EXT 435 Commodity Bidding — International

EXT 435– Commodity Bidding - International -

1. Vendor Procurement Process Overview 2. Access Bid Invitations (Solicitations) on the Public Procurement Documents Page 3. Submit a Vendor Response (Offer) 4. Change a Vendor Response before and after Submission 5. Create and use an International Commodity Preference

Lesson Objectives • Recognize the basic end-to-end steps associated with the Procurement Process • Define new key terms

WBSCM Term FAR Term Old Term Bid Invitation Solicitation Bid Response Offer Open Offer / Quote Bid Opening

Term Definition Commodity Standard food commodities that USDA purchases Freight Corresponding freight requirement for each commodity

Term Definition Service related item such as Vessel Loading Observation, Warehousing, Storage Non-standard Commodity Materials used primarily for emergencies such as baby formula, bottled water that USDA does not typically purchase

Term Definition Long Procurement AGAR Document Number System Number (LPN) Bid Submission Date chosen by a USDA agency in which all Vendor Responses (Offers/Quotes) must be received

1. The first step in the International Commodity Bidding process is: A. Vendor creates Preference Bid Response (Offer) B. Vendor response C. Vendor views from public procurement documents page 2. T/F: Preference Bid Responses (Offers) will serve as a template for future Bid Responses (Offers) A. True B. False

Lesson Objectives • Search for an International Commodity Bid Invitation (Solicitation) • Create a Commodity Preference Bid Response (Offer) • Edit a Commodity Preference Bid Response (Offer)

International Commodity Preference

• The USDA will issue one International Commodity Preference Bid Invitation (Solicitation) that will include all items that it purchases on a regular basis • Vendors will create Bid Responses (Offer) to that Bid Invitation (Solicitation) that will serve as a template for all future offers • Preference Bid Responses (Offers) are complete after being created, they will never be submitted to the USDA for review

• Commodity vendors should enter re-occurring loadpoint costs for particular commodities and/or plants in their Preference Bid Response (Offer) • There is no limit to the amount of Preference Bid Responses (Offers) that can be created • Creating Preference Bid Responses (Offers) is optional, but HIGHLY recommended to save time

• After finding the International Preference Bid Invitation (Solicitation) the vendor will navigate to the Offers screen to create a Commodity Preference Bid Response (Offer) • All fields at the Header level will be left blank except the Bid Label ― The Bid Label field should include a meaningful name for this particular Preference Bid Response (Offer) ―For example, the preferences for wheat coming from the Jacinto plant might be labeled Jacinto Plant Wheat Preference

Loadpoints BCHI, Chicago $30 BNOR, Norfolk, VA $35 G-FREE-ALL, Freeport, TX $34 G-HOUS-CTS $29 G-LC-ALL $24 L-CHIC-ALL $25 L-MILW-ALL $30 Plant A Wheat Hard White Bag, 50 KG

• Commodity Vendors should store additional costs to different types of load points in their Preference Bid Resonses (Offers) : – Terminal – Intermodal Bridge – Intermodal Plant

• Terminal – Commodity vendor transports goods all the way to the port terminal

• Intermodal Bridge – Commodity vendor and Freight vendor meet at a third party controlled bridge where goods can be transferred

• Intermodal Plant – Freight vendor picks up goods from commodity vendor’s warehouse or manufacturing plant

• For example:

• Auto Playback Tutorial: watch the simulation with no user input required

• Standard Tutorial: guide yourself through the simulation by clicking on certain areas when prompted

1. The Copy From Bid/Preferences field ______: A. Only stores USDA created Preferences. B. Lists all Preferences currently available for that Vendor, when the value of the Copy From field is PREFERENCE. C. Will contain no entries in the list unless Load Point Pricing has been entered into the new Offer first. 2. T/F: Each Vendor Response can have multiple Offers. A. True B. False

Lesson Objectives • Recognize Bid Invitation (Solicitation) Notifications • Display Public Procurement Documents via Supplier Self Service (SUS) • Display International Commodity Bid Invitations (Solicitations) in SUS

• When the Bid Invitation (Solicitation) is created, the system will generate a Long Procurement Number (LPN) to identify the solicitation: – For example: AG - INTP - S - 10 - 0194 • • • 3 J 14 Livestock 3 J 15 Poultry 3 J 16 F & V INTB IPD Bulk INTP IPD Packaged INTE IPD Empty Bag INTG IPD General INTS IPD Services INTF IPD Freight DPRO DPD FAR DCCC Price Support S = Solicitation P = Purchase Order C = Contract (IDIQ) D = Delivery/Task Order

• If an amendment is made to the Bid Invitation (Solicitation), all vendors who have already created a bid for that Invitation will receive an email notification AG - INTP - S - 10 - 0174 – P 0001

• All Public Bid Invitations will be posted to the Public Procurement Page available through the vendor self-service portal • They will be organized by Agency, Fiscal Year, and Month ―To find a Bid Invitation (Solicitation) PDF, select the agency who issued it before clicking the year and month it was issued • After locating a Bid Invitation (Solicitation) on which a vendor seeks to bid, he/she should document the number for later use on the Bid Management tab.

