Multi-Envelope Events
Vendor responses to Sourcing Events are concealed from Project Owners until envelopes are opened after the Due date has expired. By default, all aspects of a vendor’s response are put into one envelope. If a “Two-Step” solicitation is necessary, Project Owners can choose to conduct Multi-Envelope events where certain aspects of a vendor’s response are only accessible after reviewing the contents of an initial envelope. This guide will cover the creation of Multi-Envelope events and how those envelopes can be opened.
For more detailed step-by-step information regarding this topic in a printable format, see the following job aid.
After filling out the Project details on the Create guided souring project page, the user should navigate down the screen to the Template section. Whether the solicitation is IT or Non-IT, users will be required to answer a series of questions, and the final question will always be related to Multi-Envelope events (unless it’s for a Non-IT: RFI).
The number of envelopes in a Sourcing Event defaults to 1 even if the last Template question answered is Yes. Users need to access the Event rules to manually update this.
Each section of the Sourcing Event’s Questions, requirements, and attachments (Content) section where vendors are expected to respond – for Non-IT solicitations, Section 4.0 Vendor Information, Section 5.0 Pricing Submittal, and Section 6.0 Vendor Response; and for IT solicitations, Section 4.0 Vendor Information and Section 5.0 Vendor Response – are tied to Envelope 1 by default. When additional envelopes are added to an Event, the Project Owner needs to update whichever sections need to be tied to the additional envelope.
When the event status becomes Pending Selection, Project Owners can open the first envelope to evaluate the preliminary portion of vendor responses. Before they can open the second envelope, they’ll have to get approval from P&C or SITP through the Gain XXX Approval to Proceed with Opening Cost Proposal for Two-Step Solicitation task.
Once approval has been granted to proceed with opening the cost proposal, users can decide which vendors will progress to the next round and open the remaining envelopes.