The purpose of this article is to explain how DecisionDirector supports procurements in conjunction with a client's official bid management system.
The Purpose of DecisionDirector
DecisionDirector is designed to support enterprise-class technology and services planning and selection projects.
These complex projects have many stakeholders who need to be effectively engaged over the course of the project, and typically involve a large number of requirements, questions, and requested documents pertaining to the solution(s) being sought.
Accordingly, DecisionDirector is most often used to:
- Enable stakeholders to participate in the gathering, refinement and prioritization of requirements, and other pre-RFP activities.
- Collect detailed responses from prospective bidders to requirements and other items, typically as part of an official RFI or RFP process.
- Enable evaluators to participate in a number of structured evaluation steps, including of bids, references, demonstrations and interviews.
Advantiv and DecisionDirector's Role in the RFP Process
Advantiv and DecisionDirector play supporting roles in a client's RFP process in accordance with the following rules:
1) Advantiv works with and advises the client's project team to ensure optimal use of DecisionDirector, creates the resulting configurations, supports the DecisionDirector users, and delivers reports and extracts during and at the end of each DecisionDirector activity.
2) If any of the information or guidance presented in DecisionDirector or in a corresponding DecisionDirector RFP Home Page is in conflict with the official RFP documents, the information in the official RFP documents shall always prevail.
3) Advantiv does not read, evaluate, or comment on any bidder's responses entered into DecisionDirector.
4) DecisionDirector is provided and supported by Advantiv Solutions, LLC ("Advantiv"). Support requests and questions from bidders to Advantiv are entered and tracked in a ticketing system, must be limited to the use of DecisionDirector, and may only be initiated via email to support@advantiv.com.
5) Advantiv personnel cannot and will not answer any questions or provide any information about any RFP or client project that DecisionDirector supports and will instruct bidders to direct such questions will the designated client contact.
6) Advantiv retains all correspondence with bidders in the event the client requires transcripts.
Advantiv's general policy statement can be found at About - Advantiv DecisionDirector.
A more detailed process overview for DecisionDirector's role in supporting public sector procurements can be found here.
DecisionDirector in Conjunction with Other Bid Management Systems
DecisionDirector is often used in projects for clients who, as a matter of policy and practice, conduct their procurements through a bid management system which serves as the authoritative publisher of bids and collector of bid response submissions.
In these cases, DecisionDirector enables bidders to answer all requirements and other information requests in accordance with the formats specified by the project team and approved by the procurement team, and then generate the corresponding response artifacts for upload into the client's bid management system as part of an official bid response submission.
The diagrams below illustrate this process.
Online Response Compilation Environment
Bidders respond to the individual requirements and upload any documents in the private, secure DecisionDirector response environment created for the RFP.
The image below shows a typical RFP in DecisionDirector.
City of Philadelphia OPAL Project Consulting RFP in DecisionDirector
The image below shows a sample requirement and the corresponding form provided to collect the Bidder's response to that requirement:
A Sample Requirement and Form of Response in DecisionDirector
Response Artifacts are Uploaded to the Bid Management System
Bidders respond to all requirements and questions in DecisionDirector. When the response in DecisionDirector has been completed, bidders will generate response documents for upload from DecisionDirector and submit them as part of their official proposal to the client's bid management system.
The diagram below illustrates the general process:
Bid Responses Compiled in DecisionDirector Must Be Uploaded to the Client's Bid Management System
Bid Management System Upload File Size Limitations
Some bid management systems will limit on the size of files they will accept. This means that the response documents bidders will generate from DecisionDirector must conform to the stated size limitations.
For helpful tips to minimize the size of generated documents, see Minimizing the Size of Generated Documents.
Questions?
Send a note to support@advantiv.com.
