If you are in a solicitation in the "Schedule" tab, you will notice certain dates and phases. In this article, we will explain the meaning of each phase.
Preparation - The period of time in which the solicitation is being prepared by the purchasing organization. During this time the solicitation is not visible to suppliers.
Offer phase - during this period of time, suppliers can participate in the solicitation and submit their offers. They cannot do this before the offer phase start date nor after the end date. The offer phase is mandated by our Vault functionality in which the system locks the offers in the vault, making the submitted offers invisible to the buyer/evaluators until after the end of the offer phase
Evaluation - during this phase, the offers are visible to the buyers and evaluators and they can evaluate them. Suppliers can no longer submit offers.
Offer-verification phase - Basically what this does is after the evaluation phase, the "awarded" supplier will be moved to this "supplier verification phase" where before confirming their award, they will need to answer additional questions (typically asking for certificates). This is used so that not every supplier is asked for certificates etc. in the offer phase, saving time for the buyer and the supplier.
Award phase - During this phase you can choose which supplier will be awarded, and send them a templated or custom email communicating that they have won. The same can be done for rejecting the suppliers who are not awarded.
There is an option for a preliminary award and a final award in the award phase. The preliminary award is used when there needs to be approval from a higher authority based off a recommendation for award. Once approved you can move this vendor to the final award.