Submitting your bids offline

There are two ways to submit your bids using Sourcing Optimizer:

  • Offline: Download the bid sheet, complete it, and then upload it to Sourcing Optimizer
  • Online: Complete the bid sheet online on the Bid Sheet page

The event organizer may enable one of the above options or both of them.

Download the offline bid sheet

You can download the event’s bid sheet on the Bid Sheet page.

The bid sheet is in Excel format and features two worksheets:

  • An Overview worksheet which provides detailed information about the event and instructions on completing the bid sheet
  • A Bid Sheet worksheet, which you use to enter your bids.

If both online and offline bidding are available, complete the following steps:

  1. In the event, click the Bid Sheet tab.
  2. In the top-left of the page, click Bid offline.
  3. Click Download, and save the file.

Figure 1. Offline and online bid sheet

If bidding is offline only, complete the following steps:

  1. In the event, click the Bid Sheet tab.
  2. In the top-left of the page, click Download Bid Sheet, and save the file.

Figure 2. Offline bid sheet

Complete the offline bid sheet

On the Bid Sheet worksheet, the yellow cells are bidder-input cells. Columns with an asterisk (*) are mandatory. Ensure that you complete all related mandatory cells for each lot you are bidding on.
There are two different flows for submitting your bids using offline bidding, depending on whether bidding is offline-only or if both online and offline bidding are available.

When enabled, the Bidder can download the event’s bid sheet on the Bid Sheet page. The bid sheet is in Excel format and features two worksheets:

  • Overview: which provides detailed information about the event and instructions on completing the bid sheet.
  • Bid Sheet: which the Bidder will use to enter their bids.

On the Bid Sheet worksheet, the yellow cells are bidder-input cells. Columns with an asterisk (*) are mandatory. The Bidder should ensure that they complete all related mandatory cells for each lot they are bidding on.


Figure 3. Completing offline bid sheet
  • Complete Bid column: The Complete Bid column indicates whether or not you completed all mandatory cells for a row. A green-shaded cell displaying Yes indicates that all of the mandatory cells in the row have been completed; a red-shaded cell displaying No indicates that one or more mandatory cells have not been completed. You can use the Complete Bid column to filter for incomplete bids by selecting No from the dropdown list.

Upload the bids using an offline template

After successfully completing the bid sheet you can upload the bids to the platform. To do so, follow the steps below:

  1. In the event, click the Bid Sheet tab.
    1. Click Upload Bid Sheet.
    2. Navigate to the location of your Excel file, select the file, and then click Open.

After you successfully submit your bids, Sourcing Optimizer displays a green success banner. This banner closes if you navigate away from the page.

Once the bids are submitted, no further action is required on your side, the bids are correctly saved in the system. 


Figure 4. Upload the bids using an offline template

If your submission does not meet one or more of the bidding rules, an error message will be displayed during the upload.