Bidding on a Contract

After becoming a plan holder, your organization can start the bidding process if you see a ‘Start bid online via BidVAULT’ button in the top right corner. Not every project owner uses BidVAULT for online bidding, so please be sure to check how the project owner is choosing to bid the contract.

Use the guided interface to fill out the required sections. As each section is completed, a check mark will be shown. The bid will automatically save every minute but you can also click on ‘Save’.

The bid opening date/time is noted. The total bid value also is shown. If you need to download your bid key again, you can click on ‘Export Bid Key'.

You must check that you have received an addendum, in bidVAULT, even if you have already completed your bid and/or downloaded the file.

A notification will be sent to make you aware of any posted addendum. If items are impacted by the addendum, you will see those items noted on the addenda and will also see any edited or added items hi-lighted in the bid entry section. Items in blue have been added or modified, while items in red have been removed so you will not be able to enter a unit price for that item.

Project owners can request documents to be filled out and approved electronically, or they can request documents to be uploaded.

To upload information, click or drag your file to the 'Additional Documents section’. You may add multiple files. The necessary documents will be listed under ‘Required Documents'.

To fill out an electronic document, enter information into the hi-lighted field entry areas, before clicking the ‘Sign’ button.

*Please note that required fields (hi-lighted in orange) must be entered before you can sign the document. Fields in yellow are optional to populate and will not require entry.

1.Alternates/Base Items

Alternate bid items do not require a bid. You may bid ‘0’ for alternate bid items but you may not bid ‘0’ on base bid items

2.Item Sections

Sections will divide the Base Bid items (which must be bid on) from the Alternate Bid Items (which do not require a non-zero entry). Click on each section to open or click on ‘Sections’ at top to open all sections at once.

Items may also be separate by item category (such as ‘Bridge’ and ‘Road’ noted above).

3.Historical Bid Prices

Access historical bid prices by clicking on the item number

4.Contingency Items

These items will not allow a unit price entry as that has been set for all bidders by the project owner.

The item list can be exported into a csv/excel file by clicking on the ‘Export’ button at the top of the item list.

If you wish to import bid prices, rather than manually enter values, you can optionally enter the value into the ‘Unit Price’ column on the spreadsheet, then click on ‘Import’ to select and import the values into bidVAULT.

Select the file, then click on ‘Confirm’ to complete the upload. Please note, the order of the csv file should not be changed.

There are three options for submitting a bid bond:

Upload a bid bond document by clicking on ‘Attach’. Click on the space ‘Attach bid bond’. Browse to select the file and click on ‘Upload bid bond’.
Use Surety 2000. After selecting ‘Surety 2000’, enter your ‘Bond Number’, and the ‘Contract ID’. The Contract ID is the contract number you are bidding on.
Use Tinubu Surety. After selecting ‘Tinubu Surety’, enter your bond ID.

When you approve your bid, the application will verify that all required information is complete. You can also use the check marks next to each section to ensure each section is complete. If there are missing sections, a message will state that you need to complete the missing sections. Those sections without a check mark will need to be completed.

If there are any sections noted in red (incomplete) you will not be able to approve your bid. Once your bid is approved it is considered ‘complete’, however you can continue to update your bid until the bid date and time, even if it is was previously completed.

After approving/completing your bid, you will be able to see a view of your entire bid for reference. You can optionally print your bid by clicking on the browser settings and then printing. You can then click on ‘Edit’ to continue modifying your bid, or click on ‘My Bids’ to be brought back to the list of bids you are actively bidding on.

On the ‘My Bid’ dashboard, you will see the bid is now noted as completed and you will receive an email notification to note it was completed. You can click on ‘Details’ next to the contract then ‘View or Continue your Bid Online' to get back to your bid.