Understanding Bidding
When the created event is posted, bidders receive notification of the event. They can browse events based on various search and sort criteria, place bids based on the parameters that you have set for the event, and receive notifications about the status of the event. For bidders who enter their bids using fax or mail, you can enter the faxed or mailed bids online for them.
PeopleSoft Strategic Sourcing enforces the event rules that you set and maintains a bid history audit trail.
When a bidder posts a bid, PeopleSoft Strategic Sourcing:
Verifies that the event end date has not passed.
Saves any changes that the bidder has made, if a previous bid is being updated.
Verifies that bid responses have been entered for each required bid factor.
Depending on the situation, other edits can occur when a bid is posted. Here are some of the possible scenarios and how posting is affected.
Auction Event
The system verifies that the posting is the best bid received so far:
If the bid currency is not the same as the event currency, it converts the bid price to the event currency to determine whether the bid is a winning bid.
If the bid does not score higher than the current winning bid, it lists the bid's score compared to the winning score on the Create Bid Response page.
The bidder can choose to post a bid that does not beat the current winning bid or revise the bid to obtain a higher score.
If the bid scores higher than the current winning bid, it generates an email notification to the previous high bidder with information that the previous bidder has been outbid.
Auction event options depend on the combination of several different settings on the Business Unit Definition page
If the On the Basis Of option is set to Price, then the bidder is competing based solely on price, not on score.
If the On the Basis Of option is set to Score, then the bidder is competing based on score.
If theBids Compete At option is set to Event Level, then the bidder is competing based on total event price or total event score.
If the Bids Compete At option is set to Line Level, then the bidder is competing based on each line's unit bid price or line score.
If the Bidders Must Beat option is set to Winning Bid, then the bidder must always beat either the current total winning bid (which again is determined as either the total event winning price or total event winning score) or each line's winning bid (unit bid price or winning line score) for the lines upon which the bidder bids.
If the Bidders Must Beat option is set to Own Bid, then the bidder must always beat either his or her own previous total bid price or score or his or her last unit bid price or line score depending on what the Bids Compete At and On The Basis Of fields are set to.
The bidder is not alerted if his or her bid does not score higher. Instead, depending on the options on the Event Settings and Options page, the bidder can see either the winning score on the create response so that the bidder can know whether his or her bid beats the winning bid. If the winning bid does not appear to the user, then the bidder can see his or her rank or bid status after bid posting.
If Display Winning Bid to Bidders is not selected, bidders can see only their bid statuses (winning or outbid) or bid rank, depending on whether displaying the bid rank has been selected.
Bidders cannot see the winning bid.
Event Extension Is Enabled
The system checks to see whether the posted bid is within the last bid received time frame and what number of extensions are set on the event:
If the posted bid date is not within the last bid received time frame, the event end date is not updated.
If the posted bid time is within the last bid received time frame and the number of extensions has not already been allocated, the event end date is extended based on the parameters set on the event.
If the posted bid time is within the last bid received time frame, but the number of extensions has already been allocated, the end date is not updated.
If the event has events lots associated with it, the Preview, Start, and End Date fields are updated for all subsequent event lots when an event extension is triggered.
Event Is a Sealed RFx
The calculated score is not visible to the bidder.
The event originator cannot view either bids or bid history until the event end date is reached.
Event Is an RFx But Not a Sealed Bid
The calculated score is not visible to the bidder.
The event originator can view the bid once it is posted.
RFI Events
When you bid on RFI events, you respond only to header bid factors; there are no line bid factors.
If the RFI is being scored, the calculated score is not visible to the bidder.
Bidders can submit bids for auction events by using the automatic proxy bidding feature. A proxy bid is a bid where the bidder preestablishes the best price for which he or she would supply or purchase the goods or services. Then the system makes bids automatically—as needed to take the lead—to the preset best offer. Thus, the bider gets the best possible deal while still winning the auction. In addition, the system emails the bidder if the best offer becomes outbid. This frees the bidder from having to monitor the auction "in-person" for its duration.
There are a few rules to keep in mind when using automatic proxy bidding:
You can use proxy bidding on auction-only events.
Bids compete at the line level based on price.
The winning bid must be displayed to bidders and bidders must beat the winning bid. You cannot display a bidder's ranking for proxy events.
Bidders who are currently winning on a line may enter a new proxy bid price for the same line. This price overrides the previous proxy price.
For example, if Bidder A had a proxy price of $45 on line 1 with a current bid price of $60, Bidder A could copy in the previous bid and change his or her proxy bid price to $50. Subsequently, $50 would be the new proxy price for Bidder A, not $45. Bidders are allowed to have only an "active" proxy price even if the bidder has multiple bids.
To enable automatic proxy bidding, event creators can:
Select Auction as an event format on the Event Details (add) page
Select Enabled in the Proxy Bidding (Auctions Only) field on the Create Events page
Click Add.
Select Enabled in the Proxy Bidding field on the Event Settings and Options page
Internal users can save, post, and edit bids that they have entered on behalf of another bidder. They can also upload XML bids on behalf of other bidders.
