Responding to questionnaires

Responding to questionnaires

• To respond to a questionnaire, go to the Requirements > [Requirement Name] > RFX tab. Here you will find a list of all questionnaires and their statuses (including Expired questionnaires. You can review answers to Expired questionnaires but cannot edit them).
  • If you wish to participate in the opportunity please select Participate
• Click on the Documents link to see all supporting documents. This can be accessed in both the Research and Tender questionnaires. 
• Click on the Respond button next to the section you wish to complete.
  • You can save your answers as you go, and come back to them later if you wish - you will need to have provided answers to mandatatory questions to save the section. To do this click the Save Section button. 
  • Reminder: Questionnaires DO have an expiry date.
  • NB: Please DO NOT have multiple tabs opened containing the questionnaire, this can lead to duplicate sections being submitted or not being saved. 

Submitting response

• When you are happy that you have fully answered the questionnaire, submit it by clicking the Submit button. 
  • You will be able to review, edit and resubmit your submitted response at any time until either: 
    • The Closing Date for submissions has passed
    • An evaluator has begun to evaluate your submission
  • You are able to withdraw your submitted responses by pressing the Withdraw button, which will appear immediately after submittal (N.B. until the above highlighted criteria has not been completed):
  • After pressing Withdraw, you will be presented with the buttons to Save or Submit to edit and resubmit responses. 
• Evaluators will be alerted when you have submitted a questionnaire and you will be contacted once your submission has been evaluated and qualified.

Opting Out / Opting back in

You also have the option to opt out of responding to a questionnaire.

• Go to the Requirements > [Requirement Name] > RFX tab.
• Click the Opt Out button for the relevant section.
• You will be prompted to provide an opt out reason then select Opt Out to submit.
• The status of the questionnaire will change to Opt Out. 
• This decision can be reversed by pressing Opt In, which will appear after pressing Opt Out, doing so will generate the Save or Submit buttons to start responding. 

Status 

The Status represents the stage that you are at with answering the questions in a section.    

• Not Started - None of the questions have been answered in the section. 
• In Progress - You have answered one or more of the questions in the section but have not yet answered all of the questions in the section. 
  • Depending on the question, either of the following messages will appear underneath each mandatory question you have not answered: 
    • Please select an option 
    • Please enter your answer for this question 
  • The following message will also appear at the bottom underneath the save buttons: 
    • Mandatory question(s) not answered
• Knocked-out - You have provided an answer to one or more of the questions in the section which does not meet the requirements to qualify as a supplier. 
  • These are normally Yes/No questions. E.g. A question could ask you 'Do you agree with the terms and conditions for registering as a supplier? - Yes or No'. Answering No to this question will result in you being knocked-out and unable to submit your application. 
  • You will be provided with help text suggesting the kind of information/response this type of question is looking for.
  • Depending on the particular questionnaire/section, if your answer has been Knocked-out, either of the following messages will appear:
    • You will not be able to submit your response, as your answer to this question fails to meet the minimum requirements
    • Your answer to this question fails to meet the minimum requirements 
• Completed - You have provided an answer to all of the questions.