATE SOLICITATION.
  3. Enter the solicitation details.
  4. Click CREATE.
  5. On the confirmation screen, click the solicitation link to upload the solicitation document, or click CLOSE to upload it later.

Solicitation creation confirmation screen prompting the user to upload the solicitation document, with a link to the new solicitation and a CLOSE button.

Solicitation details

When you create or update a solicitation, complete the following sections:

Key details:

  • Solicitation ID: The identifier for the solicitation. Each solicitation ID must be unique.
  • Title: A name for the solicitation.
  • Description: A description of the solicitation.
  • Solicitation Method: The method used to solicit vendors.
  • Requirement Number: The requirement number the solicitation fulfills.
  • Fiscal Year: The fiscal year the solicitation belongs to.
  • Department: The department the solicitation belongs to.
  • Status: The solicitation status. New solicitations default to Draft. You can change the status only when updating an existing solicitation.
  • Agency, Sub-Tier, and Office: The organizational hierarchy the solicitation belongs to. Select an agency to enable its sub-tiers, and a sub-tier to enable its offices.
  • Category: The spend category for the solicitation.
  • Response Due Date, Response Due Time, and Timezone: When vendor responses are due.

Create Solicitation dialog showing the Key Details section with Solicitation ID, Title, Description, and organizational fields.

Code:

  • NIGP Code: The NIGP commodity codes for the solicitation. Click Add NIGP to add up to 10 NIGP values. If your environment uses PSC and NAICS codes instead, enter the PSC Code, PSC Description, NAICS Code, and NAICS Description.

Team information:

  • Contracting Officer and Contract Specialist: The contracting personnel assigned to the solicitation. You must assign at least one.

Contact information:

  • First Name, Last Name, Email, and Phone Number: The point of contact for the solicitation.

Additional information:

  • Expected Award Type: The type of award expected to result from the solicitation.
  • Expected Award Date: The date the award is expected to be made.
  • Period of Performance Start and Period of Performance End: The expected performance period. The end date must be after the start date.

Create Solicitation dialog showing the Team Information and Additional Information sections.

Update a solicitation

You must have membership in the Solicitation - Manage Solicitation permission set to update a solicitation.

To update a solicitation:

  1. On the solicitation record, click the more options menu and select Update Solicitation.
  2. Update the solicitation details.
  3. Click UPDATE.

Manage solicitation line items and documents

Line items and documents on a solicitation work the same way as they do on an award. Use the Line Items tab to add, import, update, and delete line items, and the Contract File tab to upload documents, create documents from templates, and submit documents for review.

See Manage line items on an award and Manage award documents for more information.

Finalize a solicitation

Finalizing a solicitation marks the solicitation complete.

To finalize a solicitation:

  1. On the solicitation record, click FINALIZE SOLICITATION.
  2. On the confirmation screen, click CREATE OPPORTUNITY to create an opportunity in Vendor Management, or click CLOSE to finish.

Finalize Solicitation confirmation screen with a CREATE OPPORTUNITY button and a CLOSE button.

Create an evaluation from a released solicitation

Once a solicitation reaches Released status, you can create an evaluation for it in Source Selection. The Evaluation panel appears on the solicitation Summary tab only when Source Selection is installed in your environment.

To create an evaluation from a released solicitation:

  1. Go to Procurements or My Activities > Solicitations.
  2. Open a solicitation in Released status.
  3. On the Summary tab, in the Evaluation panel, click Create Evaluation.

The Create Evaluation link appears only while the solicitation has no evaluation. After an evaluation exists, the Evaluation panel displays a link to it instead.

Released solicitation Summary tab showing the Posted Solicitation panel with a Create Opportunity link and the Evaluation panel with a Create Evaluation link.

Create an opportunity from a solicitation

Once a solicitation reaches Released status, you can post it to Vendor Management as an opportunity. The Posted Solicitation panel appears on the solicitation Summary tab only when the Vendor Management integration is enabled for your environment.

To post a released solicitation to Vendor Management:

  1. Go to Procurements or My Activities > Solicitations.
  2. Open a solicitation in Released status.
  3. On the Summary tab, in the Posted Solicitation panel, click Create Opportunity.

After the solicitation is posted, the Posted Solicitation panel shows the posting status. To amend the posted opportunity, click Create Amend Notice. This link is available only while the opportunity is not closed.

Create an award from a solicitation

You can create an award directly from a solicitation. Creating an award from a solicitation copies the solicitation's NIGP codes, line items, and document details to the new award.

To start, click CREATE AWARD on the solicitation record. For the full steps, see Create an award from a solicitation.

Feedback