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Compare Bids in Portfolio Financials

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 Note
This information is intended for accounts with Portfolio Financials product in Procore. Please reach out to your Procore point of contact for more information. 

Objective

To compare bids in a Bid Room in Portfolio Financials.

Background

With the Bid Comparison feature in Portfolio Financials, you can compare received bids side-by-side and evaluate their data to make informed decisions about your bids. Since all submitted bids in a Bid Room would have used the same bid form, the bids are already leveled on the page.

Things to Consider

  • Required User Permissions:
    • 'Limited' access to the project or higher.
      Note: Users with 'Limited' access must be on the Bid Room Team for the project. 
  • Additional Information:

Video

 
  

Steps

  1. Navigate to the Bid Room you want to compare bids in.  
  2. Click Manage Bids.
  3. Click Compare Bids.
    compare-bids.png

Click a link to jump to a section of this article:

Bid Comparison Page Overview

bid-comparison-overview.png

The following options are available in this mode (refer to each number in the image above):

number1.png   Total value of bid.

number2.png   Bid form completion percentage.

number3.png   Date the bid was received.

number4.png   Bid revisions (if applicable).

number5.png   Number of requested bid form fields completed.

number6.png   Price per square footage (Price/ft²) breakdown for a line item.

number7.png   Comparing Bids drop-down menu to select and display which bids are visible.

number8.png   Tools drop-down menu to select which comparison tools are currently enabled or disabled. 

number9.png   Export drop-down menu to export the current view. 

View Bidder Comments on Line Items

Bidders have the ability to leave comments on individual line items in their bids to provide additional information or context.
Note: If there is a comment on a line item, there will be a speech bubble icon on a cell.

comment.png

To view comments on a line item:

  • Click the speech bubble icon in a cell.

 

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Select Bids to Compare

When you enter the bid comparison page, all of the most recent bids submitted by your vendors appear as columns by default. You can show or hide these columns as needed from the Comparing Bids menu. This tool can also be used to make previously submitted versions of a bid visible so that you can compare the most recent bid to its past iterations if needed.

Note: You can also view one bid individually.

To show or hide bids as columns:

  1. Click the Comparing Bids drop-down menu.
    compare-bids-dropdown.png
  2. Choose which bids you want to compare:
    • Mark the checkboxes next to bids you want to display as columns.
    • Clear the checkboxes for the bids you do not want to display as columns.
      selections.png
      Note: If there are any bid revisions, a down arrow icon is shown to the right of a bid (shown above). Click the down arrow to expand the revisions and mark the checkboxes next to them if you want to display them as columns.
  3. Click Done.
     

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Select Comparison Tools

The Tools drop-down menu contains a number of tools to help you evaluate your bids. 

Enable or Disable a Tool

  1. Click the Tools drop-down menu.
    tools-menu.png
  2. Mark the checkbox next to a tool to enable it for your comparison.
    OR
    Clear the checkbox next to a tool to disable it.

See the sections below for details on the following bid comparison tools and actions:

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Adjustments

The Adjustments tool is enabled by default, and allows you to manually manipulate the value of cells in your bids. For example, this function can be useful if you want to evaluate what a bid might look like with the price of a line item reduced. 

Notes:

  • Any adjustments you make will modify the total bid value so that you can see how your adjustments affect the overall bid.
  • Manipulating the data in the cells DOES NOT modify the actual bids. In addition, the vendor is NOT notified that you are adjusting the values.
compare-bids.gif  
Make Adjustments to a Cell

To adjust the value of a cell:

  1. Make sure Adjustments is selected in the Tools drop-down menu.
  2. Click into a cell.
  3. Enter a new value for the cell.
  4. Press ENTER or RETURN on your keyboard.
    Note: The original value of the cell appears immediately to the left of the adjusted value in grey text. Adjusted values appear in blue text.

    values.png

To remove an adjustment on a cell:

  1. Make sure the Adjustments tool is enabled.
  2. Click into a cell.
  3. Delete the contents of that cell.
  4. Press ENTER or RETURN on your keyboard.
Add and Manage Notes for a Cell

You can add a note on individual cells to provide additional information. For example, you might want to add a comment on a cell that you have adjusted so that your team knows why the value was changed. Notes are visible to all members of the Bid Room Team, and are NOT visible to bidders.

Note: A cell with a note on it is indicated by a triangle blue-triangle.png in the top-right corner of the cell, as shown below.

cell-with-note.png

To add a note to a cell:

  1. Hover your mouse over the cell you want to add a note to.
  2. Click the plus triangle-plus.png  icon in the corner of the cell.
  3. Enter your note into the text box.
  4. Click out of the text box to save the note.
     
    leave-note.gif  

     

To edit a note on a cell:

  1. Hover over the cell you want to edit the note for.
  2. Click the triangle blue-triangle.png  icon in the corner of the cell.
  3. Edit the note in the text box.
  4. Click out of the text box to save your note.

