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      PB System™ Project Evaluation Evaluator User Guide

      I. Logging In

        A. Enter Username

        B. Enter Password

          • Click on the eye to see keystrokes
          • If password is unknown, click on Need Password Help?  to reset your password

      II. Home

                  A. Daily Calendar

                        Daily calendar contains a list of all of the agency's important solicitation deadlines for the day. Users will see the Pre-Bid meeting, Q&A, and bid deadlines. Click on any listing to open the solicitation. 

                 B. Stat Cards

                       Stat cards contain statistical data on the PB System™ general overall usage by both the agency and the public. Stat cards can be configured for user preference. 

                     Configuring stat cards:

          • Select edit
          • Select the delete icon within each card to remove
          • Select the + bar to add in a new card type or select any existing card to edit
            • Select Report Type to define the type of data to be shown
            • Select Timeframe for the frequency of data
            • Select the color bar to change the color of the card
            • Select Save, Cancel or Reset to Defaults
         III. Left Side Navigation Menu

        • Navigation menu navigates the user to the different areas of the PB System™. Access to each area is based upon the purchase of the module and User permission configurations.

          • Top right corner of the left-side navigation menu will either be an X or >. This will toggle the menu open and closed to optimize screen space.
          • Home: returns User to the home page.
          • Bid Management: quickly manage the process of issuing, monitoring, conducting evaluations, and awarding formal and informal bids.
          • Bid Spec Library: access to PlanetBids client solicitations to help Users find piggy-backable, cooperative bids and build specs using other agency bids.  
          • Project Evaluation: add-on that allows Users to manage the multi evaluator and/or consensus evaluation process on solicitations. Project Evaluation allows Users to use the RFP evaluation process on all solicitation types (Quotes, Bids, RFI, RFP, RFQual and IPWB).
          • Vendor Management: Gain access to Vendor records, run advanced searches on multiple sets of Vendor data, add a vendor, perform real-time verification of provided information (i.e., certifications and licenses) against third party databases, generate comprehensive reports with visual charts, and broadcast messages to selected Vendors.
          • Contract Management: maintain and retrieve up-to-date, relevant information regarding contracts.
          • Insurance Management: enables risk managers, procurement, public works, and contract administrators to automate, maintain, and retrieve up-to-date, relevant information regarding Vendor or contractor insurance certificates.
          • Emergency Operations: enables any Agency to manage, maintain and retrieve up-to-date information on Vendors that provide goods and services in the event of an emergency.
          • Business Certifications: enables an organization to manage its certification programs such as Small Business Enterprise, Minority, or Diversity as well as Contractor Prequalification(s).
          •  Reports: print or export comprehensive reports.
          • Calendar: calendar view of Agency and any other selected PB Agencies bid dates/deadlines. Users plan solicitation dates to enhance Vendor participation. Provides a quick link to the Agency bid information.
          • Admin: permission-based access to manage administrative areas of each module. (See Admin manual).
          •  Vendor Portal: quick access to the public side of the PB System™. 
          • User Settings: reset User information (name, title, phone, email, login).
          • Help Center: Access Knowledge Base, FAQs, create a support ticket, Support phone number, and feedback section.
          • Log Out: logs User out of the PB System™.

                  C. Dark Mode/Light Mode               

                       Found at the bottom right corner, Dark Mode / Light mode allows the user to change                     the background setting.

      III.  Project Evaluation             

             Entering Project Evaluation, Users can search for bids to view and manage the evaluation             process with unlimited evaluators.

                  D.  Searching for Bids       

                    PB System™ has default fields to search for Bids. Select the “+” to add more fields.                          Fields  with a black square allows the User to choose multiple criteria within the field.  

                     Located in front of the “Clear” button will either be an  or >. This will toggle the search                 criteria open and closed to optimize screen space.

        • Entering a multi- chooser box:
          • Search box- search list by code, number, description.
          • Select all that apply.
          • Select Show only selected Vendor types to see selections.
          • Select Save.
          • Select Search.
        • Searching by Buyer: PB System™ default is to search by the current User. To search for all Users, move User mouse over the blue circle, which will then change to an X.
          • Select X.
          • Select Search.
        E. Managing Display Results
        • Select the  cog icon located at the far right.
        • Check or uncheck an item to hide or add to the search display.
        • Drag the up/down arrow to change the display column order.
        • Place cursor between columns to resize, similar to Excel.

      IV. Reviewing and Submitting Evaluations

      Select the project and then select Edit. The project will immediately open to the Evaluation. This guide will navigate you through the different tabs from left to right and explain the information and actions to be taken on each tab.

                F. Bid Details Tab               

      Displays the following information from Bid Management: Bid Detail, Bid Results, Bid Information, Contact Information, Description, Documents, Line Items, Addenda, Q&A Released Questions, Email History. Select any field to expand further.

        • Select a Bidder under Bid Results to expand and retrieve submitted documents. Cost will not be available to the evaluator until the Agency has released cost.

