Florida

Vendor Bid System Manual (VBS)

For customers who post solicitation notices, single source notices, agency decisions or public meetings

2011

Version 1.0

November 2017

Table of Contents How to Use This Manual ............................................................................................................ 3

Vendor Bid System Basics .......................................................................................................... 3

What is VBS? ........................................................................................................................................ 3

Who uses VBS? ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Confidential Information ...................................................................................................................... 3

VBS Notices .......................................................................................................................................... 3

Creating New VBS Accounts .................................................................................................................. 4

Login .................................................................................................................................................... 5

Updating your Personal Profile ............................................................................................................. 5

Account Passwords ............................................................................................................................... 5

Password Reset .................................................................................................................................... 6

VBS Advertising Administrator ................................................................................................... 7

Navigating through VBS ........................................................................................................................ 7

Post New Advertisements..................................................................................................................... 7

Upload Advertisement Specifications ................................................................................................. 10

Search Open Advertisements.............................................................................................................. 11

Amend/Change Advertisements ......................................................................................................... 11

Advertisement Console Actions .......................................................................................................... 11

Edit an Advertisement ........................................................................................................................ 14

Delete an Advertisement: ................................................................................................................... 14

Hide Attachments .............................................................................................................................. 15

Notification Log .................................................................................................................................. 15

VBS Agency Administrator.........................................................................................................16

VBS Agency Administrator Responsibilities ......................................................................................... 16

Navigating through VBS ...................................................................................................................... 16

Assign Permissions ............................................................................................................................. 16

Expel Agency User Accounts ............................................................................................................... 17

Delete Agency User Accounts ............................................................................................................. 17

Add New Contact................................................................................................................................ 17

Update / Delete Contact ..................................................................................................................... 18

Purchasing Documents and Forms ...................................................................................................... 18

Notification Log .................................................................................................................................. 18

Reports............................................................................................................................................... 18

Glossary .... 20

VBS Manual 2

How to Use This Manual This manual includes three sections:

• Vendor Bid System (VBS) Basics provides basic Information about what VBS does and tips on how to navigate the system.

• VBS Advertisement Administrator (see glossary) provides information about posting, editing and deleting advertisements

• VBS Agency Administrator (see glossary) provides information about Agency Administrator responsibilities.

Vendor Bid System Basics What is VBS? VBS is the official online repository for all state advertisements. This includes some state agencies, universities, community colleges, and water management districts. Advertisements include but are not limited to grants, invitations to bid, invitations to negotiate, single source, agency decisions and public meetings.

VBS keeps Florida’s vendors informed about upcoming events. You can access VBS at http://vbs.dms.state.fl.us/vbs/main_menu.

VBS meets the requirements for electronic posting of decisions and intended decisions per Rule 60A-1.021, F.A.C.

Who uses VBS? • Customers who post solicitation notices, single source notices, agency decisions or public meetings. Throughout

this manual we refer to this group as “agency” or “agencies,” which includes State of Florida agencies, water management districts, universities and colleges, etc.

• Vendor customers who wish to watch for upcoming business opportunities.

Confidential Information Because VBS offers Public Access you must exclude confidential information from the system. This includes information in the title, description and attachments. Including such information in VBS may violate Chapter 119.071 F.S., as well as comparable federal regulations relating to confidentiality such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

VBS Notices The Vendor Bid System generates courtesy email notifications for vendors who choose to receive them. The commodity codes

vendors select in their MyFloridaMarketPlace (MFMP) Vendor Information Portal (VIP) accounts, drive the courtesy

notifications. The Vendor Bid System generates courtesy notifications when an agency posts any advertisement or alters a published event that has not yet closed or been canceled on VBS.

Vendors register for courtesy notifications in their MFMP VIP accounts. VBS sends the courtesy notifications to the sales/solicitations contact on the MFMP VIP account. Vendors’ firewall or other email settings could prevent delivery. We urge vendors to regularly check MFMP Sourcing and the Vendor Bid System for advertisements.

VBS Manual 3

Creating New VBS Accounts You need access to VBS if you communicate with vendors on any of the following:

• Agency Decisions

• Grant Opportunities

• Informational Notices

• Invitations to Bid

• Invitations to Negotiate

• Public Meeting Notices

• Requests for Information

• Single Source Decisions

For VBS access, create an account and then contact your VBS agency system administrator to set your permissions. The MFMP customer service desk (CSD) can advise you who is your agency system administrator. BuyerHelp@MyFloridaMarketPlace.com or 866 352-3776.

