Clarifications and Communications (FAQ)

You can view all clarification questions and answers directly within the opportunity.

For most opportunities

1. Select View details against the opportunity.

2. On the left hand side, open the Clarification questions accordion.

Here you will see all clarification questions submitted by suppliers and buyer responses.

For Competitive Flexible Procedure opportunities

Clarifications are managed per stage and are only available while that stage is open.

1. Select View details for the opportunity.

2. On the left hand side, expand the stage that is currently live.

3. Open the Clarifications section within that stage.

Once a stage closes, clarifications for that stage are no longer active.

1. Select View details for the opportunity you want to ask a question about.

2. Navigate to the Clarifications section.

3. Use the text box provided to submit your question.

4. Submit your clarification.

Once the buyer responds, you will receive an email notification confirming that your question has been answered.

Procurement updates (announcements from the buyer) now appear in their own accordion on the opportunity, separate from clarification questions. Select View details against the opportunity, then open the Procurement updates accordion to see any messages or documents the buyer has shared.

1. Select View details against the relevant opportunity.

2. On the left hand side, open the Clarifications tab.

3. Locate the supplier question you want to respond to.

4. Enter your response in the answer text box.

5. Tick the checkbox labelled Only the supplier that asked this question can see this response. Please select the checkbox if you want to share this response with all suppliers.

6. Submit your response.

Yes. When issuing a clarification, select the supplier or suppliers you want to receive it, and tick the private message checkbox to keep it visible only to that supplier. Leaving the checkbox unticked makes your message and any response visible to all suppliers on the opportunity, without revealing who asked or responded.

Clarification deadlines are set separately from procurement submission deadlines. Once the clarification deadline passes, suppliers can no longer submit new clarification questions, though you can still reply to any existing threads.

Buyers, however, can send you a clarification question at any point up until they make an award decision, even after the clarification deadline or the procurement closing date has passed. You'll be notified by email whenever this happens.

Yes. Once an opportunity is awarded, all clarification threads move to read-only for both buyers and suppliers. You can still view the full conversation history, but no new messages can be sent.