Frequently Asked Questions on In-Tend

FAQs
1 After publishing tenders they do not appear in the UNGM tender notices website, maybe I have missed a
step?
It could be because of a misspelled destination country name, which requires intervention of the In-Tend
System Administrator. Please contact FAO-Electronic-Tendering@fao.org. After the fix, please try to
republish by going to your Project Summary page -> Edit Project button -> click on Ok.

2 How can we update the tender documents uploaded to the system (remove, upload new documents)?
Once the tender is published, documents cannot be changed (!). Every stage has its own documents. Before
publishing, you can access, remove/add new docs by navigating to: Project Summary -> Project Stages
button -> Stage Summary button -> Document Set button.

3 We published a wrong attachment how we can remove it and re-upload the right one?
Once documents are published there is NO way to change/remove them. The only solution is to raise a
clarification and upload the correct document together with it.

4 I am trying to submit a return using a test supplier account in UNGM without success; uploading the offer
takes long time even for small size world doc. File.
Test environment is usually very slow. It could also be combined with a bandwidth-related problem. Please
retry later.

5 I am able to login but my name does not appear on the list in the Users tab.
When creating a tender project, the user who is creating the project is automatically added (and has access)
to that project. The list of users in the Users Tab serves to add additional colleagues to the project.

6 In our bidding documents, should we indicate the time as ‘Nairobi Time’ or ‘Rome Time’? I am asking
because the system does not give time zone options.
By default system configuration, each buyer is assigned a time zone, which is also used/referred for tender
publication. Buyers have no way to indicate specific time zones different from the (only) one in which the
buyer is set.

7 In the Training environment, our Buying Unit it is not showing in the picklist and not even under the
information tab, in the Requesting Organization picklist.
Please consider that being training environment, you can use any other value, for this or other fields, given
it is only a place to play with the system.

8 Would you please advise if there is a way in In-tend to announce the tenders locally (Restricted for local
suppliers only)? This is required for tenders which are not applicable for international suppliers ( civil
construction and rehabilitation services, suppling of livestock, in country training … etc)
Once the tender project has been set to RESTRICTED in In-Tend, only the suppliers you “add” to the project
in the Suppliers tab of the GPW will receive notification of the existence of your closed tender. Instead,
there is no way to publish a tender only in given countries.
9 How to get submission receipt (for suppliers)
In order to get a receipt of your submission, please go to the tender management pages in your reserved
area on UNGM and select the specific tender(s) you submitted an offer to. Once in, please go to the
“History” tab and find the submission record: on the right you will find the “View Receipt” button. Please
click on it to get the acknowledgement of your submission.

10 What are Placeholders?

Each placeholder represents a different document you are requesting the supplier to provide. For the
suppliers, the placeholder is the button to upload their offer. You can have one envelope and three
placeholders so that the supplier will have to upload three different documents to fill in the envelope.

11 Suppliers have been added/invited to the tender using the Suppliers tab in the GPW and the tender
published. As our tender is public, we announced it in the local newspaper. If some supplier decides to
register in UNGM, can they still express interest in our tender and get the tender documents? Can we add
suppliers to the project after it is published?
You can attach additional suppliers at any time, even after the tender publication. You can do so from the
Project Summary screen, clicking on “Attached Suppliers” link and then using the button “Attach Suppliers
To Project” in the next window and follow the steps. On another hand, suppliers can register an account in
UNGM and express their interest in your tender at any time before the established tender deadline.

12 How to cancel a tender

In In-Tend, cancelling a tender corresponds to making it expire by changing the tender closing date to
“now”. Here are the steps:
1. Go to the project summary and click “Edit Project”
2. Add the word CANCELLED to the title and click Ok
3. Click on “Project Stages”
4. Click on “Change Return Date”
5. In the popup window, amend the Return Closing Date field to a date and time close to present time
and add Reason (i.e. cancelling tender)
6. Click “Finish”.

13 We accidentally published a tender but we selected the wrong tender document to attach. How can we
remove the file?
Once documents are published there is NO way to change/remove them. The only solution is to raise a
clarification and upload the correct document together with it.

14 Please clarify the following fields and what to fill in: Qualifications, Stage, Lots, Standard text
Qualifications
This field is used to specify additional qualification criteria that suppliers should satisfy to participate to the
tender. Not mandatory.

Stage
Important tab containing stage name and type (ITB, RFI, RFQ, BAFO,…), tender closing date and lock date: no
tender opening before the lock date and time; this is usually set the same as the tender closing date.

Lots
 Creating lots in In-Tend will allow suppliers to bid on specific lots only. If you do not want to receive partial
orders, do not create lots. Not commonly used in FAO (lots are usually packaged into tender documents).

Standard text
If you have standard text, saved on some file on your computer, you can use it here by clicking on the
“Standard Text” button and selecting your file (instead of re-writing the text every time). This feature is
sometimes available in In-Tend, in different places of the user interface.
15 We are going to do a direct procurement which will be approved by the FAOR. My understanding is that
the pricing should be requested through In-Tend as a restricted solicitation direct to the single vendor.
In case of a direct procurement, you can use In-tend (or any other means as well) to get the quotation from
the supplier given that, by definition, this is not a real tender.