To create a VBS account visit: http://myflorida.com/apps/vbs/vbs_www.main_menu.

VBS Manual 4

Tip: Remember your VBS username and password are case sensitive.

• Click the Login link in the upper right corner of the blue box.

• Click Register

• Enter the data for each field; all fields are required. Information before the @ symbol in your email address becomes your login after VBS validates your email. Your username is case sensitive, so note how you enter information into this field.

• Make sure to check the Validate email box next to your email address.

• Click Save Changes

• Contact your VBS Agency System Administrator to update your permissions to Advertisement Administrator.

• For your account registration to be complete, you must complete the email validation step.

— New customers click on the “Validate your email” link beside your login name; existing customers click “Change Profile.” This validation request link generates an email. Follow the steps in the email to validate your account.

When you click Save Changes, you will receive this message:

Account “DoeJ” created

Your agency VBS Agency System Administrator must assign permissions to your account soon to protect it from the automatic month-end purge. If that happens, you need to register again. For retention in VBS, accounts must have permissions above “User.”

The system automatically purges all accounts without permissions assigned to them on a monthly basis.

Login Log into VBS at http://myflorida.com/apps/vbs/vbs_www.main_menu.

Updating your Personal Profile Your VBS personal profile contains information like your name, email address, organization, etc. In order for the Agency Administrator to communicate effectively to all Advertisement Administrators, keep your profile updated if information changes.

To update your profile:

Account Passwords VBS users manage and reset their own passwords. In addition, passwords must meet three of the four following state-issued criteria per Rule 71A, F.A.C.:

• Minimum of eight characters and a maximum of 15 characters

• Include at least one special character or digit

• Include one capital letter

• Include one lowercase letter

Passwords expire every 90 days.

To change your password:

VBS Manual 5

• Log into VBS

• Click on your user name in the top menu bar; then the blue box expands to show your account details and more options

• Click Change Password

• Enter your new password then confirm it.

• Click Save Changes

• Log into VBS

• Click on your User ID in the top menu bar; then the blue box expands to show your account details and more options

• Click Change Profile

• Update the information as needed

• Click Save Changes

• You will receive a message that your account has been updated

• Click the Login link in the upper right corner of the blue box.

• Enter your User ID and password. (User ID will be your email address exactly as it was entered, the information before the @symbol.)

Password Reset You can reset your password if you forget it, without help from your Agency Administrator.

VBS Manual 6

Tip: Contact your VBS Agency Administrator for assistance on updating permissions in VBS. If you are unsure of who is your VBS Agency Administrator, the MFMP CSD can direct you to the appropriate person. BuyerHelp@MyFloridaMarketPlace.com or (866) 352-3776

Step 1

• Click Login

• Click Reset Password

• Enter the email address you used to register

Step 2

• Open the email you receive from VBS

• Click the Reset Password link

• Enter your new password

• Click Save Changes

You will receive a message, “Password Changed”

• Click “Log in now”

If the reset password link does not work, click the alternate link and enter the security key from the email. Proceed as above.

VBS Advertising Administrator Most accounts in VBS are for the Advertising Administrator. VBS Advertisement Administrators have permission to post advertisements, addendums to advertisements, agency decisions, meeting notices, and close, cancel or delete advertisements as appropriate.

Navigating through VBS From the VBS Main Menu or Home Page you can:

• Post New Advertisements

• Search Advertisements you previously posted

• Search Advertisements – Division of Real Estate only (to view only Division of Real Estate procurements)

Post New Advertisements Rule 60A-1.021requires agencies to electronically post advertisements to notify vendors of potential opportunities. An advertisement includes agency decisions and meeting notices as well as original solicitation postings.

To post a new advertisement in VBS:

VBS Manual 7

Step 1

• Log in to VBS

• Click “New Advertisements”

• Select the Contact Person from the dropdown. The “Contact Person” is the individual who facilitates and/or takes questions about the advertisement. Enter information in VBS like phone number, address, and email address for the Contact Person.

— If the Contact Person for the advertisement is not set up in VBS, select “New Contact Person” next to the drop down and add the requested information (phone, address, email, etc.)