To remove a note from a cell:

  1. Hover over the cell you want to remove a note from.
  2. Click the triangle blue-triangle.png  icon in the corner of the cell.
  3. Delete the contents of the note in the box that appears.
  4. Click outside of that box to save your changes.
     

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Price Per Square Foot (Price/ft²)

Price per square foot breakdown is enabled by default. Each cell will have its price per square foot broken down by the square footage value that was entered on the Trade Setup page.

To edit the Square Footage value for a breakdown:

  1. Make sure Price/ft² is selected in the Tools drop-down menu. 
  2. Click Edit next to Price/ft².
  3. Enter a new square footage value.
  4. Click Save.
     

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Show Outliers

Outliers are cells whose values vary significantly (higher or lower) from the same item across all bids, or vary significantly from other values in the same bid. 

Note: As you make adjustments to cells, more outliers might appear or disappear to reflect the adjustments you make. The sensitivity for outliers can be adjusted from the Tools drop-down menu as explained below. 

 Note
Cells highlighted in YELLOW indicate outliers. In addition, if you increase the sensitivity for outliers in the Tools menu, the color of existing outliers will turn a deeper shade of yellow.

To adjust the sensitivity for outliers:

  1. Click the Tools drop-down menu.
  2. Adjust the outlier sensitivity slider.
     

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Merge or Unmerge Alternates

By default, pricing for alternates does NOT factor into the total bid value. Instead, you must enable them to have their price factored in:

To include an alternate in the total bid value:

  1. Scroll to the Alternates section.

    alternates.png
  2. Mark the checkbox next to an alternate to add it into the total bid value.

To merge alternates into one line item:

  1. Make sure Activate Merges is enabled in the Tools drop-down menu.
  2. Scroll down to the Alternates section.
  3. Click the Tools drop-down menu and select Merge Alternates.
  4. Mark the checkboxes to the alternates you want to merge.
  5. Click Merge to merge the alternates.
  6. Click Finish to finalize the merge.
    Note: Merged alternates are indicated by a merge merge-icon.png icon.

To unmerge alternates:

  1. Scroll down to the Alternates section.
  2. Click the merge merge-icon.png icon.
  3. Click Unmerge.
     
    unmerge-alternates.gif  

     

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Budget (Compare a Bid Against a Budget)

If you have a budget for each individual line item in your bid, you can compare your bids to those individual budgets.
Note: Budget values on this page are not pulled in from the project page and must be entered manually.

Step 1: Enable Budget Comparison:

  1. Click the Tools drop-down menu.
  2. Mark the checkbox next to Budget.
  3. Click Apply. 
    Note: After enabled, you can enter a budget amount into the budget column that appears.

Step 2: Enter a Budget Value in the Budget Column:

  1. Click on a cell that says 'Enter Budget' in the column.
  2. Type a value for that budget.
  3. Press ENTER or RETURN on your keyboard. 

Optional: Edit or Remove a Budget Value:

  • To edit a budget value:
    1. Click on a cell in the budget column.
    2. Adjust the value of the cell.
    3. Press ENTER or RETURN on your keyboard.
  • To remove a budget value:
    1. Click on a cell in the budget column.
    2. Remove the contents of the cell.
    3. Press ENTER or RETURN on your keyboard.
       

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Average Bid

You can generate an average bid to show what the average cost of each line item from each bid is.

To enable or disable the Average bid view:

  1. Click the Tools drop-down menu.
  2. Mark the checkbox next to Average to enable the average bid column.
    OR
    Clear the checkbox to disable the column.
  3. Click Apply. 
     

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Synthetic Low Bid

You can generate an synthetic low bid to show a bid comprised of the lowest values from all of the bids. This is used to provide a sense of what the lowest possible cost for the bid might be. 

To enable or disable the Synthetic Low bid view:

  1. Click the Tools drop-down menu.
  2. Mark the checkbox next to Synthetic Low to enable the synthetic low bid column.
    OR
    Clear the checkbox to disable the column.
  3. Click Apply. 
     

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Export Bid Data

All of the data on the bid comparison page can be exported to an XLS or PDF file.

 Important
When exporting, the export captures the CURRENT view of the bid comparison page. All adjustments, notes, view, columns, and merges will appear in your exported report.

To export the current bid comparison: 

  1. Click the Export drop-down menu.
  2. Click XLS or PDF.
    Note: The file will automatically begin downloading to your computer. 
     

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