FAQ
sourceONE: e-Tenders
Up until today, I have been sending invitations to Tenders and receiving replies via e-mail. What makes the sourceONE application different?
The application was designed to manage procedures, whereas e-mail manages correspondence. A major benefit of using the application is, for example, the automatic creation of price comparison tables, a function that e-mail exchanges cannot serve. Moreover, the application can manage multiple users with different roles. On the e-Tender application, e-mail is used as a means of communication and not as a Tender application.
I communicate with my suppliers with ease via e-mail. Will communication be as easy with the application?
If the supplier is signed up on the cosmoONE platform, communication is improved, as the risk of a message being mistakenly overlooked or deleted, flagged as spam or rejected by the mail server is eliminated. The correspondence and its history remain within the system and are accessible at any moment.
Many of my purchases are done with very brief procedures. Wouldn’t it be excessive to use the e-Tender system?
Quite the opposite. For brief and recurrent Tenders, you are offered the convenience of copying and sending the previous one. This way, not only do you condense the process of each Tender, but the statistics and reports sent to Management and the orders to the successful Bidders, are also readily available.
My procedures are complex, with every step leading to a new decision I am called to make. Will sourceONE offer me the required flexibility?
Your procedures can be modeled and their complexity can be simplified, because sourceONE will always offer you all the alternative choices available for every step, thus giving you the required flexibility and sparing you needless abstract choices.
What happens when I want to direct my suppliers towards better offers?
sourceONE gives you the ability to invite one, more or all Suppliers to submit better offers. You may even invite them to an e-Auction (auctionONE).
How do I use sourceONE in cases where I have a technical evaluation with a score?
In the respective bid-processing stage, the buyer enters each participants’ score in sourceONE’s evaluation table. The score produces each bid’s final result based on the specified evaluation factors, which will be combined with the prices to point out the winner.
I do not always ask for prices, but also discounts, especially for projects. Can sourceONE cover these needs?
Of course – you may use the price table with budget discounts or list prices. For public projects, sourceONE also offers “price-normalcy” check according to the Public Sectors regulations.
In our company, we have appointed certain individuals to compose and announce the Tenders, while others evaluate them. Is this possible through the sourceONE application?
The application has user roles, so you can designate different users at each stage of every Tender, with different rights of action. You can designate a Tender operator, Evaluation Committees, Procurement Teams, Supervising Managers etc. in a way that best reflects your company’s procurement procedures.
How can my current suppliers use the application? Will they have to pay?
Suppliers will be invited to sign up for sourceONE if they haven’t already. By signing up, they are automatically allowed to participate in e-Procurements of other companies that are registered on the cosmoONE platform, meaning that they are given the chance to find new clients. This way, every company or institution that conducts Tenders can discover and have access to 13,000+ registered suppliers. Suppliers sign up and use cosmoONE for free, with absolutely no fees.
What if a supplier does not agree to participate in an e-Tender?
Companies make increasing use of the available technology and are steadily moving towards their digital transformation, reaping major benefits from automating their procedures. This benefits suppliers as well, as a new sales channel opens for them. Suppliers have the right to reject their participation in a tender.
How long does it take for a company to prepare for the implementation of the e-Tender application?
Usually one to two weeks, depending on the number and complexity of the various Tender procedures. But this preparation is also standardized and is usually carried out in stages, with company employees informed and trained in groups. This excludes any extra time needed for integration (interconnection) procedures with other systems and possible requests for customized features of the application.
Can a Public Sector Organization carry out e-Tenders?
Of course, but always according to specific rules and procedures, as the ones set out by Law 4412/16.
auctionONE: e-Auctions
Why not negotiate with my suppliers and use an e-Auction instead?
Personal negotiation is not as effective as the one created by the competition between the suppliers themselves. By reducing the price, they may have other goals that are entirely unknown or not-of-interest to the buyer (Market Share, rebates, etc). Moreover, personal negotiation requires preparation, time, and usually the presence of other parties, whereas an e-negotiation is carried out without personal intervention with optional online monitoring.
I do not have many Suppliers, only two. Can I carry out an e-Auction?
Of course, because every Auction promotes competition, and the ability to submit multiple bids creates many “virtual suppliers”, which is impossible with the traditional bidding method.
Can I carry out e-Auctions when the criterion is not only the price, but also the quality or the technical features?
Certainly, as long as you determine the quality evaluation score of each bid and the way-type of correlation between the score and the price. The comparison is made online by auctionONE during the e-Auction.
What happens in cases where some suppliers deliver the goods to our warehouses, while others do so to their factories?
This case is also taken into account by a certain type of Auction that charges the successive bids of suppliers that do not deliver to the buyer’s warehouses with the respective fixed shipping fees. All this is done via the auctionONE system.
How can I compare price offers when the suppliers suggest different payment schedules that I have to take into consideration?
In such cases, you may use the Net Present Value Auction type. This way, you can easily compare not only purchase costs with different payment schedules, but also the total cost of ownership, which takes into account the equipment maintenance cost for the upcoming years.
If I request a set of items, can I get an idea of the price offered by each supplier per item through the e-Auction?
With the multi-variate Auction type, the unit price is given for each item, and the system calculates the final total online by multiplying the unit prices with the respective quantities and summing them up.
My suppliers claim they don’t have Internet or specialized knowledge. What can I do in this case?
These days, all suppliers, companies and traders submit their tax declaration online, so either they or their accountant has an Internet connection. You don’t need specialized knowledge to enter your price on a screen. Besides, the e-Auction service provider will train the suppliers and answer any questions or solve any problems during the training auction that precedes the official one.
What if the supplier does not agree to participate in the e-Auction?
To be able to submit a bid, they will have to participate. Moreover, the auction will grant them the ability to submit a second, improved bid, in case the previous one did not put them in the first place. Of course, they always have the option of submitting a single bid through the system and logging off.
Does every supplier see their competitors’ bids?
Not necessarily. They will only see what the buyer sets as visible. Most commonly, each supplier can see their rank (1st, 2nd, etc.) without knowing the best price nor who submitted it. Thus, not only is price confidentiality preserved, but the competition of the procedure is also increased.
What do I see as the organizer of an Auction?
The organizer can see all information, including the company name, the prices and the submission time for all suppliers. In cases where it is required by the company’s procurement regulation, the Tender committee cannot see company names during the e-Auction, but only prices, so as to fully preserve the participants’ anonymity.
How long does it take to arrange an e-Auction?
As a rule, a week from the moment the list of candidate participants/suppliers for the Auction is ready, and when the ultimate criterion for the selection are prices. This timespan is enough for the registration, training and participation in the trial Auction of all invited suppliers.
Can I carry out e-Auctions as a Public Sector Organization?
Of course, but always according to specific rules and procedures, as the ones set out by Law 4412/16.
demandONE: e-orders
What are the differences between the demandONE application and managing requests electronically on my ERP or another workflow system?
The most important difference is that demandONE specializes in managing purchase and procurement requests. As a result, it can be installed, trained on and operated without needless features that are completely unrelated to the procurement process. This is reflected in the lower cost, as there is no limit to the software licenses, unlike with most ERP and workflow packages. demandONE offers all the necessary tools for procurement request management, is configurable and can be interconnected with any ERP system.
demandONE provides a high level of flexibility – it may be an autonomous application, but it can also be connected with any ERP on the market. In case of an ERP change, it continues operating smoothly by promptly connecting with the new ERP.
Of course, but always according to specific rules and procedures, as the ones set out by Law 4412/16.