16 Today I met with our WFP colleagues in Yemen and had a short discussion on In-Tend. One thing not clear
to me is that suppliers need to be registered in UNGM in order to receive the tender document. But WFP
colleagues told me that suppliers need to be registered in In-tend in order to get the tender documents.
This is confusing.

WFP and FAO use different In-Tend implementations: WFP version of In-Tend is not integrated with UNGM,
hence suppliers register directly in In-Tend; for FAO instead, In-Tend is integrated with UNGM and suppliers
willing to engage in business and participate in FAO tenders must register in UNGM. There is no way for FAO
suppliers to register in In-Tend. In FAO, In-Tend is a tool for exclusive use of the buyers.

17 What I understood when it comes to restricted tenders is that only local contractors can participate. In
addition, we should prepare a list of these suppliers and then with justifications we request approval from
Chief CSDA in order to restrict this ITB only to these suppliers.
When “adding” (inviting) suppliers to tender projects, you can choose suppliers from whatever country. You
do not need to provide Chief CSDA with justifications to proceed with a restricted tender. The only
exception that requires such procedure is for not using In-Tend to run the tender exercise.
18 The synopsis file indicated during project creation is not published together with the tender notice on the
UNGM platform. What should I do?
This is a technical issue that randomly faces and In-Tend support is working on it. To work around it, after
tender project publication, you can “Edit Project” from the Project Summary page in and click on the
Description tab. Here you can re-add the synopsis file (click Ok to re-publish).
19 I have published my tender project to UNGM, but the stage is completely missing
One of the reasons for this could be that the project was created using the Generic Project Wizard, but
published outside of it (using the “Publish Manager” button). When this occurs, suppliers are not able to
submit offers.

To resolve, go to Project Summary, click on “Edit Project”, verify that all information is correct and
complete, click next until the summary screen with the “Finish/Publish” button appears and when ready,
click on it. Project will be re-published with the stage.

When creating a new project, please be sure to always use the Generic Project Wizard and not the
standard procedure accessible through the menu “Project -> New Project”.
20 Difference between Reply To All and Reply by clarification
“Reply To All” will send the message to all suppliers that have expressed interest until now, “Reply By
Clarification” will publish an official clarification for all suppliers, even those expressing interest in future.
 The clarification should be set “Public”.
21 I am in the process of creating a project. I erroneously picked FRSSD as the requesting organization and
saved. Afterwards, I have changed the requesting organization to FRSOM but the reference number
doesn’t change. How do I go about this?
The tender reference number is generated only once when the project is saved for the first time and to
maintain its uniqueness, it cannot change to something else later on. The only way is to create a new project
and cancel/archive the previous one.
22 What’s the meaning of «Status: Pending» and what are we supposed to do at this stage?
The pending status means that the supplier is interested in the tender but hasn’t still submitted an offer. At
this stage you don’t have to do anything.
23 Could you please provide some guidance as to where the TOP members can enter their passwords?
All TOP members will enter their passwords at the beginning of the Opening Ceremony, in the second
screen. In the first screen you will have the opportunity to change or define the list of attendees by using
the button “Change Attendees”. Just after that, click next and passwords screen will reveal.
24 I would like to enquire if it is possible to launch a Request for Expressions of Interest through In-Tend and
receive the EOIs through UNGM or the same platform?
Of course you can run an EOI or an RFI and receive responses, mechanism is the same. Mechanism is the
same for all types of projects (EOI, ITB, RFQ, RFP, RFI).
25 How to complete a GPW procedure
Please click on “Edit Project” button in the Project Summary screen and edit/correct your projects as
needed. Once done, please move to the last tab (Notes), click Next and when ready, “Publish/Finish”.
26 How many placeholders should I create?
For each envelope, at least one placeholder should be created. You can create as many placeholders as
many documents you want to receive from suppliers in each envelope.
27 We created a second stage for the subject tender, however, one bidder cannot see the second stage
despite trying other tactics such as using a different browser, logging off and on again etc
I believe this is due to the strange situation created by setting the first stage as Information Purposes Only.
New suppliers coming in do not see automatically the second stage unless you re-publish it to them: from
Stage Summary for Stage 2, click on “Publish Document Set” and follow the procedure.
28 I created a new project but unfortunately the new project has no reference number.
This is a technical issue the Intend support team is already working on. If you need to urgently publish the
tender, please create a new project ask FAO-Electronic-Tendering to archive the malformed one.
29 If we issue the tender in In-Tend, will suppliers who are registered in UNGM get automatically the
notification?
When FAO publishes a tender using In-Tend, it gets published on UNGM. Suppliers, no matter if local or
international, who are registered in UNGM will receive a notification that a new tender was published only
under the following two circumstances:
1. Suppliers have been added/invited to the tender using the Suppliers tab in the project wizard (no
matter if the tender is public or restricted);
2. The tender is public and suppliers have paid for the Tender Alert Service (TAS) in UNGM, which
automatically sends them notifications of new tender notices based on UNSPSC category code(s) assigned to
your tender project during its creation.

