NC BIDS for Agencies

When an agency participates in NC BIDS:

• For all solicitations posted by or for that agency, an optional eBid button can be displayed in IPS.  NC BIDS is a feature of IPS.
• When posting a solicitation, Purchase & Contract or the agency will specify whether the eBid button should be displayed for that solicitation.  The presence or absence of the eBid button determines whether vendors can submit bids electronically, but P&C or the agency should also explicitly specify how bids are to be submitted.
• For each solicitation handled by or through P&C:
  • Each individual solicitation document will indicate whether responses must be submitted electronically through NC BIDS or whether paper responses are required.
  • One of the following instructions will also be included in the Special Instructions field:
    • Electronic responses ONLY will be accepted
    • Mailed responses ONLY will be accepted
  • Submissions that do not comply with the stated submission method will be deemed non-responsive.
• For solicitations under the delegation of the agency, P&C strongly recommends that they also choose to accept only electronic OR only paper bids for each solicitation using the guidelines above.  However, each agency will need to update their policy based on the decision made by their procurement leader. 
• Vendors must always check the special instructions and solicitation document for each solicitation to verify whether electronic or paper bids are required for that solicitation:
  • If electronic bids are required, vendors must respond electronically to that solicitation using the eBid button displayed in IPS for that solicitation. 
  • If paper bids are required, vendors must not use the eBid button and must submit a paper bid.