demandstar 2020 - users’ guide...upgrading your demandstar account is one of the easiest ways to...

The DemandStar Corporation

February 2020 - All Rights Reserved www.network.demandstar.com

DemandStar 2020 - Users’ Guide

http://www.network.demandstar.com/



Table of Contents

I. Welcome to DemandStar 2020 ........................................................................................................ 3

II. Account Management ..................................................................................................................... 4

a. Adding Users ................................................................................................................................ 4

b. Upgrading your Subscription ........................................................................................................ 4

c. Managing Certifications ............................................................................................................... 5

d. Self Declarations .......................................................................................................................... 7

III. Using DemandStar ....................................................................................................................... 8

a. Adding Commodity Codes to your DemandStar Account .............................................................. 8

b. Searching for bids ...................................................................................................................... 12

a. Tips and Tricks ........................................................................................................................... 15

6. E-Bidding ....................................................................................................................................... 17

8. Getting Help .................................................................................................................................. 22

a. Phone Support: (206) 940-0305 ................................................................................................. 22

b. Help Desk: [email protected] ...................................................................................... 22




I. Welcome to DemandStar 2020

Welcome to DemandStar! We are pleased to have you as a valued supplier on the DemandStar network

and are excited about our new look and feel! This is the same DemandStar you’ve come to love - the

same workflow, but with more bells and whistles and a user interface designed to facilitate better

communication on bids and deliver better (and more) opportunities directly into your hands.




II. Account Management

Very little has changed with how DemandStar indexes your account. Your account settings will now

appear under your name in the upper right-hand corner once you log-in. Here are some specific

instructions on common issues:

a. Adding Users

Adding users is much more intuitive with DemandStar 2020 . Simply follow these steps:

1. Login to your account

2. Scroll over the upper right-hand corner, click on the little down arrow next to your name

3. Click on Account

4. Across the top you will see four tabs, click on “User Accounts”

5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click the big teal button that says “Add User”

6. Fill-in the requested information

7. Scroll to the bottom

8. Toggle on the switch to “Receive notifications”

9. Click “save changes”

10. User-name now appears under “User Accounts”.

b. Upgrading your Subscription

Upgrading your DemandStar account is one of the easiest ways to get in front of more bids –

and more opportunities on the DemandStar network. Here’s how to upgrade:

1. Log-in and click on your name in the upper right-hand corner




2. Click on Subscriptions

3. Click on Renew/Upgrade and follow the steps to add agencies to your account. You can

choose the State you like and drill down to add counties.

c. Managing Certifications

The improvements made in DemandStar 2020 allow you to much more easily manage your

certifications across multiple agencies! To manage your certifications across different agencies:

1. Log-in to your DemandStar account

2. Click on your name in the upper right hand corner

3. Click on “Account” – This screen appears:




4. Click on the tab for Certifications

Here you will see a list of agencies that government agencies use to track suppliers that

meet specific certification or qualification criteria. These will all be listed here and you can

apply for them here, by clicking on “Apply”

5. Simply click on Apply and follow the prompts.




d. Self Declarations

You are encouraged to self-declare any of the attributes that apply to your business. This helps

suppliers find vendors that help them meet their diversity goals. It is important that you have

these attributes identified when you are responding to bids on the DemandStar network. Here

are the steps.

1. Log-in to your DemandStar account.

2. Click on your name in the upper right-hand corner

3. Click on “Account”

4. Across the top, click on the tab for “Self Declarations”

5. Click the attributes that apply and click “Save Changes”




III. Using DemandStar

a. Adding Commodity Codes to your DemandStar Account

Commodity codes are standard classification codes for products and services used

by procurement officers. All bids on DemandStar are classified into commodity

codes. DemandStar uses these codes to send notices to suppliers who have elected

to receive bids for these products and services. So having as many commodity codes

- and the correct ones on your account – is really important.

Here is how you add Commodity Codes to your DemandStar account.

1. Log in to your DemandStar account.

2. Click on the drop-down menu below your user name in the upper right corner and select “Commodity Codes”.




3. Click on “Edit”, then Use single words in the search field, for example: “hose” (Tip: Think of this like you would a keyword search in Google®)




4. Select the codes that you want to add by checking the boxes. They will appear in the top of the box to the right under “Just Added”.




5. When you have finished selecting codes click on “Submit”.

6. You’ll see that the codes have been updated. Repeat this process for other single words in the search field.




b. Searching for bids

We recommend using the following steps to create a broad search in DemandStar. This will

allow you to “see” how our government partners classify and name the types of projects you are

most interested in.

After doing a few broad searches, you may want to try using the additional filters beyond these

mentioned below:

1. Log In

2. Once your logged in and on your Dashboard Homepage - Click on “Bids” at

the top of the screen

1.




3. On the left side of the screen use the filter “Show bids” and select “All bids in the

system” from the drop-down options

2.

4. On the left side of the screen use the filter “Bid Name” to enter in a keyword and click

“Search”

3.




5. Review your results

4.




a. Tips and Tricks

Research Previous Awards for Pricing Qualified Suppliers

5. Know your Competition

Build Templates

Only Bid on What You Can Deliver

Start Small




6. Mix it Up

7. Know the Rules

Build on your Successes

Look for Trigger Events

8. Be Patient




6. E-Bidding

Responding to an Electronic Bid on the DemandStar network.

Many governments are moving toward requiring bid responses electronically. Here are the steps

to respond to a bid Electronically.

Step 1: Click on the solicitation name.

TIP:

Occasionally, a government partner will require the word “EBID” in the Bid ID, and sometimes

not. Be sure to review the requirements to make sure you respond appropriately.




Step 2: Once you are in the bid solicitation, you will see the Bid Details page, which is

standard for all solicitations:

When you are ready to submit your bid, click on

“Submit E-Bid Proposal”.




Step 3: Enter information requested page-by-page and you can see what will come next via

the menu bar on the left under “E-Bid Progress”.

If there is not a

total bid amount in

your submission,

please put “0”

Example: a request

for qualifications

opportunity may

not require a bid

amount so vendors

will input “0”

under “Bid

Amount”




Step 4: After you click NEXT on the Contact Information page, you will be directed to enter the

documents required. In this example, they only ask for one document, however, in others, they

may ask for multiple documents that each need to uploaded separately.




Tip:

There is a place for you to add

“Supplemental”, i.e. non-

required, documents.




Step 5: Review Your E-Bid Response, and if everything is correct, then press “Submit Response”.

You are done! And the government to which you’ve submitted this will download your responses and

documents and see the day and time upon which you submitted your proposal.

8. Getting Help

DemandStar has amazing customer support available from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Daily (9 a.m.

to 9 p.m. Eastern). If you ever have an issue, give us a call at (206) 940-0305 and we will walk

you through the product and help you. You can also email us ([email protected]) and

we will respond to your request in the order it is received. Note that almost all DemandStar

support tickets are resolved within 4 hours.

a. Phone Support: (206) 940-0305

b. Help Desk: [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

demandstar 2020 - users’ guide...upgrading your demandstar account is one of the easiest ways to...

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