Supplier’s country is never a condition to receive/not receive tender notifications.

30 Suppliers unable to express interest to tenders, although registered in UNGM
Let the supplier verify that they did choose FAO as possible UN Agency to do business with, during the
registration process in UNGM. They could need to add more UNSPSC codes in UNGM to be able to work for
 FAO. Please advise them to review their registration in UNGM and select FAO between the UN Agencies. In
case of issues they should refer to the UNGM Support helpdesk through the Help button in the home page.
31 When the stage is missing, why and how to resolve
The tender was not published correctly as you did not complete the Generic Project Wizard procedure by
clicking on the “Finish/Publish” button in the summary page after the Notes tab. You have probably (by
mistake) clicked on “Publish Manager” and published from there, which is NOT the right way to publish
projects created with the GPW. In your case you should always “Edit Project” (GPW displays again),
complete the assisted procedure and publish from there. As a result, the tender was published without the
stage, which makes impossible for suppliers to access tender documents and submit offers. Please urgently
“Edit Project” and publish it again from the GPW. This should fix everything.
32 FAO Afghanistan would like to post a tender for procurement of Animal feed. The tender should be
Restricted only to National suppliers. How do we do?
You have two options:
1. Make a restricted tender and invite only local suppliers (this entails having at hand a list of valid
UNGM suppliers from the local country to add to the project);
2. Make a public tender and clearly state in the tender description that the tender is only open to local
suppliers (applications from international suppliers will not be accepted).

33 We tried opening one of the bidder’s document to print the bid for commercial evaluation and we receive
the message below.

The file is corrupt and cannot be opened. Normally, in these cases, the offer should be considered invalid
(especially if the corrupt file is the one containing the financial offer).
You may decide to contact the supplier and have the file sent by other means (email, as in In-Tend there is
no way to re-submit it), so that in case for example there are only few offers, you can re-validate their offer.
However, this practice has to be considered a deviation and would need review and approval by the
competent Procurement Committee.
34 How do I extend/modify the Tender Closing Date?
To amend/extend the tender closing date you, follow the steps below:
1. Navigate to Project Summary;
2. Click on Edit Project and set the value for the field “Allow suppliers to request
documents until” to the new closing date/time and click Ok;
3. Click on the “Project Stages” button;
4. Click on the “Change Return Date” button and make the necessary amendments to the Return
Closing Date field;
 In addition, you can also create a public clarification to communicate the change more effectively.
35 When downloading the offers, how can we select all files and download them at once or for each supplier
/ can you suggest another method to download faster the documents and advise if an option is available
to select all returned documents and download them at once for each supplier or for all suppliers
together
In the Returns Administration page, click the “Returned Documents” button. In the new page, you will be
able to select which received documents to download using “Save as Zip File”. You can download all offers
or also select documents received by supplier.
36 How to add attachment to the tender after publishing it
Once documents are published there is NO way to change/remove them.
The only solution is to raise a public clarification and upload the correct document(s) together with it.

37 We have completed the opening ceremony of the mentioned tender below, however were unable to
open the financial offers
- from Project administration page, find your project, as below,
- - and then click on returns. You should be able to access all offers for this tender.
- On the right hand side there is a button View Returns.
- Under tab CONTENTS – you should be able to view documentation and then open and download the
documentation.

38 Difference between Reply All and Reply by Clarification

Firstly, please note the difference between Reply All and Reply by Clarification.

When you Reply All, this means that all suppliers that are already on board will receive Correspondence for
this tender. Any new supplier will not receive this correspondence.

When you Reply by Clarification, this means that suppliers (those on board and the new ones) will receive
this in Clarification tab.

It would seem that you have done first Amendment by creating Reply by Clarification while the second
Amendment you have done by Reply to all.

Furthermore, when you raise documentation as per screenshot below, you need to make sure that set
PRIVATE and not internal for details. If Internal, suppliers will not see it.

39 We as buyer are unable to initiate the opening ceremony because the Opening Ceremony option is
disabled in UNGM
Unfortunately it seems that the stage on your project has not been published. The project only has been
published to UNGM but the Document set has not been built or published yet. This means that no suppliers
have received any documents and therefore there are no returns to open and the Opening Ceremony
button is not available.
You will need to run the project again to allow suppliers to respond to it. To do this you must set a new
return date, build the document set and publish it to suppliers.
Please go to the Project Summary page of the project and click the Project Stages button.
Make sure the stage is selected and click the Stage Summary button.
On the Stage Summary page click the Edit Stage button
 In the Edit Stage dialogue click the Receipting tab.
Edit the return date (and lock date if required) to a date in the future that will provide the attached
suppliers enough time to submit their returns.
Click OK.
On the Stage Summary page click the Build Document Set button (in red text)
The document set will be built and then published to the suppliers.
40 We launched a tender but we would like to send out a clarification to the public. However, The Reply by
Clarification button is not available. What to do?
You do actually use the “Reply by Clarification” button only in response to a supplier requesting information.
In the specific case, you should instead “create” just a new clarification. You can do so by going to the
Project Summary window of your project and, from there, click on the “Clarifications” link. In the new page,
click “Add Clarification”.