            G. Evaluation Admin Tab

        • Scoring Method:
          • Weighted: Evaluator must enter a score between 0-10 with up to 2 decimal places. System will calculate the weighted score of this number.
          • Rubric: Evaluator must enter a score between 0-100 with up to 2 decimal places.
        • Evaluators: list of evaluators on the project
          • Expand All: to view full Evaluator contact information.
          • Collapse All: to hide full Evaluator contact information.
          • Select any Evaluator to individual expand/contract contact information.
        •  Schedule: list of dates and events for the evaluation team to be aware of. 
        • Evaluation Form: additional documents beyond the submitted documents to be given to Evaluators.
          • Select Download or View to open document.
        • Evaluator Attachments: Evaluators may attach documents to be returned to the Agency here.
          • Select Drag and drop a file here or Browse Files to attach one or more documents from the User’s computer directory.
            • Select Title field to change the file title, if needed.
            • Select Remove to remove the file prior to save.
            • Once saved,
              • Select Recall to deactivate the file.
              • Select Download or View to open the file.
        • Email History: Any emails sent to the evaluation team will appear in this section.
          • Select ˄ or ˅ arrow to expand and collapse the section.
          • Select the email title to expand to view the message.

      H. Technical Qualifications Tab

      Initial review by the Agency to determine which Bidder will be evaluated. At a minimum, each Bidder must have an Overall Grade of Pass to be evaluated. Vendors with an Overall Grade of Fail will not be evaluated. The Agency can create a list of individual items the bidder must pass or fail to proceed. This step is optional to the Agency.

        • Qualification Scores:
          • Select Vendor to expand and view individual qualification pass/fail, if any.

      I. Criteria Tab

      Criteria for Round 1 and Round 2 scoring. Scoring is done by the Evaluators (Criteria), the PB System™ (Cost) and by the Agency User (Preferences). Additional Rounds may be added by the Agency.

        • Cost: this is optional, if selected, the PB System™ will calculate the cost score based upon the amount entered in Bid Management, Bid Results. Cost evaluation scores are displayed after release by Agency User.

          How cost is calculated:

          The proposal with the lowest cost receives the maximum points available. The remaining proposals are scored based on the lowest proposal cost. The price of the lowest proposal cost is divided by the cost of the proposal being evaluated, then multiplied by the maximum points available.


        • Preference: optional points to be awarded to bidders who qualify based upon Agency requirements for Vendor Classification Types (SBE, DVBE, etc.). Scores are shown after release by Agency User.
        • Round 1 Criteria: criteria Evaluators will score in the initial round of evaluations.
          • Enable Round 1 Scorecard: if selected, Evaluators may begin scoring. If unselect, Evaluators cannot enter scores.  
        • Round 2 Criteria: criteria Evaluators will score in the next round of evaluations. This step can be configured at a later date or skipped based upon Agency needs.
          • Enable Round 2 Scorecard: if selected, Evaluators may begin scoring. If unselect, Evaluators cannot enter scores
        • Add Additional Round: allows up to 2 additional rounds of scoring and can be added at any time.
          • Enable Round # ScoreCard: if selected, Evaluators may begin scoring. If unselect, Evaluators cannot enter scores.
        • Bidders: Selected Bidder’s from Round 1 to move forward to round 2 and each consecutive round for evaluations.

      J. Evaluations Tab

      Evaluator’s name will appear at the top. Directly below will be each Bidder to be evaluated, evaluation status and Total Score.

      Expand All/ Collapse All will expand and collapse evaluation criteria fields.

        • To enter scores:
          • Select Bidder and the field will expand.
          • Select Criteria Title and the comments section will appear.
          • Awarded Points: enter in value.
            • Weighted: Evaluator must enter a score between 0-10 with up to 2 decimal places. System will calculate the weighted score of this number. 

              The PB System™ uses the Weighted Score Method. The best way to score using this method is to not think about the total value assigned to the criteria. Instead, on a scale of 0-10, where does the proposal rank in regard to the criteria. The PB System™ will automatically calculate and enter the score.  

            • Rubric: Evaluator must enter a score between 0-100 with up to 2 decimal places.
          • Strengths: enter comments
          • Weakness: enter comments
          • Comment: enter general comments
        • Cancel: rejects all changes since the last save.
        • Save: saves all scores and comments as a DRAFT and can be edited.
        • Submit: locks in all scores and comments and cannot be changed without permission from the Agency User.

      K. Results Tab

      Scores for Cost, Preferences, Round # -Evaluator and Round #- Consensus will not show until those the scoring has been submitted for the section.

      By default, all scores are displayed. Select and unselect to configure the scoring value desired.

        • Individual Evaluator Scores- exact score value per evaluator.
          • Round #: Select ^ or ⱽ arrow to expand/collapse breakdown by criteria.
        • Evaluator Aggregate Scores- exact total of combined evaluator scores for all criteria per Bidder.
          • Round #: Select ^ or ⱽ arrow to expand/collapse breakdown by criteria.
        • Evaluator Average Scores- average total of combined evaluator scores for all criteria per Bidder.
          • Round #: Select ^ or ⱽ arrow to expand/collapse breakdown by criteria.
        • Consensus Scores- exact total for all criteria per Bidder.
          • Round #: Select ^ or ⱽ arrow to expand/collapse breakdown by criteria
        • Preference: exact total for all preferences per Bidder.
          • Select ^ or ⱽ arrow to expand/collapse breakdown by preference type.
        • Cost Scores: point calculations per Bidder.
        • Export: exports all score values in Excel

      L.  Notes Tab

      Agency User and Evaluation Team may enter any additional notes.