Quick guide for two-step procurement procedures - Step 2

(restricted procedures, competitive procedures with negotiation, competitive dialogues, innovation partnerships and design contests)

Getting started

The present Quick Guide applies to second step of the two-step procedures only. In this step, only the invited candidates, who passed exclusion and selection criteria in the first step, may submit a tender. The Quick Guides for the first step of the two-step procedures as well as the guides for other procurement procedures can be consulted on Funding & Tenders Portal eProcurement wiki.

As an economic operator, you can:

• Encode your response to a procedure launched by an EU institution, body or agency

• Submit in a secure manner

• View or resume a saved draft

• Delete a draft submission

• Receive proof of submission (Submission Receipt)

• Withdraw a submission before the time limit for receipt of submissions

• Receive proof of withdrawal (Withdrawal Receipt)

Make sure you read the System Requirements.

You can find them on the front page of the eSubmission application and in the attachments section on the Parties page.

How do I get technical help?

If you need help, you can contact our support team, from 08:00 until 20:00 CET/CEST (Brussels time).

  ec-funding-tender-service-desk@ec.europa.eu

+32 (0) 229 71063

 The support team operates in English only.

Manage invitations and submissions in Funding & Tenders Portal

The Funding & Tenders Portal is the single entry point (Single Electronic Data Interchange Area) for participants and experts in funding programs and tenders managed by the European Commission and other EU institutions, bodies or agencies.

If your request to participate has successfully passed the first step of the procedure you will receive a notification from F&T Portal inviting you to participate in the next step of the procedure.

The notification will be sent to:

• the email address of the Contact Person indicated in the submission of the request to participate (Primary Coordinator Contact (PCoCo));
• the email address (if different) linked to the EU Login account used to submit the request to participate (Coordinator Contact (CoCo));
• the email address of any other Coordinator Contact(s)  (CoCo) added using the ‘Manage roles’ action button on the submission of the request to participate.

To enter your private area of the Funding & Tenders Portal you need to authenticate yourself by using the Sign in button of the Funding & Tenders Portal at the top right end of the home page (enter your EU Login and password).

From your private area of the Funding & Tenders Portal you can:

• View your invitations to tender
• Acknowledge receipt of an invitation
• Access the restricted procurement documents 
• Access restricted Q&A 
• Create and submit questions for step 2 of the procedure 
• Start new submission in response to an invitation
• View, edit or delete draft submissions (tenders)
• Withdraw submitted tenders
• Access your Submission/Withdrawal Receipts (proof of submission/withdrawal of a tender)
• Manage roles

View Invitation(s)

From the navigation menu on the left the PCoCo/CoCo will find the invitations(s) for step 2 under My Invitation(s) section. A search field is also available on the right above the list of invitations.

Click on 'See details' link to:

• View the procedure details.
  Under the general information section you can view the information related to the procedure.

• Access the restricted procurement documents.

Under the Restricted documents section, the invited candidates can view the documents for the step 2 of the procedure. If the contracting authority has published a new version of the document then you will be able to view all the versions of the document. The latest version is available on the screen. To view an older version you can click on the dropdown menu and select the version you want to see.

If the document is available in a different language then the translated document will also be available for you to view.

•   Access the restricted Questions & Answers.

From this section you can ask a question concerning step 2 of the procedure. If the contracting authority provides the answer privately, it will appear under the 'My Q&A' section. 
If the answer is provided to all candidates invited to step 2, it will appear under the 'Restricted Q&A' section.

For more information see  How to create and submit a question on the Funding and Tenders portal.

My Invitation(s) section

For each invitation the PCoCo/CoCo can see the procedure reference number, the invitation status (received, acknowledged), the deadline, the lot (if applicable), the procedure title, the procedure type and the step.

The Action menu of the invitation/ submission allows the PCoCo/CoCo to perform different actions depending on the status of the invitation/submission.

For invitations in Received status: 

• Acknowledge Receipt: click here in order to confirm that you have received the invitation to submit a tender.
• Manage Roles:  you will be able to view and manage the access to your invitations (add/remove persons who will also be able to perform the herein described actions on your invitations).

For invitations in Acknowledged status:

• Start New Submission: click to submit a new tender.
• Manage Roles:  you will be able to view and manage the access to your invitations (add/remove persons who will also be able to perform the herein described actions on your invitations).