• Enter Original Advertisement (if applicable).

— This field is not required.

— If this is a New Advertisement, leave blank

— If this is an Intent to Award or a Notice you need to link back to another existing VBS advertisement, type, copy or paste the original Advertisement number exactly (including spaces) as it appeared for the initial advertisement.

• Enter the Advertisement Number.

• Select the Advertisement type:

— Agency Decision

— Grant Opportunity

— Informational Notice

— Invitation to Bid

— Invitation to Negotiate

— Public Meeting Notice

— Request for Information

— Single Source

VBS Manual 8

• This determines some of the generated language on the Advertisement Detail page. All

Advertisements require at least 24 hours between the Begin and End dates.

— Agency decisions and Single Source advertisements do not generate emails to vendors signed up for notification.

• Enter the Advertisement Title (maximum of 100 characters allowed).

• Enter the Advertisement Description. This field size is unlimited but you may want to limit the description to a simple description of the opportunity.

Step 2

• Enter the Begin Date (mm/dd/yyyy). You can enter the date manually or use the calendar icon to select the appropriate date. This is the date that determines when the Advertisement becomes public. You can use the current day or any time in the future.

— The default date is today’s date.

If you use a future date, only you, the Advertisement Administrator, will be able to see, edit and delete the Advertisement, which appears in red font in the search results.

• Enter the End Date and Time (mm/dd/yyyy hh:mmPM). This is the date you want VBS to remove your advertisement from public view, and move it to “Closed” status.

The “Begin and End Date and Time” are for internal records and protest timetables. List them on the Advertisement Request / PUR Form.

Remember, if you choose today’s date for your “Begin Date,” the advertisement displays immediately. If you choose a future date, the advertisement appears at midnight that day, and disappears at midnight on the “End Date.”

• Enter the Response Opening Date and Time (mm/dd/yyyy hh:mmPM).

This selection indicates when responses are due and is optional for Single Source and Agency Decisions but required for all other postings.

This adds a line of text to the Advertisement Detail stating: “Solicitation will be open on (Date) at (Time).”

• Enter the Address where vendors should send solicitation responses.

Tip: The advertisement must specify a group code other than 000 and have at least one commodity code at all times.

Tip: The end time does not determine what time of day this Advertisement is removed. If the bid closes at

2 p.m., it remains visible until midnight.

Tip: To ensure that your advertisement is not posted before you are ready to release it, use a ‘future date’ for your initial posting. This allows you to easily make corrections or changes before the advertisement becomes public. Once your advertisement is error free, update the date to the day you want it available to the public.

Tip: To Spell / Grammar check, write your description in Word; then copy and paste into VBS.

VBS Manual 9

Step 3

• Enter the Commodity Class & Group Code. The commodity code is the numeric description of the good or service you are soliciting. As a courtesy, all vendors registered with these commodity codes will receive notification based on the type of advertisement posted.

• Place a check beside the “Include Commodity Description” if you want commodity code description to display in your advertisement.

• To add multiple commodity codes:

— Check the box under the Commodity Code field.

— Click on Save Advertisement.

— This takes you to a second page where you enter additional codes. You can use an unlimited number of unique codes.

— To continue adding commodity codes, check the Additional Commodities box.

— When you are finished, click Save Commodities.

Step 4

• VBS offers four standard attachments for your advertisement. Place a check beside the option you want to include:

— Americans with Disablities Act

— Minority Business Enterprise Encouraged

— Pre Solicitation Conference

— Rights to Reject

Step 5

• Click ‘Save Advertisement.” You will see a red “Error” message if the system identified any error in the above information. If you receive this, click the back button and correct the errors. When you click ‘Save Advertisement’ again and you corrected all errors, you will receive an “Advertisement was Successfully Saved” message.

VBS navigates you to the “Upload Bid Specifications” page.

Upload Advertisement Specifications You can add any document as an attachment to your advertisement; however, you must save the document as a PDF file. VBS accepts only PDF documents; scanned PDF documents may not be ADA-compliant. Anything uploaded and published through the VBS is considered public record.

If the document includes spelling or formatting errors, you need to correct them before your advertisement is live. After it is live, you need to issue a new version of the advertisement to make corrections.

