Instructions on how to create and process a query under a framework agreement

Leiad eestikeelse versiooni siit.

I ACTIVITIES BEFORE THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF TENDERS 

Entering a query and sending an invitations to tender under a framework agreement

Starting a new query

To create a new query based on a framework agreement, you must select Query -> Query under a framework agreement from the DMIS (document management information system) menu Add new.

There are also a number of direct links for creating a query on the intranet. The direct links may be configured in such a way that the framework agreement on the basis of which the query is being generated is already pre-filled. 

Query details

Start entering the data for your query.

When filling in the fields, also check the help texts by holding the mouse over the icon

1) Choose a title for your query.

2) Select the type of query from the drop-down menu:

When selecting the type of query, you make a choice about how you want to enter data into the query. You can always enter the query data in the Query Description field and/or attach the query data as a file. For some services, in addition to the above, it is also possible to enter the query data in the corresponding form, if desired. Thus:

• select All queries if you include all the query data in the field Description and/or include it as a file;

• select Travel service query if you are creating a query for a travel service and you wish to enter the data in a special form - Travel query form. The form opens in a block below called The data entered in the form must be created as a print file to accompany the query (see Travel query form for details);

• select Catering service query if you are creating a query for catering services and you wish to enter the data in a special form - Catering query form. The form will open in a block called The data entered in the form must be created as a print file to accompany the query (see Catering query form for more details).

3) Select the name of the framework agreement - to find the correct framework agreement, start typing name of the framework agreement the Estonian, a list of all valid framework agreement names will be displayed in dop-down menu. If you came to the query page via the direct link, this field is pre-filled and you do not need to change it.

Make sure you select the correct framework agreement.

• In the list that opens, the framework agreements that are preceded by 0 are univeristy-wide framework agreements. These framework agreements are for by all structural units of the university (more information from intranet).

• Framework agreements with a structural unit code in front of the name are initiated by that unit and can only be used with the consent of the contact person of the university indicated in the framework agreement.

4) Public procurement reference number is automatically filled in if the framework agreement is selected.

5) Enter the query description and/or attach it as file(s) in the following field Description as a file.... . If you have selected the type of query as Travel service query or Catering service query, you do not need to complete this field (although you may, if you want to).

• Describe the service you are requesting or the good(s) you are purchasing as fully and unambiguously as possible. Be sure to include the quantity requested, the delivery address/place of delivery, all the services/add-ons that must be included in the tender price etc. If you refer to a specific product name, brand, trademark, etc. in the description, always add 'or equivalent'. To enlarge the text area, pull the box larger from the bottom right.

6) Include the project identifier (number, name, etc.) if it is known which project(s) the expenditure is to be funded from and if such information is required by the funder.

Query terms and conditions

1) Enter the deadline for submission of tenders, i.e. the deadline until which tenderers can submit tenders and after which the contractor can view the tenders.

• Add date and time.
• Give tenderers enough time to prepare and submit their tender. Make sure that you have set the deadline for submission of tenders in accordance with the terms of the framework agreement (see university-wide framework agreements).
• Once the invitations to tender have sent, it is not possible to change the deadline for submission of tenders. If the tenderer asks for an extension of the deadline for submission of tenders and contracting authority agrees, all tenderers that have received an invitation to tender must be informed that no tenders are expected for the query and a new query must be prepared. After the deadline for submission of tenders, the existing query must be ended with a "no" decision with an explanation "query canceled".

2) Enter the deadline to fulfill the order - by which time at the latest the service must be provided or the goods delivered. If you enter the delivery time in days/months/weeks, the calculation of the delivery time starts from the decision on the query (or, if the contract is concluded as a result of the query, then from the conclusion of the contract). For example "10 months", "within 4 weeks". It can also be entered as a specific date, for example "21.05.2022", "not later than 01.10.2022" etc. When setting a specific date, take into account that there will be enough time to review the offers, ask for clarifications if necessary and make a decision. If it is a request for a travel arrangement service, the deadline for fulfilling the order is the time of the trip.

3) Tender validity period - state how long the tender must be valid from the deadline for submission of tenders, for example "The offer must be valid for at least 30 days from the deadline for submission of tenders." Only a valid tender can be used as a basis at the time of drawing a decision. The validity period of the tender starts from the deadline for submission of tenders and must be so long that a decision can be made about the valid tender. In general, 30 days could be set as the period of validity of the offers, the exception are queries made on the basis of framework agreement for travel management services (see the terms of the framework agreement for travel management services). If necessary, change or supplement the pre-entered text.

4) Expected cost - enter only if you want the tenderers to know how much you have expected to spend. The amount entered is not binding on the tenderers.

5) Evaluation criterion - in the case of queries made on the basis of framework agreements, the evaluation criterion is always the lowest cost, i.e. the lowest cost tender among the tenders that meet the conditions must be selected as successful.

6) Documents/data to be provided in the tender - Indicate which documents must be submitted as part of the tender. If necessary, change/complete the pre-entered text.

