Viewing a Bid

The bid view screen allows the system user to review all the details of a specific bid, including its basic information and its bill of quantities, its related entities (cost sheets and contracting quotations), and its activity log, in order to take the appropriate action to finalize the bid and prepare it for submitting a quotation to the client, all the way to awarding it and converting it into a project.

Before You Begin

• You must have the “View All Bids” permission or the “View His Own (Created) Bids” permission to be able to view the bid.
• A bid must be added to access the details screen first. For more, see the “Adding a New Bid” article.

Steps to View a Bid

1. From the sidebar menu, click on “Construction,” then go to “Bids.”
2. Search for the required bid, then click on it to open the view screen, or from the required bid’s actions menu, click the “View” button.

Content of the Bid View Screen

Header:

• Displays the bid’s title and its code.
• Displays the status as a badge next to the title, with statuses including: Draft, Issued, Quoted, Awarded, Rejected.
• Custom action buttons to change the bid’s status, as follows:
  • Issue: converts the bid from “Draft” to “Issued,” and the next sequential number is automatically assigned to the bid.
  • Set as Quoted: converts the bid from “Issued” to “Quoted.”
  • Set as Draft: returns the bid (from “Issued” or “Quoted”) to “Draft” status.
  • Convert to Project: only appears after the bid is awarded and converts it into an actual project.
• After conversion to a project, a link to the related project appears (example: Project #000002) directly below the bid’s title.

Available Actions:

• Edit: redirects the user to the bid’s edit form.
• Printables: select the desired print template from the dropdown list to print the bid’s details.
• Create Cost Sheet: opens a new cost sheet creation form, automatically linked to the current bid.
• Create Quotation: opens a new quotation creation form, automatically linked to the current bid.
• Clone: creates an identical copy of the bid.
• Delete: deletes the bid.
• Reject: converts the bid to “Rejected” status.

Tabs:

• Details:
  • Bid Information: bid title, code, description, valid until, client, attachments.
  • Bill of Quantities: displays the item and quantity with the unit. Groups are collapsed by default, with the ability to search and sort. When multiple rows are selected, a top bar appears showing the number of selected items with two options: “Collapse Group” (to collapse the selected item(s) along with their child items), and “Expand Group” (to expand them).
• Cost Sheets (count): displays all the cost sheets linked to the bid (there can be more than one).
• Quotations (count): displays all the contracting quotations linked to the bid (there can be more than one).
• Activity Log: displays the activity log for the bid and its linked cost sheets and quotations.

How the System Works

• The bid moves through the following statuses in order: Draft → Issued → Quoted.
• From the bid screen, the user creates a cost sheet linked to it via the “Create Cost Sheet” button.
• Once the cost sheet is approved, its status changes to “Approved” (a final status that cannot be edited), and a contracting quotation linked to it is automatically created.
• Once the contracting quotation is approved, the bid’s status automatically changes to “Awarded.”
• After being awarded, the “Convert to Project” button appears. Clicking it and linking the bid to an actual project:
  • Permanently hides the status-change buttons (Set as Draft, Reject), and the “Awarded” status becomes permanently unchangeable.
  • The user can still create additional cost sheets and contracting quotations linked to the same bid.
  • The Edit, Print, Clone, and Delete actions remain available.
• Changing the status is permanently disabled only when both conditions are met together: the status is “Awarded,” and the bid is actually linked to a project. Being awarded alone (without conversion to a project) does not prevent changing the status.

Validation Rules

• Changing the bid’s status to “Rejected” is only available if the bid is not “Awarded” and linked to a project at the same time.
• Permanently disabling status changes requires the status to be “Awarded” and the bid to be linked to a project via “Convert to Project.”