Advertisement postings set to begin today appear immediately. The VBS system refreshes at night; documents set to come off posting disappear at midnight of their “End Date.” You can make changes to your advertisement by creating a new version.

This process allows you to upload all supporting details for the advertisement, which may include bid timelines, product specifications or terms of the desired purchase and any subsequent addendums.

VBS Manual 10

• Use the Browse button to find the PDF document you would like to attach to your advertisement.

— Maximum of 4MB file size per attachment is supported.

• The File Description field is the name of the uploaded PDF file.

— Select a short descriptive term or phrase to help the vendor understand what is in the document (e.g., Addendum No 1).

— You can use special characters in this field since it is not the actual document path name.

• In the Document Type dropdown field, select the type of document you are uploading: a complete

file, an amendment or a replacement page.

• Click on “Upload Bid Specs” once you completed the above information. Allow a moment to send the PDF document to the web.

— A successful upload results in the message, “Bid specification success uploaded!

— To upload additional documents, follow the above process.

— If there is an error uploading the document, a message will direct you to fix it.

• Once you uploaded all your documents, select “Cancel/Finish.”

If you do not wish to publish an Addendum or Amendment document, but still need changes made to the advertisement detail itself, you can version the advertisement and hit “Cancel” when it reaches the upload page.

Tip: To load your document file more efficiently, save it to your desktop with a file name containing less than 25 letters/numbers.

Search Open Advertisements This option allows the general public, and Agency and Advertisement Administrators to search for advertisements.

You can leave all criteria blank to view all advertisements or enter filters to narrow your search parameters.

Because agencies generally have a few dozen advertisements at the very most, use the Agency dropdown field to choose the appropriate agency before clicking “Search Advertisements” to net the best results.

Amend/Change Advertisements There may be times where you find you need to make changes or amendments to existing Advertisements. You can change/ amend only open/active advertisements.

• Click “Search Advertisements” to find the appropriate solicitation.

• On the Search Results page, you can see a list of advertisements that are still open based on your search parameters (when the solicitation reaches its end date, it automatically shifts to the “Closed Bids” section of the VBS and will no longer appear on this list).

• VBS automatically sorts advertisements by “Ad Type,” or you can search the Web page text itself for key words by clicking “Ctrl+F” and using a Web browser popup window.

• Results returned with red text in the Title field are either starting today or have a future begin date.

• Click on the advertisement number you wish to modify, and if you have the appropriate administrator permissions, VBS takes you to the Advertisement Console page with options including ‘Edit,’ ‘Cancel’ and ‘Delete’.

There is not a confirmation page; however, you can discard the version if you do not need to make any changes or selected the wrong advertisement by mistake.

Advertisement Console Actions The Advertisement Console is located at the top of the Advertisement page and will be visible / accessible only to Advertisement Administrators for their postings and Agency Administrators for their agencies.

This panel allows you to:

• Edit (Amend): Edit or post an amendment to this advertisement. If you select this option, you will automatically create a new version of the advertisement.

VBS Manual 11

• Click “Search Advertisements”

• Enter the information by which you wish to filter your search (advertisement type, agency, etc.)

• Click “Search”

If the solicitation you are looking for has already closed and been archived, use the Search by Date function in addition to the Agency dropdown. By putting a range of dates in these fields, the VBS system returns only posted items that closed during that time period.

You can also Search by Fiscal Year using the drop down marked: “Include Closed Bids in Search Results by.” Enter the fiscal year or the date parameters of your search.

Tip: Searching by specific advertisement number is the least reliable method. The VBS system recognizes only advertisement numbers exactly as they appear on the advertisements (including spaces and punctuation).

— The bottom of the advertisement description includes any text from the Explanation box, and you have a chance to edit the description before saving your changes.

— The day after your chosen Begin Date, VBS generates email notifications to vendors.

• Delete (Close): For published advertisements, Delete sets the end date to yesterday and moves the advertisement to the Closed Bids section. This final saved version documents for the public record exactly when the advertisement was forced to close.

— VBS deletes unpublished advertisements and reuses those advertisement numbers.

— VBS does not send notifications regarding this update.

• Mark as Canceled: Marking an advertisement as ‘Canceled’ locks the solicitation from any further edits, but keeps the publication visible to the public until the originally designated ‘End Date.’ Canceling creates a final version of the advertisement, and documents for the public record exactly when the advertisement was canceled.