Make sure that the requirements and conditions presented in the query are in accordance with the framework agreement!

Tenderer details

According to the selected framework agreement (field Framework agreement name), the tenderers' data is filled in automatically.

Do not add/change provider data yourself.

If you know that the pre-entered contact information of the partner of the framework agreement is wrong or has changed, inform pkabi@ut.ee.

Query team

If necessary, add team members to the query.

Be sure to add a team member or several from your structural unit, if you know that you are going on vacation or for some other reason you cannot answer the questions about the query promptly, review the tenders quickly enough and make a decision about the query.

Team members will receive the following email notifications about the query when:

• the tenderer has asked a question about the query,
• the deadline for submission of tenders has passed,
• the tenderer has answered the question about the tender,
• 1 month has passed since the deadline for submission of tenders (unless there has been decision made about the query by then).

Persons from the same structural unit as the contractor always have the right to read the query (there is no need to add a team for this).

Persons from a different structural unit than the contractor do not have the right to read the query, and they can only see a specific query in the list of queries (number, name and status of the query, name of the contractor, deadline for submission of tender).

When adding a person from the same structural unit to the query team, the person gets the right to write in the query and its documents (the right to see the query data, tenders and decisions, make their own decisions, answer questions/ask questions).

When adding a person from a different structural unit to the query team, the person gets the right to read the query and its documents (the right to see the query data, tenders, decisions, questions-answers, but cannot change, answer/ask questions, make decisions).

You do not need to add the contractor (field Contractor) as a team member. The contractor of the query has both read and write access to the query and its documents and also receives all notifications about the query.

Adding team members

You can change/add team members at all stages of the query (both before and after the deadline for submission of tenders).

To do this, click under Query data the button . Opens:

Find the person(s) you want to add from the list, press and then .

Updating query data

After sending out invitations to tender, until the deadline for submission of tenders, you can send notice to tenderers about updated query data or conditions as needed.

The notice sent about the query is part of the query's source data.

When supplementing the query data, take into account that the tenderers has enough time to prepare tender for the query with the updated source data, because the deadline for submission of tenders set for the query cannot be changed!

If there is too little time left between the time of sending the notice and the deadline for submission of tendes, it is better to cancel the query and prepare a new query. In this case, send a notice to the tenderers that the query data has been updated and since there is too little time left to submit tenders, you will prepare a new query and therefore no tenders are expected for the existing query. When the deadline for submission of tenders for an existing query comes, draw a no-decision with the an explanation "The query has been cancelled, because the data of the query have changed and there is insufficient time for tenderers to submit a tender on the basis of the updated data".

To send a notice about a query, press the button Send notice:

Appears adding a notice view:

Add the notice to the field Content and press the button Send notice. All tenderers who have received an invitation to tender will be sent a notification letter about the update of the query data.

You can see the sent notifications in the query view page under the block Notice (Teade) and the sent notification letters under the block E-mail.

Answering a question about a query

Answering tenderer's question

An e-mail notification will be sent to contractor and to all members of the query team when a tenderer has sent a question about the query. Clicking on the link in the notification will open the query view. Scroll down and find the block , and click on the question to open it:

To answer the question, click the button Answer and you'll see:

Answers to questions about the query are part of the source data for the query.

If your answer modifies or completes the source data of the query, please take into account the deadline for submission of tenders and allow tenderers sufficient time to prepare and submit their tenders.

The initial deadline for submission of tenders cannot be changed in the query. If there is insufficient time for tenderers to submit a tender taking into account the updated data, a notice of the query must be sent (see the previous section on the updating of the query data) and a new query must be composed, and a no-decision must be drawn up on the existing query when the deadline for submission of tenders has arrived, stating the explanation "The query has been cancelled, because the data of the query have changed and there is insufficient time for tenderers to submit a tender on the basis of the updated data".

Enter your answer in the field Answer and click on the button Send.

The reply with the question will be displayed in the tenderer's environment to all tenderers.

Viewing questions and answers

Below the query data is a block of questions and answers: 

Here you can see all the questions and answers related to the query - both on the query and later, after the deadline for submission of tenders, questions and answers about the tenders.

Cancelling a query

To cancel the request, press the button 'Cancel query'.

In the opened screen you can enter a message to all the tenderers about cancelling the query. Be sure to give a reason for cancelling the query and, if you plan to launch a new query, let the tenderers know. You can then cancel the query. 

The status of the cancelled query will change to 'Finished', a notice will be sent to the tenderers and they will no longer be able to offer on that query. 

A query can only be cancelled before the deadline for submission of tenders, when the status of the query is 'Waiting tenders'. After the deadline for submission of tenders, a decision must be taken to close the query (see Drawing up decision).

Once cancelled, a query cannot be reopened.

II ACTIVITIES AFTER THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF TENDERS

Examination of tenders

After the deadline for submission of tenders, a notification about the arriving of the deadline will be sent to the contracting authority and to the members of the query team. The notification will include a link to the query.

