Manage Opportunities

After you create an opportunity, Vendor Management (VM) makes it simple and easy to manage existing opportunities from the Opportunities list by enabling you to view additional information about the opportunity and take action on the clause set if you are a contracting user.

View opportunities in VM

To view the full list of opportunities in Vendor Management (VM), navigate to the OPPORTUNITIES tab. The OPPORTUNITIES tab displays a grid with basic information about each opportunity. You can also search and filter the opportunity list to find a specific opportunity that you're looking for including sealed opportunity.

View an opportunity

To view an individual opportunity in VM, locate and click the opportunity you want to view in the Opportunities list. In the Opportunity Summary view, you can view the details about the opportunity, updates, and any documents submitted by vendors.

For sealed bid opportunities, the Messages tab in the Opportunity Summary view is hidden and in the Vendors tab, the date and time until the proposals are sealed is shown in the Vendors section. You cannot view the vendors who have submitted the proposals until the bids are unsealed.

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View vendor questions

To view questions or question documents, click Questions tab.

The Questions tab displays a list of questions or submitted question documents, where you can see which vendors have posted questions, uploaded the documents and when, as well as download the documents. To respond to the questions, you can create an update or answer each question and submit all the answers.

You can also assign another team member to respond to specific vendor questions by clicking ASSIGN QUESTIONS.

Once you select the assignees for the questions, click ASSIGN to send the questions to the selected assignees.

For sealed bid opportunities, the vendor names are hidden for the questions. You can see the vendor names after the proposals are unsealed.

View proposals

To view the vendors who are working on proposals and see the proposal documents, click the Vendors tab in the opportunity summary. For sealed bid opportunities, in the Vendors section you can only see the date and time until the proposals are sealed. You cannot view the vendors who have submitted the proposals until the bids are unsealed. To unseal bids, see unsealing a sealed bid.

To view the proposals from the vendors:

1. From the Opportunities List, locate and click the opportunity to drill down to the Summary View.

2. From the Summary view, click the Vendors tab.

   

   • Note: The number shown in the Vendors tab name indicates the number of vendors who have submitted their proposals for the opportunity. For example, Vendors (4) indicates four vendors have submitted the proposals.

3. From the Vendors view, view the list of vendors who have shown interest on the opportunity or submitted their proposals in the Vendors section.

   

4. From the list of vendors, click a vendor whose proposal you want to view.

   

5. In the Vendor Details section, you can see the selected vendor's details and in the Submission Details section, you can see the submitted documents, and details of when and by whom the proposal was submitted.

6. From the Submission Details section, click any of the submitted documents.

   

7. From the document preview page, click DOWNLOAD to download the document.

   

8. Click Back to Vendor List to return to the previous page to view and download any proposal documents submitted by other vendors.

If any of the submitted documents is incomplete or you need more information, you can request the vendors to resubmit their proposals after the response due date is passed for an opportunity.

Use AI to analyze documents

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Request proposal resubmission

Now that you have reviewed the submitted proposal documents, you may find that you need additional information to complete your evaluation or the proposal documents are incomplete. If you need additional information, you can ask vendors to resubmit their proposals after the opportunity's response due date is passed.

To request for proposal resubmission:

1. From the Vendors tab, click REQUEST RESUBMISSION.

   

   1. From the Request Proposal Resubmission dialog, specify the Resubmission Due Date and Timezone. By default, the Resubmission Due Date field shows the next day, which can be changed.

      

   2. In the Available Vendors section, select the checkbox associated with the vendors to whom you need the proposal resubmission.
   3. Make sure the selected vendors appear in the Selected Vendors section.
   4. Click NEXT.

   5. To post an update on the opportunity about the resubmission and send email notification to all vendors, perform the following sub-steps. To send an email notification only, continue with step 1f.

      

      1. In the Post Update section, select Yes.
      2. In the Update Details section, enter the Title and Description for the update.
      3. To upload any required documents, click UPLOAD then continue to step 1h.
   6. In the Post Update section, select No.
   7. In the Update Details section, enter the Title and Description for the resubmission email.
   8. Click REQUEST.

   After requesting a proposal resubmission, you can verify the status of the vendors submission is changed to Resubmission Requested by navigating to the Vendors tab and viewing the status in the Vendors section.

   

Take action on an opportunity in VM

In Vendor Management (VM), contracting users can perform certain actions like creating updates, updating an opportunity, and closing an opportunity. In case of sealed bid opportunities, contracting users can unseal the vendors proposals on the designated proposal opening date and time.

Edit an opportunity

While an opportunity is still in the Draft or Active status, a guided workflow enables you to update the opportunity details, attachments, and required proposal documents. You may also notify the respective vendors. However, which details of the opportunity you can update depends on how the opportunity is created - directly in Vendor Management (VM), using a solicitation in Award Management (AM), or using a solicitation in Government Contract Writing (GCW).