— Use this option only if you want to remove the advertisement from the public view right away.

— VBS does not send notifications regarding this update.

• Attached Documents: Use this to remove an attachment from public view, or view previous published versions.

• Email Log: Shows the number of vendors who received email notifications. Click the link to view this vendor list.

For reference, VBS lists below the console the most current published advertisement information.

The Advertisement detail lists any document attachments included with the advertisement.

If your advertisement is available to the public, attempting to edit the posting prompts this message.

“This change has been made in order to remove the ad from public view while you edit, upload and review. When the advertisement is complete and passes your review, you may edit any dates back to their original values: Begin Date was ##### and is now ####.”

Complete your changes, upload any additional files and review the advertisement before you change the Begin Date. The entire advertisement remains hidden from public view while you work.

•

• When you are satisfied with the new version, set the Begin Date to its original value or to today’s date to immediately publish it. If you do not edit the Begin Date, the advertisement remains hidden until the new Begin Date is reached.

Processing your Edit:

• Clicking the confirmation message you receive takes you to the Advertisement Information page, which shows all the text and choices you made on the advertisement.

• You can edit and change anything/everything except removing the Class and Group codes you included as part of the initial posting. (You can add more or delete extra codes if needed – but at least one set of Class and Group codes must remain associated with the advertisement.)

VBS Manual 12

Tip: You may wish to set a future begin date temporarily to allow yourself to upload any files and review your work.

Description Update:

• If you added any notes or justifications on the Edit Explanation box, VBS appends them on the Description field.

• You can edit the text here.

• When you finish making your changes to this page, click ‘Save Advertisement.’

If the VBS system does not generate an error, you can edit one final time to correct your Begin Date to be appropriate for your advertisement.

Edit Existing Attachments:

• When you edit an existing advertisement version, VBS removes any files already attached to that version when you upload the first file.

For reference, VBS lists all files attached to this advertisement, and the field titled “Disposition” tells you how your next upload will affect them:

• If the file is “Locked,” it is on a prior version and any operation on this page cannot affect it.

• If it is “Will be deleted,” VBS removes the file if you upload even one new file on this page.

• If it is “Uploaded,” it is unaffected by any operation on this page.

— If a file’s disposition is “Uploaded” and the Begin Date is set to a future date, you can change it to “Will be deleted.” Use the Cancel/Finished button and edit the advertisement version again.

Save Advertisement:

• Once you are finished, either click ‘Upload Bid Specs’ or ‘Cancel/Finished’ if you don’t want to save your changes.

VBS Manual 13

Tip: Agency decisions and single source award announcements do not generate email notifications.

Tip: “Will be deleted” appears only for a PDF attachment to a version with a future Begin Date. It has not been published and you do not have to retain it. Once a version reaches its Begin Date, its PDF files are visible. You can hide but not delete them, and VBS retains them as part of the advertisement history.

Tip: You can edit an existing advertisement version only while it has a future Begin Date.

Edit an Advertisement Edit an advertisement to make changes to the existing advertisement and/or to add additional documentation.

Delete an Advertisement: Sometimes you may be required to delete an advertisement that someone created in error. If someone created the advertisement in error and did not publish, when you delete it, VBS does not keep a copy.

If you delete it after it is published, VBS keeps a copy of the advertisement in the closed advertisement section.

VBS Manual 14

Tip: For unpublished advertisements, Deleting permanently removes your advertisement from the system. You

will then be able to use the same bid number again.

Tip: It is possible to immediately remove an advertisement from the Open section and place it in the Closed

bids section using the VBS Delete function.

Step 1

• Search for the Advertisement to update

• Select Edit on the Advertisement Console

• Enter an Explanation / Note for Advertisement Description

• Click “Save”

Step 2

VBS asks you to confirm that you want to generate updates (edits create a new version).

If yes:

• Click “Ok”

• Update description as needed

• Update information as needed

• Select “Save Advertisement”

Step 3

• Upload any new attachments from the “Upload Bid Specifications” page

• Enter a description of the file

• Select the Document Type

• Click on Upload Bid Specs

• Click Cancel / Finish

Hide Attachments If you create an advertisement and attach an incorrect document, you can hide the attachment from public view. VBS maintains the document but it is not visible.

