Manage your tenders

Your buyer dashboard can be found by clicking on the ‘Buyer’ drop-down tab in the top-right corner. Your interface features a sidebar to the left hand side. Listed within that sidebar, you’ll see:

Notifications:

Here you can find updates related to your procurement activities, such as confirmations of opportunities or notices published on Cimple. You’ll also see when a supplier applies to one of your opportunities or submits clarification questions. Any new notifications will be marked with a red dot –so you don’t miss out on anything that requires your attention! 

Live:

Any actively running procurements that your organisation has created can be found here. 

Awarded:

If you’ve already awarded a procurement to a successful supplier, you’ll be able to review the details of those procurements here.

Cancelled:

If your organisation has cancelled any of the notices or procurements previously published, you can find those here. 

Closed:

If you've run a procurement and the deadline date has now passed, you'll find those opportunities here. Your next step is to shortlist or award a supplier for this opportunity — don't forget! If you need to extend a deadline after closing (for example, to accept a late submission request), you can now do this too. You can also send clarification questions to suppliers after closing, right up until you make an award decision — see below.

How to update dates on a closed procurement

Previously, dates could only be edited while a procurement was live. If you receive a late submission request, you can now extend the deadline after a procurement has closed:

1. Navigate to your dashboard by clicking Buyers along the top-navigation bar and then click 'Buyer dashboard'

2. Select 'Closed' from the left-hand sidebar

3. Click 'View Details' against the closed procurement you want to update

4. At the bottom of the left-hand side panel, select 'Update Dates' — this takes you straight to the dates page

5. Update the clarification deadline, submission deadline, and any other relevant dates, then click 'Publish Update'

6. Once confirmed, this sends an email notification to suppliers letting them know the deadline has been extended, so they can still submit if needed

Once published, the procurement moves back to Live and behaves as normal from there.

Please note: This is currently available only for Mini-Competition, Quick Quote and Direct Award Procurements.

Drafts:

Whether it’s a notice or a procurement, all work in progress can be saved as a draft and revisited later. You’ll find all your saved drafts conveniently stored in this section. You can now also delete drafts you no longer need to keep your dashboard tidy.

How to delete a draft

1. Navigate to your dashboard by clicking Buyers along the top-navigation bar and then click 'Buyer dashboard'

2. Select 'Drafts' from the left-hand sidebar

3. Next to 'Edit Draft', you'll now see a 'Delete Draft' button

4. Click 'Delete Draft' to permanently remove it from your dashboard

Create opportunity:

By clicking on this button, you’ll be able to create a new opportunity. Jump to our ‘Create an opportunity’ chapter in the Help Centre to find out more about the different kinds of notices you’re able to publish.

Search Cimple:

By clicking 'Search' on the top right will take you back to our main search bar. Here you can search for suppliers, organisations, frameworks, existing tenders – anything, basically. 

Occasionally there might be a need to upload extra documents or give additional information on a particular tender. Procurement updates now have their own section on the opportunity, separate from Clarification questions, so they're easier to find.

1. Log in to Cimple 

2. Navigate to your dashboard by clicking Buyers along the top-navigation bar and then click on 'Buyer dashboard'

3. Select 'Live' from the competitions list in the left-hand sidebar

4. Find the opportunity you're looking for, and click 'View details'

5. Open the 'Procurement updates' section

6. You'll see a box for you to type an update, and below that box, a section where you can upload documents

7. Add your extra information and click 'Post update' just underneath the upload box

8. Your documents and extra info will automatically be shared with all suppliers who have been selected or already applied for the opportunity

Pro Tip: Keep an eye on your notifications for the opportunity—suppliers may have follow-up questions for you to answer!

For Competitive Flexible Procedure (CFP):

Clarification questions get a little more exciting here! Instead of a single section for the whole procurement, you’ll find clarification questions split across each stage of the process.

This means you get a chance to provide updates or answer supplier questions that are specific to each tender stage. 

You can now reach out to suppliers directly, whether the procurement is still live or has already closed. This is useful if you need to clarify something in a submission before making an award decision.

1. Log in to Cimple

2. Navigate to your dashboard by clicking Buyers along the top-navigation bar and then click 'Buyer dashboard'

3. Select 'Live' or 'Closed' from the left-hand sidebar, then click 'View Details' on the relevant procurement

4. Open the 'Clarification questions' accordion

5. Under 'Select applicant(s) who should receive this question', choose one or more suppliers. You can select multiple suppliers to send the same question to all of them at once

6. Type your question, and attach any supporting documents if needed

7. Click 'Issue clarification request'

You can send clarifications at any point up until the procurement is awarded. Once awarded, all clarification threads become read-only for both you and suppliers, so you'll always have a full record of what was discussed.

Once you’ve published a procurement, you may occasionally receive emails notifying you that a supplier has asked a question about it, or you’ll see a notification in your buyer dashboard with a red dot next to the notification section on the top left corner. Clarification questions to help suppliers to better understand what you need from the project or prospective partner. 

1. Log in to Cimple

2. Navigate to your dashboard by clicking 'Buyers' along the top-navigation bar and then click on 'Buyer dashboard'

3. You’ll notice a red dot next to your ‘Notifications’ at the top of your right-hand side bar

4. Click on this section and you should see a notification telling you that a supplier has submitted a clarification question

5. Click into where it says ‘You can view this here’ and you’ll be taken directly to that particular procurement

6. Alternatively, you can click on ‘View procurement’ in the email notification you received about the clarification question. This will redirect you to the relevant procurement within your buyer dashboard

7. Next, you’ll be able to ‘Clarification Questions’ section on the left hand side, expanding that you’ll be able to see the supplier question

8. You’ll then find a box under ‘Add Response’ in which you can type an answer

9. When you’re done, you can choose to post your answer directly to the supplier, or make your response publicly viewable to all. Making your response publicly viewable may be useful if you think other suppliers might have the same questions

10. Finally click 'Submit answer' when you're done, and the supplier will be notified that you've answered their question

You can respond to a supplier's question at any point up until award, even after the procurement has closed. Once the procurement is awarded, all clarification threads move to read-only, so you can still refer back to the full conversation history but can no longer send or receive new messages.