To view and manage the submissions against an invitation, click on the Submission(s) link.
The Action menu on the right of each submission (unless the submission has been deleted) allows the PCoCo/CoCo to perform different actions depending on the submission status.

For submissions in Draft status:

• • • Edit: eSubmission opens the screen you were in when you left the application. You can now edit your submission in eSubmission.
    • View:  eSubmission  opens the screen you were in when you left the application the application. It is not possible to edit the submission as you are viewing it in read-only mode. 
    • Delete:  the draft submission will be deleted from the Funding & Tenders Portal.

For submissions in Submitted status:

• • • View Receipt: the submission receipt is displayed.
    • Withdraw  (available only before the deadline for submission):  provide the reason to withdraw the submission and confirm by clicking on the  Withdraw button. Once you have withdrawn a submission, you cannot view, edit or submit it again.

For submissions in Withdrawn status:

• • • View Withdrawal Receipt: the withdrawal receipt is displayed.

For submissions in Deleted  status:
The  Action menu is not available  for the tenders with the status Deleted. Once a draft tender has been deleted, it cannot be retrieved by the tenderer. 

How to prepare your tender in eSubmission 

To be able to submit a tender the PCoCo/CoCo needs first to acknowledge the receipt of the invitation to tender:

• Find the procedure in My Invitations in the Funding & Tenders Portal.

• In the Action menu of the procedure, click on Acknowledge Receipt in order to confirm that you have received the invitation. The status of the invitation will become Acknowledged.
  
  

After acknowledging the receipt of the invitation the PCoCo/CoCo  will be automatically redirected to eSubmission, where you can start the submission of your tender by clicking on New submission. 

If you prefer to start your submission later:

• Log on to the Funding & Tenders Portal with the EU Login account of the person indicated as Contact Person (PCoCo) in the request to participate or, if different, the EU Login account of the person used to submit the request to participate (CoCo) or any other PCoCo/CoCo authorised through the “Manage roles” functionality of the Funding & Tenders Portal (for more information, see the section Manage Roles in Funding & Tenders Portal  in this guide) .

• Go to My Invitations and find the procedure.

• From the Action menu of the procedure, click on Start new submission. You will then be redirected to eSubmission.
  

In eSubmission click on New submission to start a new submission or Resume draft to resume a draft submission started earlier. You can also resume your draft from the Funding & Tenders Portal (for more information, see the section Manage submissions in Funding & Tenders Portal in this guide).

Navigating in eSubmission

When you start your submission you will see a progress line on top of the screen. This line shows all the steps you have to go through before submitting your tender. You can also see which step you are currently in.

At any time during the submission process you can see which documents have been uploaded  by clicking on the Submission documents  button on the left side of the screen.

Parties

In this step only the Contact Person section is editable.

The user starting the tender submission can indicate as Contact Person himself/herself (the name is already prefilled) or another person. If the latter does not have an EU Login account, a temporary EU Login account will be automatically created based on the Contact Person email address and the person will be invited by email to complete the EU Login registration. The invitation will be an automatic system message with no reference to the procedure.

The Contact Person receives the role  Primary Coordinator Contact (PCoCo) in the Funding & Tenders Portal and the user submitting the tender (if different from the Contact Person) - the role Coordinator Contact (CoCo). 

Click Next to move to the next step.

Tender data

In this section you need to enter the amount of your tender ( only in case of the lowest cost or the lowest price award method  - make sure you use the same format as in the example on the screen) and/or confirm if your tender complies or not with the minimum requirements specified in the procurement documents.

If you confirm that your tender does not comply with the minimum requirements, you will be asked to provide an explanation in a dedicated text box. The confirmation of the compliance or non-compliance and the explanation in case of non-compliance will be reflected in the submission report.

After clicking on the Save button you can upload the financial tender and, if required by the contracting authority in the tender specifications, the technical tender. You can upload more than one file as technical/financial tender. 

Once you consider the tender data correct and the submission complete, click on Next. The button will be active only if all mandatory data and documents have been provided.

Submission report

The submission report is generated by the system and is part of the submission. The report lists all the documents included in the submission.

eSubmission automatically generates and adds the submission report to your submission. You can consult the report on the screen or download it for your own records (before submitting the tender). You don’t need to sign and upload the signed report in eSubmission.

After viewing the submission report, if you consider the submission complete and ready for submission, click on Next to continue.