Notification Log Notification Log displays the vendors that VBS notified and the date VBS generated the notification. At any time during an advertisement you can view the Notification Log to see the distributed notifications.

VBS Manual 15

• Locate and open the Advertisement

• The email log is at the top of the Advertisement Console on the right and displays the total number of notifications sent.

• Click on the number. This screen lists the registered vendors to which VBS sent email notifications for the particular advertisement. Keep in mind; we will not be able to determine if a vendor’s firewall prevented the delivery of the notification. MFMP / VIP sends these notifications as a courtesy. Vendors’ firewall or other email settings they may have in place could prevent delivery. We urge vendors to regularly check Sourcing 3.0 and the Vendor Bid System for advertisements.

• Login to VBS and choose Search Advertisements.

• Choose your agency from the dropdown box.

• Click Initiate Search at the bottom of the screen. This brings up all open advertisements for your agency.

• Click the advertisement number with the attachment(s) you need to hide.

• In your Advertisement Console under Attached Documents, you will see a listing of all documents currently attached to this advertisement. To hide an attachment, uncheck the ‘Visible’ checkbox. You can recheck this box later to make this file visible again.

• Click Save to save your changes. With “Visible” unchecked, the system hides attachments from public view.

Tip: To delete advertisements you need the Advertisement Administrator permission. If you do not have the appropriate permission, contact your VBS Agency Administrator.

• Login to VBS and choose Search Advertisements.

• Choose your agency from the dropdown box.

• Click Initiate Search at the bottom of the screen. This brings up all open advertisements for your agency.

• Click the advertisement number to edit.

• In the Advertisement Console, click Delete. To comment on what you are deleting, use the Explanation Box. VBS adds this text to the top of your Advertisement Description and it is visible to the public (in the “Closed” section).

• Click Save to save your changes. This forces any published advertisement to close or permanently deletes any unpublished advertisement.

Advertisement Administrators can hide attachments to their advertisements from public view. If you attached an incorrect file, hide it through your Advertisement Console.

VBS Agency Administrator VBS Agency Administrator Responsibilities The Department of Management Services (DMS) assigns VBS Agency Administration responsibility to individual agencies. Each agency specifies which personnel need VBS access. A VBS Agency Administrator assigns the appropriate permission level for customers, maintains their accounts and expels (removes) their accounts from VBS when they leave the agency. VBS Agency Administrators are the liaisons between DMS and agency customers for VBS information.

The VBS Agency Administrator assumes all permissions of the Advertisement Administrator, which include posting advertisements, addendums to advertisements and closing, cancelling or deleting advertisements as appropriate. In addition, they add contacts, maintain user accounts and create user reports.

Navigating through VBS The VBS Agency Administrator can search for advertisements and:

• Access the VBS User Guide

• Assign permissions to VBS Users

• Access the PUR 1000 and PUR 1001 Forms as well as link to the State Purchasing website

• Add a new contact for an Advertisement

• Update an existing contact

• Delete an existing contact

• Run reports

• Access the email notification logs

• Search Advertisements that have already been posted

Assign Permissions VBS Agency Administrators should grant VBS access/permissions only to agency customers who post advertisements in their

daily work.

VBS Manual 16

Step 1

• Click on your name in the blue login box

• Click on Manage users

• Enter criteria such as the first name

• Scroll down to “How shall we show what we find?”

• In Sort, select “Customer Name”

• In Continue to, select “Manage Security for Selected Accounts”

• Click Search

• Locate customer profile to update

• Select Edit

• Select your organization, in most cases this will be State Agency-Florida or Non-Profit

• Ensure the correct State Agency populated in the Organization field.

Expel Agency User Accounts When a customer leaves an agency, the VBS Agency Administrator can Expel (remove) the customer account from VBS. This removes the PUI and changes the permissions to user. At the end of the month if another VBS Agency Administrator has not assigned a new PUI and updated the customer’s permissions, VBS purges the customer account from the system.

VBS Agency Administrators must review accounts routinely to verify their agency customers still need access to VBS. Use the All Agency Users report available under “Manage Users.”

Delete Agency User Accounts If you need a customer account deleted from VBS immediately, contact the CSD at BuyerHelp@dms.MyFlorida.com or (866) 352-3776. Your message to the CSD must clearly state that your request is urgent. In your email to the CSD, include the customer name and agency name. If the request is not urgent, follow the Expel process.