Update opportunity created directly in VM

To update an opportunity:

1. From the Opportunities List, locate and click the opportunity to drill down to the Summary View.

2. From the Summary view, perform any of the following:

   • If the opportunity is in Draft status, click + EDIT OPPORTUNITY.
   • If the opportunity is in Active status, click AMEND NOTICE.

3. In the General Information step, you can update the following information:

   • Description
   • Instructions
   • Department/Ind. Agency
   • Division/Sub-Tier
   • Office
   • Type
   • Response Due Date
   • Response Due Timezone
   • Question Due Date

   • Question Due Timezone

     

   • Note: For sealed bid opportunities:

     • The Sealed Bid and Opportunity Visibility options cannot be changed once the opportunity is posted.

     • If the bid is unsealed, the date, time, and timezone options for the proposal opening, questions due, and response due fields are disabled.

4. Click NEXT. In the Details step, you can update the following information:

   • NAICS Code and NAICS Code Description.

   • NIGP Code and NIGP Code Description or PSC Code and PSC Code Description.

     • Note: The NIGP codes are applicable for State and Local Government only. The PSC codes are applicable for Federal only.
   • Set Aside Codes

   • Place of Performance

     

5. Click NEXT. In the Attachments step, you can review the uploaded attachments for the opportunity. You can add or remove attachments as needed.

   • Note: When the Electronic State Business Daily (ESBD) toggle is enabled, the Description column is visible for all uploaded documents. You can enter a description of up to 100 characters for each uploaded document.

   

   • Note: If the opportunity was created from a solicitation in AM or GCW and if any of the associated documents are removed in the solicitation, a warning message appears during AMEND NOTICE action. You can mouse-over the exclamation ! icon to see the delete message. To remove those documents, click the delete x icon associated with those documents.

     

6. Click NEXT. In the Required Proposal Documents step, you can review the documents that vendors are required to submit for their proposals. You can add or remove attachments as needed, or update the forms that vendors need to complete.

   

7. Click NEXT. In the Notify Vendors step, define an amendment number and title for the update to the opportunity. You can also enter a more detailed explanation of the update and attach any relevant documents. This step appears only when the opportunity is already posted.

   

8. Perform any one of the following:

   • If the opportunity is a draft, you can also click CREATE to make it visible to vendors.
   • If the opportunity has already been posted, click AMEND.

Update opportunity created from a solicitation in AM

If the opportunity was created from a solicitation in Award Management (AM) solution, Appian recommends amending the solicitation directly in AM solution.

1. From the Opportunities List, locate and click the opportunity to drill down to the Summary View.

2. From the Summary view, click AMEND NOTICE.

   A dialog with a link to the solicitation in AM appears.

3. Click VIEW SOLICITATION to amend the solicitation in AM.

   

4. In the AM solution, go to the Solicitation Summary page, and in the Posted Solicitation section, click Create Amend Notice.

   

5. Perform the steps 3 to 8 in Update opportunity created directly in VM.

Update opportunity created from a solicitation in GCW

If the opportunity was created from a solicitation in Government Contract Writing (GCW) solution, Appian recommends amending the opportunity-specific details in VM and the solicitation-specific details of the opportunity directly in GCW.

To update the opportunity-specific fields in VM:

1. From the Opportunities List, locate and click the opportunity to drill down to the Summary View.
2. From the Summary view, click UPDATE OPPORTUNITY.

3. In the General Information step, you can update the following information:

   • Instructions
   • Question Due Date

   • Question Due Timezone

     • Note: The Sealed Bid field appears disabled when updating an opportunity that was created from a solicitation in GCW.
4. Click NEXT.
5. Click NEXT.

6. In the Attachments step, upload additional documents needed for the opportunity.

   • Note: Documents uploaded during the original GCW solicitation do not display in this step.
7. Click NEXT.
8. In the Required Proposal Documents step, you can map the newly uploaded documents to the existing list of required documents.
9. Click NEXT.

10. In the Notify Vendors step, define an amendment number and title for the update to the opportunity. You can also enter a more detailed explanation of the update and attach any relevant documents. This step appears only when the opportunity is already posted.

    

11. Click UPDATE.

    • Note: We recommend that you create an update to inform vendors about any amendments to an active opportunity.

To update the solicitation-specific details in GCW:

1. From the Opportunities List, locate and click the opportunity to drill down to the Summary View.
2. From the Summary view, in the Details section, click the solicitation link in the Solicitation field.
3. In the GCW solution, post an amendment to update the solicitation-specific details.

Create updates to an opportunity

While an opportunity is still in the Draft or Active status, contracting users can create updates that get posted to the Opportunity Summary view.

