First steps after registration
As soon as you have registered, you should start saving information to your profile about the categories of supplies, services or works that you are interested in supplying.
Once you have done this, eTendersNI will send your administrator an email alert when a relevant tender opportunity is published.
Read Quick Reference Guide Three (setting up email alerts for relevant tenders) to find out how to take this step.
Getting used to the new look and feel
To help navigate the eTendersNI home page and understand all the menu options for you as a supplier, read Quick Reference Guide Two (getting to know the eTenderNI home page).
Adding colleagues as additional users
Once your administrator has registered your organisation, other colleagues can be added as eTendersNI users. An unlimited number of colleagues can be added. All of the additional users can work on and submit tenders.
The administrator is the only person in each organisation who can edit the organisation profile, or add or delete other users.
To find out how to add your colleagues as users read Quick Reference Guide Four (adding additional users for your organisation).
Browsing for tender opportunities
Remember that previously on the eSourcing NI portal, tender opportunities were advertised as either PQQ (pre-qualification stage) or ITT (invitation to tender).
On eTendersNI all tender opportunities are listed as CfT's - Calls for Tender.
To find out how to browse for tender opportunities, read Quick Reference Guide Five (browsing for tender opportunities).
Creating and submitting tenders
Before you spot a tender opportunity you are interested in, it would be sensible to explore the Call for Tender menu and ensure you understand how to create and submit a tender using eTendersNI.
You may need to download additional software (free of charge) to enable the Tender Preparation Tool to work on your computer - so check this out now.
Read Quick Reference Guide Eight (creating and submitting a tender) to guide you through these steps.
Remember that once you start working on a tender you must save your work to your own computer; it is not saved online. If you want another colleague to work on it, simply copy and paste the tender file into an email and send it. They must download the desktop version of the tender tool from the homepage before they can open the tender file, to work on it further.
Always save your final version carefully before you submit your tender. Then if you need to refer back to what you submitted, simply open your final version from your desktop using the desktop version of the tender tool.
You can re-submit a tender as many times as you need to, before the tender deadline.
Setting up supplier profile certificates
One of the advantages of eTendersNI is that you can save information to your supplier profile in the form of certificates, and then import this information into your draft tender - saving you time when you submit multiple tenders, as you only need to provide the information once.
Certificates have been set up for all the typical mandatory questions that accompany every public sector tender. Read Quick Reference Guide Nine (setting up your supplier profile certificates) to learn how to do this.
Trouble shooting
For more help on using eTendersNI, visit the eTendersNI portal and download the User Manual and the Troubleshooting Guide in the Help section.
A further Troubleshooting Quick Reference Guide is also available to help you.
- Telephone helpdesk: 0800 240 4545
- Email: ni-eproc-helpdesk@eurodyn.com