Create and Send an Invitation to Bid Using a Template

You can use a template to create and send a message to potential bidders for a bid package with the PC Create and Send form.

In order to compose a message you must have first set up a bid package and created a list of potential bidders for that bid package.
The following steps will guide you through the process of composing an Invitation to Bid message and sending it to selected vendors on your bid list.
  1. From PC Potential Projects or PC Bid Package, click the Message icon in toolbar.

  2. Choose Select a Template from the menu that appears. This will open PC Select Template.
  3. Select the invitation to bid template.
    Note: Although Viewpoint provides a standard Invitation to Bid template, most users create a custom template that contains their company logo and information. Custom templates are created in PM Document Templates and are available here if assigned the BIDNTENT template type. See PM Create & Send Templates for more information.
  4. Click OK. This will open PC Compose Message.
  5. If the invitation is related to a bid package, check the Related to Bid Package box and then enter a bid package in the field. This will filter the vendors that display in the Bid List grid so that only potential bidders on the selected bid package will display.
    Note: If you accessed this form from PC Bid Package, the Related to Bid Package checkbox will be disabled and a bid package will already be selected.
  6. Filter the vendors that display in the Bid List section by entering search criteria into the Bid List Filter Criteria section and then clicking Filter. This will make it easier to find the vendors that should receive the invitation.
  7. Add vendors to the To list. Highlight the vendors that should receive the invitation in the Bid List section and click the Add button. This will add the vendors to the To list.
    Note: Use SHIFT to highlight a consecutive list or CTRL for specific selections. You can also click Add All to add all vendors in the Bid List to the To list.
  8. To add additional vendors to the To list, use the Clear button to clear the Bid List section, enter in some new search criteria, highlight the additional vendors, and then click the Add button.
    Note: To remove vendors from the To list, highlight the vendor and click Remove . You can also click Remove All to remove all vendors from the To list.
  9. Once you have added vendors to the To list, view the documents created from the template for the vendors. Highlight a vendor in the To list and click the View Document button. This will open the document generated for the selected vendor.
    Note: You can edit the document, but changes will only affect the document being sent to the selected vendor, not the original template.
  10. Open the Message tab and enter the email address where replies should be sent in the Reply To Email field.
  11. Complete the Subject and Message fields.
    Note: You can spell check the message by focusing on the Message field, right clicking the mouse, and then selecting Spelling from the menu that appears.
  12. The Attachments tab is used to add attachments to the email. Open the Attachments tab and check the box next to an attachment to include it with the message. The document generated from the template will not appear on this list, but it will be attached to the message being sent.
    Note: You can view an attachment by selecting the attachment and clicking View Attachment .
  13. Once everything is complete, click the Send button. The system will email/fax messages to each recipient in the list and display a message indicating that your messages have been sent. For recipients with a Delivery Method of 'Print', a second message will display asking if you would like to print invites for the contacts marked as print. Select Yes to print or No to exit without printing.
    Note: Once all messages have been sent and/or printed, the recipients are cleared from the To list on the Recipients tab.
  14. Click Close.