Two Envelope Evaluation System

Overview

A Two Envelope System separates vendor responses to Formal Solicitations into two sealed bids, or envelopes:  a technical proposal and a price proposal. The envelopes are evaluated independently to ensure procurement integrity and reduce the risk of pricing criteria unfairly influencing the evaluation process. This process is typically associated with Formal Solicitations of the Request for Proposal (RFP) type.

Process

The following diagram summarizes the stages in the two-envelope procurement process.

 

 

Org and Bid-Level Settings

The Two-Envelope feature requires the assistance of an internal Proactis Administrator to enable. Once enabled, the Enable Two Envelope System in Formal Evaluations setting is visible on the Solicitation Management area of the Admin module. This setting may be configured at both the head and sub-organization level.

By selecting the checkbox, an Evaluation Type field is added to the Header Information section of both new and editable formal solicitations. Select Two Envelope from the drop-down menu. After the Evaluation Type is selected, complete the solicitation as usual. Upon submission, the Evaluation Type may no longer be edited.

What Does the Vendor See?

Once the two-envelope Formal Solicitation is active, the vendor may create a response. From the Attach Documents page, the vendor adds Technical Evaluation and Price Evaluation materials by selecting the appropriate Add Attachments button.

NOTE: Attachments are required if response does not include sufficient technical and pricing information in other sections of the solicitation.  

This launches an Upload Document screen, from which multiple documents may be selected, marked as Confidential, and imported into the system.

NOTE: The upload screen for Price Evaluation Attachments contains read-only check boxes that mark each file as a Price Evaluation Document.

Once uploaded, Technical and Price Evaluation files display on the Attach Documents page, where they may be deleted  or downloaded .

Advancing to the Review Response step lists attachments in the View All Items and View Items with Bids sections.

NOTE: Price Evaluation Attachments may also be added on the Supplier Item & Response Level.

Technical Response Evaluation

Once the vendor has responded and the End Date for the  two envelope Formal Solicitation has passed, select Evaluate Supplier Responses from the Actions menu to launch the Technical Evaluation page.

NOTE: Award by Item and Award All to One for Bid options are not available.

 

From the Technical Evaluation page, select:

• Manage Evaluation Committee to build and notify a review team. The only files available for distribution at this stage will be Technical Evaluation documents. No Price Evaluation documents will display.

• Cancel to leave the page.

• Review Suppliers & Documents (Non-Pricing) and then Continue to advance to the View Vendor Technical Documents page.

From the View Vendor Technical Documents page, you may access the vendor's Technical Evaluation documents. Click the Attachments  icon to download the files.  To designate a supplier as a Technical Evaluation Finalist, select Approved for Price Evaluation from the Actions menu.

The Technical Finalist designation is indicated via a green background, which may be reversed by selecting Approved for Price Evaluation again.

 

Click Submit Technical Evaluation to completes this step of the process. You will be redirected to the Price Evaluation page.

NOTE: Once submitted, the Technical Evaluation cannot be re-opened or edited.

Be advised that if no vendors are selected and you click Submit Technical Evaluation, the following error message displays:

Click OK to acknowledge error and select at least one vendor to be the finalist.

Additionally, once at least one supplier has been Approved for Price Evaluation, and users click Submit Technical Evaluation, a confirmation message will display:

The message asks you to review the vendor or vendors that have been selected as Technical Evaluation Finalist(s) to ensure accuracy as once a Technical Evaluation is submitted, it may not be re-opened or edited.

The vendor or vendors that were selected as Technical Evaluation Finalists are listed.

You may select No to return to the View Vendor Technical Documents page where the vendor selection may be modified as needed. 

Selecting Yes submits the Technical Evaluation and users will be redirected to the Price Evaluation page.

 

Price Response Evaluation

 From the Price Evaluation Page,select:

• Manage Evaluation Committee to notify the review team.  The files available for distribution include both Technical and Price Evaluation documents for Technical Evaluation Finalists ONLY.

• Review Vendor Documents and then Continue to advance to the View Suppliers and Documents page.

The View Suppliers and Documents page provides access Technical and Price Evaluation documents for Technical Evaluation Finalists, which may be downloaded by clicking the Attachments  icon.

Select Recommend as Finalist from the Actions menu to again highlight supplier row in green and save supplier as a Finalist for multi-round purposes.

To award the solicitation to a Finalist, select the Close button.

You will be directed to the Price Evaluation page, where award methods include Award By Item or Award All to One for Bid.

NOTE: Technical and price evaluation steps are captured in the solicitation’s Audit Record.

Key Points Relating to Awarding

Some state laws require that, within 24 hours of a bid closing, the buying organization must display or publish the names of the vendors who have responded on the Public Bid Board. In relation to the Two-Envelope System, the ability to display or publish the names of the responding vendors just as soon as the bid closes, is available. In the scenario, whereby no vendor responses were received, the buying organization may still view and publish the report.

Regarding award publishing and the Two-Envelope System, the table below defines what the buyer can see or publish in an Award  Report.

Event	Technical Proposal	Cost Proposal
Bid Closes	All Vendors	No Vendors
Technical Evaluation Submitted	All Vendors	Vendors who Passed Technical Evaluation
Bid Awarded and Approved	All Vendors	Vendors who Passed Technical Evaluation
Bid Finalized	All Vendors	Vendors who Passed Technical Evaluation

 

Publish All Responses Award Report During Evaluation:

• On the Select a Publish Action wizard step, the Publish Only Awarded Responses will not display while the solicitation is under evaluation.

• On the Vendor Attachments wizard step, Technical proposals from all vendors and only the Cost  proposals from those vendors who passed the technical evaluation may be selected.

  • Line item attachments will always be hidden.

 

Publish All Responses Award Report After Award:

• On the Vendor Attachments wizard step, Technical  proposals from all vendors and only the Cost proposals from those vendors who passed the technical evaluation may be selected .
  

  • Line Item attachments will always be hidden.

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