You can optionally register an existing supplier and allow the supplier to bid online. The supplier must be approved before posting the award.
If bidding on an event that includes user-defined price breaks, bidders enter their bid prices based on the predefined tiers. Otherwise, if the event specifies bidder-defined price breaks, the bidders can define their own price tiers. When entering the price tier response, bidders indicate whether the tier pricing is adjusted based on a flat-dollar amount or based on a specified percentage. Alternately, the bidder can just enter the unit price for each tier and the system will automatically calculate the dollar and percent adjustment. If the bidder enters a negative amount that applies to the price tier, that amount is subtracted from the base price to determine the net bid price for the tier. If the bidder enters a negative percentage that applies to the price tier, the percentage is multiplied against the base price to determine the discount amount, and that amount is subtracted from the base price to determine the net bid price for the price tier. The discount percentage is automatically calculated and appears if the bidder enters a discount amount. In the same manner, the discount amount is automatically calculated and appears if the bidder enters a discount percentage. The bidder can enter the discount percentage or the discount amount.
The bidders can also specify whether the price terms are based on a quantity ordered to date or based on the current order quantity. If the bidders select quantity to date, the cost per item is based on a cumulative quantity ordered. If the event is awarded to a contract and there are multiple releases (orders) against the contract, the price is based on the cumulative ordered quantity of the orders related to the contract. If instead the bidders select current order quantity, the price is based on the quantity that relates to the specific release against the contract.
If an event line is marked as quantity optional, for example for a services type of request, bidders are not required to enter the quantity for that bid. An enterprise could solicit a bid for consulting and may decide that it wants bidders to quote a flat amount for the entire implementation, instead of offering consultants at a rate per hour. In this case, the bidders enter an amount, but not a quantity.
Event creators can indicate if alternate units of measure are allowed on a bidding event. The event creator can specify whether bidders can bid using any alternate unit of measure or only existing item/unit of measure relationships. If allowed, bidders may select a different unit of measure when bidding on a line. All line price and quantity details are converted to the bidder's selected unit of measure based on the specified conversion rate. During analysis, the bid prices are reflected based on the line item's unit of measure.
If the event creator used functional bid factors, and information already exists for a bidder, the response to the functional bid factor automatically populates on the response page. Bidders may not change responses that are automatically populated. If the information does not exist, the response isn't populated and therefore the bidder may enter the response.
Upon posting a bid, the system verifies that all required bid factors have been responded to, and alerts the bidder if a required bid factor was not answered. The system also verifies that the mandatory responses were provided for bid factors with an ideal response requirement, and alerts the bidder that their bid is disqualified if the ideal response is not provided. Bids that are disqualified are not eligible to be awarded.
PeopleSoft Strategic Sourcing ranks individual bids for auction events and provides the option to enable bidders to view their ranked bids. Bidders can see where their best-posted bids rank compared to the best bids from other bidders. For example, a bidder can view his or her bid ranking as fourth out of all the bids received. Whenever a new bid is posted, the system recalculates the rank.
Bidders can also view how many suppliers have bid at least once on an auction. A bidder can see that his or her best bid ranks fourth out of nine, thus indicating to the bidder that nine bidders have bid on the event thus far. In cases where bidders may view the bid history for an event, the system displays the rank on the bid history versus the price or score. Event creators can use ranking in situations where they don't want to reveal what the leading bid price is, but still must convey to the bidder where the bidder stands in the bidding process.
Note: Proxy-enabled auction events cannot be ranked.
If multiple auction events are linked together in lots, you must bid on them in order. After bidding on the first event, the system provides a link to the next event in the linked lot list on the Bid Confirmation page.
If the event has the option to download bids, the system creates an XML document and attaches it to the event. A bidder can detach the XML document and use Excel 2002 or later to open the document and view it in spreadsheet format. Once the bidder has created the bid response and is ready to upload, the bidder saves the spreadsheet as a XML document. The bidder then uploads the XML document into the PeopleSoft Strategic Sourcing and registers it as an incoming bid.
Internal users can upload bids when bidding on behalf of another bidder. It's the same process as entering a bid on behalf: the user selects to upload a bid instead of entering a new bid.
Bidders always bid on the most recent round and version of events. The system displays the round or version number on the Create Bid Response page.
If a new round is created for an event where you have already entered a bid, the system displays a Counter Event button on the Event Details page.
To facilitate collaboration between event owners and bidders, PeopleSoft Strategic Sourcing provides chat or instant message capabilities between event creators and bidders. Bidders can initiate chats with an event owner, which enables bidders to receive immediate responses on questions or clarifications for a selected event. This is especially critical during auction events, which are often time sensitive.
Optionally, internal collaborators may also chat among themselves during the collaboration process. Multiple collaborators can participate in a single chat.
PeopleSoft Strategic Sourcing uses the PeopleTools MultiChannel Framework technology infrastructure to support multiple interaction channels for PeopleSoft users who must respond to incoming requests and notifications on these channels.