To create an update:

1. From the Opportunities list, locate and click the opportunity you want to close to drill down into the Opportunity Summary view.
2. From the Summary view, click + CREATE UPDATE to view the form for creating updates.

3. Enter a Title, Update Type, and Update to convey the message.

   

4. Upload documents to the Attachments field.
5. Click CREATE.

Unseal a sealed bid

Contracting users can unseal a bid on the designated proposal opening date and time. The option to unseal the proposals is visible only on the designated proposal opening date and time.

To unseal a sealed bid:

1. From the Opportunities list, locate and click the sealed bid opportunity you want to unseal to drill down into the Opportunity Summary view.
2. Click the Vendors tab.

3. From the Vendors view, in the Vendors section, click UNSEAL PROPOSALS to unseal the vendors proposals.

   

4. View the vendors proposals.

Once the proposals are unsealed, the date and time and by whom the proposals were unsealed is displayed at the top of the Vendors section in the Opportunity Summary page.

Request clarification about proposals

You can request clarification about proposals from the vendors if the opportunity is a sealed bid.

To request clarification from vendors about their sealed bids:

1. From the Opportunities list, locate and click the opportunity to drill down into the Opportunity Summary view.
2. Click the Vendors tab.

3. From the Vendors view, click REQUEST CLARIFICATION.

   

   1. From the Request Proposal Clarification dialog, specify the Clarification Due Date and Timezone. The fields show the next day by default, which can be changed.

      

   2. In the Available Vendors section, select the checkbox associated with the vendors from whom you need clarifications.
   3. Make sure the selected vendors appear in the Selected Vendors section.
   4. Click NEXT.

   5. To post an update on the opportunity about the clarification and send an email notification to all vendors, perform the following sub-steps. To send email notification only, continue with step 3f.

      

      1. In the Post Update section, select Yes.
      2. In the Clarification Details section, enter the Title and Description for the update.
      3. To upload any required documents, click UPLOAD then continue to step 3h.
   6. In the Post Update section, select No.
   7. In the Clarification Details section, enter the Title and Description for the clarification email.
   8. Click REQUEST.

   After requesting clarification, you can verify the status of the vendors submission is changed to Clarification Requested by navigating to the Vendors tab and viewing the status in the Vendors section.

   

Create an evaluation using opportunity ID

After an opportunity is created in VM, you can use that opportunity ID to create an evaluation in GSS.

To create an evaluation in GSS using an opportunity ID:

1. From the Opportunities list, locate and click the opportunity whose ID you want to copy.

2. From the Summary view, in the Details section, copy its opportunity ID.

   

3. In the GSS solution, navigate to My Workspace or Evaluations.
4. Click + CREATE NEW EVALUATION.

5. On the Create Evaluation page, in the Solicitation PIID field, paste the opportunity ID copied in step 1.

   

6. Perform the remaining steps to create an evaluation in GSS.

Once the evaluation is created in GSS, you can find a link to the opportunity in the Opportunity section in the evaluation summary.

After vendors submit their proposals for the opportunity, the vendors and their documents can be pulled into the evaluation in GSS.

When the status of the evaluation in GSS is Set up or In Progress, the evaluation status of the opportunity in VM is displayed as Evaluating Responses. When the status of the evaluation in GSS is Completed, the evaluation status of the opportunity in VM is displayed as Evaluation Completed.

Post an amended opportunity to ESBD

To post an amended public opportunity to ESBD:

1. From the Opportunities List, locate and click the opportunity to drill down to the Summary View.

2. From the Summary view, in the ESBD Solicitation section, you can view a message indicating you to post the last updates from the amendment to ESBD.

   

3. Click Update.

   1. On the Update ESBD Solicitation dialog, select the ESBD Posting Requirement from the dropdown.
   2. Enter a Contact Number.

   3. Select ESBD Attachments.

      • Note: Attachments are mandatory when the posting requirement is less than 14 days or 14-21 days from the opportunity due date.
   4. Enter or update the Estimated Amount.
   5. Click UPDATE.

   

4. Notice the status of the amendments posting to ESBD is indicated as Addendum Posted.

   

Once an amended opportunity is posted to Texas ESBD site, the DAT file created earlier for the opportunity is updated and stored in your SFTP folder.

Close an opportunity

Closing an opportunity before its configured Response Due Date permanently restricts editing privileges. This action stops users from updating the opportunity and prevents vendors from submitting proposals.

To close an opportunity:

1. From the Opportunities list, locate and click the opportunity you want to close to drill down into the Opportunity Summary view.
2. From the Summary view, click CLOSE OPPORTUNITY to view a confirmation message.
3. Confirm that you wish to continue and close the opportunity.

View awards in VM

Vendor Management (VM) integrates with Award Management to enable you to see which opportunities have been awarded. From VM, you can see the Awards list, filter and search awards, and drill down into the summary view for more details about an award. Click the Awards tab to view awards.

