Offline Bids

If your vendors don’t have access to their portals, you can submit bids on behalf of them using the Offline Bids feature for Request for Quotes in Zoho Spend.

Note: This feature is currently available in early access. Contact support@zohospend.com to enable it for your organization.

Enable Offline Bids

To create bids on behalf of your vendors, you need to enable Offline Bids for your organization. Here’s how:

  • Go to Settings in the top right corner of the page.
    (OR)
  • Click Settings on the left sidebar.
  • Click Request for Quotes under Procurement.
  • In the Preferences tab, check Allow users to add bids on behalf of vendors.
  • Click Save.

Create an Offline Bid for a Vendor

To create an offline bid for a vendor:

  • Go to Request for Quotes under Procurement.
  • Click the More icon at the top and select Published.
  • Click View Details next to the request for quote for which you want to create an offline bid.
  • Go to the Vendors tab.
  • Click the More icon next to the vendor for whom you want to create the offline bid and click + Create Bid. You’ll be redirected to the Create Bid page.
  • Enter the following details provided by the vendor in the Bid Details section:
    • Enter the Bid Quantity and the Price per Quantity for each item. The Item Total will be calculated based on the values entered in these fields.
    • Enter the Delivery Date and the Vendor Notes.
  • Click Upload File in the Bid Documents section to upload the documents provided by the vendor. You can add up to five documents.
  • Click Submit once you’ve entered the required details.
  • Click Confirm in the pop-up that appears.

A bid will created for the vendor and you can view its details in the Vendor Responses tab. If the preference to allow vendors to create multiple bids is enabled, you can follow the same process to create additional offline bids for this vendor.

Note: Once you create an offline bid and submit it, you cannot edit or delete the offline bid.


Download an Offline Bid

You can download the offline bid created for a vendor. Here’s how:

  • Go to Request for Quotes under Procurement.
  • Click the More icon at the top and select Published.
  • Click View Details next to the request for quote for which you created an offline bid.
  • Go to the Vendors Responses tab.
  • In the Vendor Summary view, under the Latest Bid Details column, click the count next to Total. The Bids Made pane will appear.
  • Click View Bid next to the bid you want to download.
  • Click Download Bid on the page that appears.

Disable Offline Bids

To disable Offline Bids for Request for Quotes:

  • Go to Settings in the top right corner of the page.
    (OR)
  • Click Settings on the left sidebar.
  • Click Request for Quotes under Procurement.
  • In the Preferences tab, uncheck Allow users to add bids on behalf of vendors.
  • Click Save.