Submit your tender

When you are ready to submit your tender, click on Submit . The system will display a confirmation message.

Click Yes if you want to confirm: you will no longer be able to modify this submission.

Please note that the system will not allow you to submit if the time limit for receipt of submissions has been reached.

An e-mail notification will be sent to the e-mail address linked to the EU login account of Primary Coordinator Contact (PCoCo) and all the Coordinator Contact(s) (CoCo) that are indicated for that tender. This e-mail notification contains a link to the Funding & Tenders Portal where the Submission Receipt can be found. 

Manage roles in Funding & Tenders Portal

The Contact Person indicated in the request to participate (step 1) in eSubmission receives the role Primary Coordinator Contact (PCoCo) for the invitation in the Funding & Tenders Portal. The user submitting the request (if different from the Contact Person in the request) receives the role Coordinator Contact (CoCo) for the submission of the request and the invitation, unless the role has been removed by the PCoCo/another CoCo of the submission of the request in the period between the opening of the requests by the contracting authority and the receipt of the invitation for step 2.

Similarly, the Contact Person indicated in the tender (step 2) in eSubmission receives the role Primary Coordinator Contact  (PCoCo) for the submission of the tender . The PCoCo of the invitation and the user submitting the tender, if different from the Contact Person in the tender, receive the role Coordinator Contact (CoCo) for the submission of the tender.

Additional Coordinator Contact(s) (CoCo) on the submission of the request, the invitation and the submission of the tender can be added or removed via the Manage Roles button (see below).

Please note that there can be only one PCoCo per invitation or submission.

The PCoCo for the submission of the request (step 1) or submission of the tender (step 2) cannot be replaced nor removed.

The PCoCo for an invitation can only be replaced (not removed) by the following persons:

•     LEAR/Account Administrator (if appointed for your organisation, see here);
•     the current PCoCo (after the replacement, this PCoCo cannot access any more the invitation);
  
•     any CoCo for the invitation.

To add/remove roles on a submission or invitation follow the steps below:

1	Under the Action dropdown on the right of the submission or the invitation, click on the Manage Roles option.
2	Click on Edit Roles  button.
3	To change the PCoCo of the invitation or add an additional CoCo for the submission or the invitation, click on Add Roles  button.
4	Add the details of the person replacing the current PCoCo or being added as an additional CoCo and click on the Save button.  If the PCoCo is replaced for an invitation, the person appointing the new  PCoCo will receive a confirmation message after clicking on the Save button.    When a new PCoCo is appointed for an invitation, the role and rights of the previous PCoCo are revoked (the previous PCoCo loses access) and immediately assigned to the new PCoCo. F&T Portal sends automatic notifications to the new PCoCo, the  previous PCoCo and all CoCo(s) on the invitation whose PCoCo has been replaced.
5	To delete a CoCo, click on the delete icon next to their name. The PCoCo for an invitation cannot be deleted, only replaced.

Subsequent round(s) for competitive procedures with negotiation and innovation partnerships

This section applies only to competitive procedures with negotiation and innovation partnerships with more than one negotiation round in step two.

If the contracting authority decides to invite you to submit a revised tender through eSubmission, the PCoCo/CoCo will receive a notification from the Funding & Tenders Portal.

To submit a revised tender, the PCoCo/CoCo  needs to acknowledge the receipt of the invitation. After acknowledging the receipt of the invitation the PCoCo/CoCo will be automatically redirected to eSubmission, where the submission of the revised tender can start by clicking on New submission. To learn how to submit a revised tender in the subsequent round(s), please refer to the Quick guide for negotiated procedures - Round 2 /subsequent round(s) . 

Manage notifications in Funding & Tenders Portal

My notifications

The PCoCo/CoCo can access this page by clicking on the bell icon at the top right of the screen after having logged in to the Funding & Tenders Portal.

On this page th e PCoCo/CoCo can find the following notifications:

• Submission Receipt (proof of submission of a tender)
• Withdrawal Receipt (proof of withdrawal of a tender)

In the Preferences tab under Manage all notifications (at the bottom of the notifications list) the PCoCo/CoCo can choose the frequency of Funding & Tenders Portal email notifications. Independently of your choice all the notifications are always available in the section My notifications.

My Formal Notification(s)

This section, available under Manage my area on the left, is currently not used for procurement procedures.