Award summary view

When you click an award, you can see award information such as status, duration, vendor, and award documents.

Contract deliverables

The contract deliverables feature in Vendor Management helps agencies manage and track the goods, services, and outcomes required by a contract. This feature streamlines the entire deliverable lifecycle from creation to acceptance. You can create, assign, and review deliverables to ensure vendors meet their contractual obligations.

A contract deliverable can have the following statuses:

• Planned - When a new deliverable is created by your agency's contracting team.
• Pending Review - When the files for a deliverable are submitted by the vendor.
• Accepted - When the deliverable files are accepted by your agency's contracting team.
• Not Accepted - When the deliverable files are not accepted by your agency's contracting team.

View deliverables

To view the full list of deliverables, navigate to the Deliverables tab. The Deliverables tab displays a grid with basic information about each deliverable. You can also search and filter the deliverables list to find a specific deliverable.

View deliverable details

On the Deliverables page, you can drill down to view the details of a deliverable.

To view the details of a deliverable:

1. Go to Deliverables in the navigation pane.
2. From the Deliverables page, search for the deliverable by name or filter by Status, Award, Awardee, Assignee, or Due Date.

3. Click a deliverable name that you want to view.

   

4. On the deliverable page, view the deliverable's details such as status, due date, assignee, reviewer, line item number, attachments, awards, awardee, and description.

   

Create a new deliverable

You can create and define a contract deliverable directly from the associated award that is in Released status. This process enables you to set deadlines, provide detailed instructions, assign responsibility, and establish a review process.

To create a new deliverable for a released award:

1. From the summary view of an award, go to the Deliverables tab.

   

2. Click CREATE DELIVERABLE.

   

   1. In the Create Deliverable dialog, fill in the required details:

      

      1. In Name, enter a descriptive title for the deliverable.

      2. Select a Due Date, Due Time, and Due Timezone.

         • Note: The due date must be between the award's start and end dates.
      3. In Description, provide detailed instructions and requirements for the submission.

      4. In Assignee, select the user or group responsible for submitting the deliverable.

         • Note: The Assignee field defaults to the primary vendor contact associated with the award.

      5. To make the deliverable repeat on a schedule, configure the frequency.

         1. From the Frequency dropdown, select an option such as weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually.

            • Note: The options available are based on the Due Date you selected.

         2. In the Repeat Until field that appears, select an end date for the recurrence.

            • Note: The Repeat Until date must be lesser than the award end date and greater than the deliverable the due date.

      6. (Optional) Fill in the remaining fields:

         1. Enter a Line Item Number for tracking purposes.

         2. In Reviewer, select the user responsible for reviewing the submission.

            • Note: The reviewer must be a user from your agency's contracting team.
         3. Under Template, you can upload a file to serve as a starting point for the assignee.
      7. Click CREATE.

The newly created deliverable displays in the Deliverables tab with Planned status.

Update a deliverable

To update the details of an existing deliverable:

1. From the summary view of an award, go to the Deliverables tab.

2. From the Deliverables page, search for the deliverable by name or filter by Status, Assignee, Reviewer, or Due Date.

   Tip:  Alternatively, you can also use the Deliverables tab in the navigation pane to search and view a deliverable.

3. Click a deliverable name that you want to review.

4. On the deliverable page, click UPDATE.

   

   1. On the Update Deliverable dialog, you can change all details of a deliverable, except its name.

      

      • If the deliverable is already a recurring one, then for the Update Recurring Deliverable field, you must specify if the changes impact the current deliverable or all the future deliverables.

        

   2. After completing your changes to the deliverable details, click UPDATE.

Review a submitted deliverable

Contracting teams must review the deliverables that are submitted by the vendors or awardees. They can either accept or reject the deliverables after reviewing those documents. Resubmitted deliverables must also be reviewed by the contracting team.

To review a submitted deliverable:

1. Go to Deliverables in the navigation pane.

2. From the Deliverables page, search for the deliverable by name or filter by Status, Award, Awardee, Assignee, or Due Date.

   

   Tip:  Alternatively, you can also check the Recently Submitted section to review a deliverable that was submitted recently.

3. Click a deliverable name that you want to review.

4. On the deliverable page, click REVIEW.

   

   • Note: The REVIEW option displays only when you are assigned as the reviewer for that deliverable.

   1. On the Review Deliverable dialog, you can see a preview of the deliverable if it is a PDF file. If not, click Download to view the deliverable.

      

      • When multiple files are uploaded, click the Next > icon to view the next file.
   2. If you are fine with the submitted deliverable, click Accepted, else click Not Accepted.
   3. Enter your Comments.
   4. If you have any documents to upload, click UPLOAD and select the file(s).
   5. Click SUBMIT REVIEW.

The status of the submitted deliverable is updated to Accepted or Not Accepted.

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