How to Award a Contract

This article explains how to award a contract to one or more suppliers following the evaluation of tender responses.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

• Received and reviewed all supplier responses
• Completed your evaluation of responses (where applicable)
• Any award documents ready to attach, such as a Letter of Acceptance (max 5 MB)

Step 1 – View and Evaluate Responses

1. Navigate to your tender and open the View and Evaluate Responses page.
2. You will see a list of all submitted supplier responses, along with indicators showing the status of any evaluations — green, amber, or red to show whether evaluations are complete, in progress, or not yet started.
3. Review responses and complete any outstanding evaluations before proceeding.

Step 2 – Select the Winning Supplier(s)

1. From the responses list, click Overview and use the checkboxes to select the supplier(s) you wish to award the contract to.
2. Click the Award button to proceed.
3. If any evaluations are incomplete, a prompt will appear asking you to confirm you wish to continue. Click Proceed to move forward or Cancel to go back and complete evaluations first.

Step 3 – Customise Award Emails

You will be taken to the award email page where you can configure the notifications sent to both winning and unsuccessful suppliers.

For successful suppliers:

• The winning supplier's email address will be pre-filled.
• A default message is provided — you can edit this to personalise it.
• You can optionally attach a document such as a Letter of Acceptance (max 5 MB).
• If DocuSign is enabled on your portal, you will have the option to send the document for digital signing. A document must be attached before signing can be enabled.

For unsuccessful suppliers:

• You can customise the notification email for each unsuccessful supplier individually.
• A default message is provided, which you can edit as needed.
• You can also attach documents to unsuccessful supplier emails if required.

Step 4 – Send Award Emails

1. Once you are happy with the email content and any attachments, click Send Award Emails.
2. A confirmation prompt will appear — click to confirm you wish to proceed.
3. The system will send notifications to all winning and unsuccessful suppliers, update the tender status to Awarded, and record the award in the activity log.

Step 5 – View Awarded Suppliers

After the award is processed, you will be taken to the Awarded Suppliers page. This shows:

• The names and email addresses of awarded suppliers
• Their award outcome
• If DocuSign is enabled, the current signing status for each supplier

After Awarding

• If DocuSign signing is enabled, winning suppliers will receive a signing invitation by email. You can track signing progress from the Awarded Suppliers page.
• If a supplier declines to sign, you will have the option to upload a replacement document.

Need Help?

If you experience any issues with the award process, please contact our helpdesk.