When you have found a bid that looks interesting, you need to do a deep dive into the documents to see if you should write a bid. In Cobrief, you do this from the bid's assessment page.
The most important things about the competition
First, you see a summary of the competition from Cobrief, based on the notice.
You can read the procurer's bid description by clicking on "Assignment description".
Award criteria and qualification requirements are listed if they are included in the notice. If not, upload the procurement documents to retrieve this information.
Previous contract winners show who won the last contract in similar competitions. Click on the winner's name to see all the competitions the company has won.
Cobrief shows the competition's timeline on the left side, focusing on the next deadline.
Navigate the tender
In the left sidebar, you will find four main sections:
Brief: summary, award criteria, requirements, and timeline.
Competition basis: document list and preview of the files you have uploaded.
Tasks: AI-extracted tasks with status.
Bid room: bid documents and fillable templates once you have created the first draft.
You can move between the sections without losing the tender context.
Upload the procurement documents
The procurer is required to attach the procurement documents to the notice. You can find this by clicking on "Get the procurement documents".
The competition platform used varies among different procurers. In this case, it is Mercell, and you retrieve the documents directly via the link (1), or with the alternative link (2)
Once the documents are downloaded, you can click on (3) "Upload", or drag the documents onto the screen.
Cobrief scans the procurement documents
Once the documents are uploaded, Cobrief will automatically start interpreting them. First, an extended brief is generated. Then, information about the award criteria, qualification requirements, bid design, and contract terms is filled in. Deadlines that were not included in the notice will also appear in the timeline.
Note that if you already have the procurement documents, you can drag the files directly onto the assessment page, and they will be uploaded to Cobrief and the interpretation will start immediately.
Read through the documents
Open Competition basis in the left sidebar to see all the documents that have been uploaded. Click on a document to read it in Cobrief's preview.
In the document, you can read the content and highlight important parts. Cobrief has many built-in functions you can use on the content, e.g., to explain unknown words, or to extract information from the documents.
Task
You will also find pre-made highlights with tasks that Cobrief AI has extracted from the documents. These can be formal requirements you need to submit, questions you need to answer, or documents you need to fill out.
Under Tasks in the left sidebar, you will find all the tasks gathered in one place. This overview gives you a clear picture of all the tasks you need to complete and their current stage.
Click on the task to see an explanation of it, and use the quote icon to see where the task was taken from in the procurement documents.
Create first draft
If you want to respond to the bid, the next step is to create a first draft in Cobrief. Open Bid room in the sidebar and click "Create first draft". The bid will now be placed in the "In progress" phase on the front page.