• Auto Playback Tutorial: watch the simulation with no user input required

• Standard Tutorial: guide yourself through the simulation by clicking on certain areas when prompted

1. Bid Invitations (Solicitations) are published to _______. A. Public Procurement Documents Page in WBSCM B. The Vendor’s website Home page C. www. usda. gov/solicitations-commodity/proc 2. Which of the following is False? A. Bid Invitations (Solicitations) are available for viewing as soon as they are created B. Vendors can receive Bid Invitation (Solicitation) email notices. C. Vendors can see only those Bid Invitations (Solicitations) for products they are approved to supply.

Lesson Objectives • Create a Vendor Response (Offer) • Prepare Multiple Offers • Manage Vendor Constraints

• The Enter Offers Screen is where the vendors will locate the Bid Invitation (Solicitation) on which they wish to submit a Bid Response (Offer) • The quickest way to search is to enter the Long Procurement Number documented from the Public Procurement Page in the Document Name field

• Vendors will be able to create Bid Responses (Offers) for Bid Invitations (Solicitations) that are open with a bid submission date still in the future

• After clicking the Create button from the Offers screen, a pop up will display a version of the Bid Invitation (Solicitation) for review • At this point the vendor should review the Bid Invitation and prepare the information to be entered in the bid

Header level information Price Scales Loadpoints Constraints

• The first step when creating a Bid Response is to copy from the appropriate Preference Bid Response (Offer) ―First select Preference in the Copy From field ―Then select the appropriate Preference Bid Response in the Copy From Bid/Preference field

• Copying from a Preference Bid Response (Offer) should be the first step because it will overwrite any information previously entered on the Bid Response (Offer) • All Header and Item Level information (including Loadpoint costs) will automatically be pulled into the Bid Response (Offer) from the Preference Bid Response (Offer)

• The Attributes tab will contain optional and/or required questions to be entered with the offer ―If there are required attribute questions, the bid response will default to the attributes screen after clicking the Create button ―The bid can not be submitted until the required attribute questions have been answered.

• The Basic Data tab has a field in which the vendor must specify which of their plants will be producing the commodities they are seeking to provide with this Bid Response (Offer) • Only plants the vendor has registered will appear in the selection list of the Plant field

Header level information Price Scales Loadpoints Constraints

• International Commodity Bid Invitations (Solicitations) require scale prices be included —Packaged Commodities can have up to two increments plus the Base —Bulk Commodities can have up to five increments plus the Base

Header level information Price Scales Loadpoints Constraints

• Loadpoint costs should be loaded by copying from the appropriate Preference Bid Response (Offer) —Changes in price can be made on the individual Bid Response (Offer) if costs have increased since the Preference Bid Response (Offer) was created

Header level information Price Scales Loadpoints Constraints

• Vendor constraints are the maximum amount of a commodity that a vendor has the capacity to produce for this Bid Invitation • Should a vendor not have constraints, No Constraints can be selected for individual line items or an entire Bid Response (Offer)

• Clicking the No Constraints button will apply no constraints to all bids (from all plants) from this vendor

• A single vendor can submit multiple bids from different plants in a single Bid Response (Offer) • Bids from each plant will be created from the Offer Screen • After all bids are complete, they will all be submitted together from the Vendor Response screen

• Auto Playback Tutorial: watch the simulation with no user input required

• Standard Tutorial: guide yourself through the simulation by clicking on certain areas when prompted

1. When a Bid Invitation (Solicitation) contains multiple Line Items, _____. A. The Vendor can respond to all or a portion of the Line Items. B. Must provide Constraints for every Line Item. C. Can submit only one Offer per Line Item. 2. Which one of the following is true? A. You can have multiple Constraints, but not multiple Offers. B. If there are no Constraints, the Vendor must use the No Constraints button. C. The USDA can create a Vendor Response (Offer) for the Vendor by Proxy. But, only the Vendor can enter Constraints.

Lesson Objectives • Edit and change a Vendor Response before it has been submitted • Use the Adjust Price field to apply market price changes across all Line Items • Edit and change a Vendor Response after it has been successfully submitted

Changes Before Submission

• To change the price of all line items by the same increment, use the Adjust Price field on the Basic Data tab

Changes After Submission

• Clicking the Change button will create a copy of the Bid Response (Offer) already created • Once the copy is created, any needed changes can be made to the new draft copy • If the new version of the Bid Response (Offer) is not submitted to before the bid submission date, the original Bid Response (Offer) will be evaluated by USDA

• Auto Playback Tutorial: watch the simulation with no user input required

• Standard Tutorial: guide yourself through the simulation by clicking on certain areas when prompted

Lesson Objectives • Edit and change a Vendor Response before it has been submitted • Use the Adjust Price field to apply market price changes across all Line Items • Edit and change a Vendor Response after it has been successfully submitted

• Unlike other International Commodity Bid Invitations (Solicitations), vendors will only enter prices in their offers for Master Solicitations • Should the vendor be awarded a Contract, they will receive Delivery Order Competition Solicitations to enter a detailed Bid Response (Offer) including loadpoint costs and commodity scale prices

• These prices are used exclusively in the evaluation for the Contract Award and are subject to change in each Delivery Order Competition • Loadpoints and other factors will be evaluated only on Delivery Order Competition Solicitations

• Auto Playback Tutorial: watch the simulation with no user input required

• Standard Tutorial: guide yourself through the simulation by clicking on certain areas when prompted

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EXT 435 Commodity Bidding — International —