Add New Contact Add a new contact for an advertisement:

VBS Manual 17

• Log in to VBS

• Click “New Contact”

• Enter the information for your new contact

• Click “Save Contact”

• Repeat this process to enter all new contacts

Tip: VBS does not require a login for public access, which allows you to search open advertisements or purchase

orders.

Step 2

Applications – allows you to select the permission you wish to grant to the customer.

• Update MarketView access, if applicable

• Update the permissions for VBS

— Non-user, public access only (general access the public has when they log in)

— Electronic Notification Administrator (No longer applicable)

— Advertisement Administrator (allows customers to post, edit, delete and/or cancel)

— Group Administrator (No longer applicable)

— Department Agency/Administrator (administers agency VBS user accounts as well as all permissions of the Advertisement Administrator)

— VBS Administrator (DMS Application Administrator)

Update / Delete Contact Update / Delete contact person information for an advertisement.

Purchasing Documents and Forms The Purchasing Documents and Forms option links you to the State Purchasing website where you can access the PUR 1000 and PUR 1001 forms to add them to your advertisement as needed. This Web page also lists other resources relevant to the solicitation and contract process.

Notification Log The Notification Log allows VBS Agency Administrators to view the email notification log.

• Search the log for the notification history for a particular vendor.

• VBS Advertisement Administrators can view the Notification Log under the Advertisement console.

Reports VBS Agency Administrators can customize reports. You can create ad hoc reports based on any combination of the data elements available under Manage Users. Leave search criteria blank and options unselected to include all users, or enter your criteria for focused results. To Update or Expel a customer’s account, select “Manage Security for Selected Accounts” as a search parameter.

VBS Manual 18

Step 1

• Log in

• Expand your Account Details box by clicking on your name

• Select the application - VBS or MarketView

• Select Security Level

— MarketView Security - What permission level in MarketView

— VBS Security - This is the permission level users have in VBS

• Select your Agency - This defaults to the agency administrator’s PUI

• Select the following optional fields as desired:

— Create dates

— Modify dates

— Email - if verified or not

— Password - if current or expired

Tip: If you version an advertisement after you delete the contact reference, you will see an error message while

VBS attempts to load the information. You can then update the contact.

• Click “Update Contact” or “Delete Contact”

• Enter the name of the Contact to update/delete

• Click Update/Delete

• Update the information as needed or if deleting, the contact name and phone number is displayed for verification

VBS Manual 19

Step 2

Next, determine how you want the report to sort. The options are:

• User ID

• Customer Name

• Security Level

• Agency

• Create date

• Update (modify) date

Step 3 Now select how you want to display the report:

• Manage Security for Selected Accounts – Recommended

• Display Summary Report

• Display Detailed Report

• Download Summary Report as Excel Spreadsheet

• Download Detailed Report as Excel Spreadsheet

Downloading the report as an Excel spreadsheet allows you to save the report for future reference or to share with others as applicable.

VBS Glossary

VBS Manual 20

Advertisement – An electronic copy of a competitive solicitation (Invitation To Bid, Request For Proposal or Invitation To Negotiate), Single Source, or Informational notice that is posted on VBS, per Rule 60A-1.021, F.A.C.

Contact Person – The individual who facilitates and/or takes questions about the advertisement. Expel – To remove the PUI and all permissions from a customer’s account. The account is deleted in 30 days if another agency/entity does not assign a PUI or permissions higher than ‘User.’ (Use this when a VBS customer leaves your agency.) Notification Log – Displays the vendors that VBS notified of an advertisement that matched their commodity codes with the date VBS generated the notification.

PUI–Purchasing Unit Identifier – An assigned number based on the agency selected. MarketView – Public portal to view all State of Florida purchase orders, search for commodity codes, and search for vendors. VBS Advertisement Administrator – The VBS Advertisement Administrators can post advertisements, addendums to advertisements, agency decisions, meeting notices, and close, cancel, or delete advertisements as appropriate. VBS Agency Administrator – The agency customer that assigns permissions and maintains customer accounts for the agency. It is common for agencies to have more than one VBS Agency Administrator for redundancy. Vendor Bid System (VBS) – An application where state agencies, community colleges, universities, and water management districts post solicitations and single source purchases per Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.) requirements.

VBS Manual 21