Verification and evaluation of the tenders

Check whether there are any tenders sent in response to the query. To do this, scroll down the query data page to the block

• If there is a 0 in brackets after the block name, it means that no tenders have been submitted. Move on to decide on the query.
• If there are parentheses after the block name with a number greater than 0, click on the block to open it:

All tenders that are in status Submitted and have the field Total (excl VAT) filled in (can also be 0,00), are tenders in the tender procedure and must be opened!

A withdrawn tender is a tender previously submitted by a tenderer but withdrawn before the deadline for submission of tenders. The amount of the withdrawn tender is not displayed and its content is not visible to the contracting authority.

Drawing lots (travel service query)

If there is more than one tender with the same lowest cost among the eligible tenders in the travel service query, you must draw lots between them.

Let the tenderers who have submitted equally successful tenders know the time, place and procedure for the draw by sending a letter about tender (see Sending a letter about the tender). Let tenderers know that if they wish to take part in the draw, they may do so through an official representative or an authorised agent, as indicated in the e-business register. In the latter case, the tenderer must provide a power of attorney for the authorised representative before the draw. Include your e-mail address in the notification in case the tenderer wishes to send a power of attorney (it will not be able to attach a file to the reply via the tenderer's environment).

Example of the procedure of drawing lots: For drawing lots, labels with the names of the tenders are used. The labels are either folded or placed in a separate envelope so that they cannot be distinguished externally. The labels shall be mixed before drawing. The representative of the tenderer or of the contracting authority draws the label and the tenderer whose tender is marked on the label is successful.

The conduct and result of the draw must be recorded. The record must be annexed to the decision on the query. A note to this effect must also be made when the decision is drawn up in the field Explanation of the decision. For example: 'Among the tenders that met the conditions, the tenders with the lowest value were those with equal value. The successful tender was selected by a draw of lots. The successful tender is ...."

All the questions and answers related to the query - both about the query and the tender - can be found on the query page under the block

Drawing up a decision

Before taking a decision, make sure you have read the information exchange about the query (blocks Notice and Question/answer). 

Click on the button to create a decision.

If the "Adding: Decision" view does not open when you click on the button Draw up a decision, check if there is a "Detailed view" button next to the "Edit" button.

If it is, click on it and you can start the decision again (click on button Draw up a decision again).

• In the table, in the column after the tender(s) you wish to award, select the column Is it successful tender? -> "Yes" and then in the column In what amount is successful? (excl VAT), insert the amount for which you intend to award this tender. If you had asked in the query and a unit price was offered, the unit price (excl VAT) multiplied by the estimated quantity will be the cost of the successful tender. In the column Additional information for tenderer, you can indicate the information you wish to be communicated to this tenderer in the notification letter of the decision. If the awarded value of the successful tender differs from the value indicated by the tenderer itself as the total value of the tender, please inform the tenderer in the field Additional information for tenderer. You can also specify the time, place or contact details of the delivery etc.

• If the tender is not successful, in the column Is it a successful tender - >"No" will remain and in the column In what amount is successful? (excl VAT) will remain 0,00. In the field Additional information for tenderer, you can enter the information you wish to be communicated to this tenderer in the notification letter of the decision.

• In the field Cost of the successful tender, the system will sum up the cost of the selected successful tenders. This field cannot be changed.

3) Explain the decision in the field Explanation of the decision - note that the explanation entered will be communicated to all the tenderers who have submitted a tender in the automatic notification letter. Some of the more typical explanations for "Yes" and "No" decisions are also given as examples on the decision screen, where you can copy the appropriate explanation into the box if necessary, but you are also free to formulate your own explanation. You can also communicate to all the tenderers the name of the successful tenderer and the total value of the successful tender, this information is not automatically communicated to all the successful tenderers:

• In the field Additional information accompanying the decision, you can add additional information to the decision, if necessary. The information entered in this field will not be communicated to the tenderers. It will remain with the decision in document system.

• If necessary, you can also attach files to the decision in the field Additional documents. The files attached to the decision will remain with the decision in system and will not be sent to the tenderers.

• Press the button Save. A notification of the decision will be sent to all the tenderers who submitted a tender. 

• After the decision has been saved, a block will be filled with the decision data on the query view page. 

Once the decision has been taken, further communication with the tenderer will be by e-mail (or telephone or other means).

You can find the contact details of the tenderer in the tender.  To do this, open the block   and click to open the successful tender.

If the field Contact person (red underline) has an e-mail address, please use this address for further communication. If no new e-mail address has been added to this field, use the e-mail address that was used to send notifications about the  (blue underline).  

Linking the query to an invoice

Open the invoice document. Check that you are in the viewing (and not edit) screen of the invoice document:

At the top right is a grey box Table of contents. Find a Query under a framework agreement in the list and click on the Add relations icon (if you don't see the full list, click on Tabel of contents in the dark grey menu bar to expand it):

A list of queries opens. Use the search to find the right query by clicking on the magnifying glass icon:

Search the query by number or by the name of the contractor or other and click Search:

Put a tick in front of the correct query and click . The query is linked to the invoice document. 

FAQ - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS