Since CoConstruct's bidding takes place largely over email, there are a few unique ways that bidding notifications are processed compared to other notifications from CoConstruct.
Notifications for your trade partners
Your trade partners will always receive bid-related notifications via email, even if they do not receive other task assignments or comments by email.
The following notifications will go out to your bidders:
Invitation to bid
This will be sent as soon as you click "Send" when creating a new bid request. This notification will go out to all trade partners who have been set as bidders on the request.
If for whatever reason you need to manually resend a bid request to any trade partner, you can do so at the bottom of the bid request. Select your bidder's tab within the "Comments" section and use the button to resend the bid request.
See an example of a bid invitation in a new tab.
Updated invitation to bid
This will be sent if you change any of the bid lines, instructions, inclusions, exclusions, due date, or bid request name. You will be prompted if you make any edits to a "sent" bid request that would initiate an updated notification for the current bidders. Updated bid request notifications will be sent to all bidders except for those who have responded that they will not be bidding.
See an example of an updated bid invitation in a new tab.
Comments
If you post a comment for a specific bidder, and you do not check the option to "Send to all bidders", then only the designated bidder will receive your notice. Any replies from your trade partner will be private to your team and will not be shared with other bidders. These comment notifications will always be sent by email, but your trade partner may receive a text message in addition depending on their communication preferences for receiving other CoConstruct comments.
If you post a comment on a bid request and you select the option to "Send to all bidders," then your comment will be sent by email to all bidders on the request, unless they have responded that they will not be bidding. The notification will not include any information about the other bidders who are involved, and any replies from your trade partners will be kept private to your team, rather than being shared with other bidders. Just like a comment to a single bidder, your trade partners will always receive these by email, but they may also receive a text message notification if they are set to receive comments by text message.
See an example of a comment notification in a new tab.
Reminder Notices
Reminder notifications will go out at the intervals you specify on the bid request. These will go out to all bidders who have not submitted a bid for each of your included bid lines.
Bidders will not receive reminders if their submitted bid has been entered, if they have responded that they will not be bidding, or if the bid has been awarded.
See an example of a bid reminder in a new tab.
Award Notice
An optional email that you can send out to a bidder to let them know you've awarded them the bid. This can be customized with your own special message.
Learn more and see an example of an award notice.
Cancellation Notice
If you cancel a sent bid request, a cancellation notice will go out to all bidders who have not already replied "Won't Bid". You can optionally customize this notice with a custom message to let your bidders know why the bid was cancelled.
Since there may be important communication related to the bid cancellation, replies to bid cancellation notices will still be processed to the comments section of the bid. You can view and respond to those comments in the same way as if the bid were still active.
See an example of a cancellation notice in a new tab.
Notifications for your team
Note that many of the notifications outlined above are specific to your trade partners, since they are conveying bid information or reminding bidders that they need to submit their information.
However, your team may be receiving instant alerts for the bid-related correspondence that happens in the comments section of the bid request.
You will receive these notifications either by email or text, in the same way that you receive your other instant alert preferences.
Access your personal notification and alert preferences from your Personal Settings (under your name). For the bidding-related communication, the instant alert option that will control how and if you receive additional notices is the option for "Comments".
Even if you don't receive those notices by email, however, be aware that any new comments will show up in the site, accompanied by "Updated" icons.