Responding to tender opportunities on SAP Business Network Discovery

This resource guide will walk you through the process of responding to tender opportunities posted by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) using SAP Business Network Discovery.

You will need an SAP Business Network account to view the full details of tenders posted using SAP Business Network Discovery. If you haven’t already done so, refer to the guide on how to register for an account.

This guide uses the process of responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) as an example, but the steps in this guide can be used to respond to other types of tender opportunities as well.

On this page: 

• Prepare your response to a tender opportunity
• Submit your completed response
• Edit your response to a tender opportunity
• View your response history
• Contact the buyer

Prepare your response to a tender opportunity

If you find a tender opportunity on CanadaBuys that is posted in SAP Business Network Discovery, you will be redirected to the SAP Business Network login page. You will then be able to complete your response using your SAP Business Network account following the steps below.

Step 1

After selecting a tender opportunity from CanadaBuys, you will be brought to the tender notice page. Review the information here then click the Bidding details tab to continue. 

Step 2

The Bidding details tab is displayed. Click the “Login to SAP Ariba to view this opportunity” button to continue.  

Step 3

The “You are now leaving CanadaBuys” page is displayed. Click the “Continue to SAP Business Network” button to view the tender notice in SAP Business Network Discovery. 

Step 4

Once you have reviewed all the information on the posting, click the “Respond to Posting” button to review the event details and to get access to the tender documents

Step 5

A pop-up window will appear prompting you to log in to your SAP Business Network account. Enter your username and password in the fields provided and click the “Login” button.  
After logging in you will go directly to the tender opportunity, also known as an Event.

Step 6

The Event page is displayed. Complete the steps under the Checklist section to view the full event and respond to it. 

Step 7

Click the “Review Event Details” tab for an overview of information for the opportunity. The step you are on will be highlighted with an outline on the left side, and the main display window to the right will display the relevant information.

Step 8

At the top of the page, you’ll find four buttons:

• Download Content, which provides an Excel summary of the event
• Review Prerequisites, which takes you to the next step in the checklist, and is the required step that needs to be completed to gain access to the rest of the opportunity
• Decline to Respond, which allows you to decline to respond to the opportunity after reviewing more information about the event. Once you agree to the prerequisites, this button will no longer be visible
• Print Event Information, which allows you to download a summary of the opportunity in a Word document 

Click the “Review Prerequisites” button to continue to the next step in the checklist. Complete the checklist to gain access to the rest of the opportunity.

Step 9

The Review and Accept Prerequisites tab in the checklist is now highlighted with an outline on the left side. Review the agreement information in the main display window.

Step 10

After reviewing the agreement provided by the Government of Canada, you will be asked to accept the terms of the agreement. Select the radio button to confirm your acceptance and click the “OK” button.

Note: You will be asked to agree to these terms on each tender opportunity that you wish to respond to. By accepting the terms of an event, you are not required to submit a bid. However, you will start receiving event related notifications.

Note:There may be other prerequisites listed below the agreement acceptance that are specific to a particular opportunity. Please review the entire page to ensure all required fields have been completed.

Submit your completed response

Follow the steps in this section to submit your completed response to the tender opportunity.

Step 1

After clicking the “OK” button in the previous step, a pop-up window appears asking if you would like to submit this agreement. Click the “OK” button to continue.

Step 2

The Submit Response tab is displayed. This tab shows the entire event’s content section. In the section one you will find the tender documents. 

In the section two, you will find the requested fields to fill out. In the RFP example given, there are four subsections and one question, as follows:

• 2.1 Technical Offer
• 2.2 Financial Offer
• 2.3 Certifications
• 2.4 Additional Information
• 2.5 Question

The response fields and "Attach a file" links are available on the right side of the subsections or questions. 

Step 3

To upload your first document under a subsection: 

• Click the "Attach a file" link to open the Add attachment pop-up window 
• Click the “Choose file” button to look for the file on your computer
• Select your file and click “Open” 
• The selected file will show in the window. To attach the file, click the "OK" button at the top-right of the screen

To upload a second document under the same subsection:

• Click the comment icon with a plus sign on the right side of the "Attach a file" link
• Follow the same steps as above

Note: If the plus sign is not there, it means that the Contracting Authority does not allow more than one attachment per section.

Step 4

To respond to questions, select the appropriate answer in the drop-down menu from the All Content page.

Step 5

Click the “Submit Entire Response” button to submit your response to the tender opportunity. You will be able to make revisions to your response up to the event deadline, even if it has been submitted. 

A series of function buttons are found at the bottom of the Submit Response page:

• Submit Entire Response, which allows you to submit your response to the tender opportunity
• Update Totals, updates monetary values for the response based on values that were changed (PSPC is not using this functionality for now) 
• Save Draft, which allows you to save your work as you progress through your responses. It is strongly advised to save frequently, as the site will not automatically save your entries
• Compose Message, which allows you to privately message the buyer’s procurement team (see the Contact the buyer section below for the compose message functionality)
•  Excel Import*, which allows you to import excel files, as required. This function also allows you to export the tender opportunity to an Excel document, complete your responses, and then upload your responses in the Excel document

* Although the Excel Import functionality being available in SAP Business Network, PSPC does not encourage its use and highly recommends that users complete the bid directly in Event content section. You must follow the bid instructions from the tender documents.

Step 6

Click the “OK” button to submit your response. You will be directed to a page where you will see a banner message confirming your response was submitted. 

Edit your responses to a tender opportunity

Follow the steps below to revise a response to a tender opportunity that has already been submitted.

Step 1

Log in to SAP Business Network if you have not already done so. If you need help logging in, please refer to our guide on Logging into your CanadaBuys account.

Step 2

Click the “Revise Response” button below the confirmation message to access your response and make revisions as necessary. 

Step 3

You will be presented with a pop-up window confirming that you have already submitted your response and asking if you’d like to revise it. Click the “OK” button.

Step 4

Once you have completed making changes to your response, click “Submit Entire Response.”
You can continue to make changes to your response up until the response deadline.

View your response history

Follow the steps below to view your response history to a tender opportunity in SAP Business Network.

Step 1

Select “Response History” from the menu on the left-hand side of the browser page to review your response history on the tender opportunity.

Step 2

Your response history is displayed. When you are finished reviewing the response history, click “Done” at the top-right of the page.

Contact the buyer

Follow the steps below to contact a buyer directly by sending a message through SAP Business Network.

Step  1

Navigate to the Submit Response page and click the “Compose Message” button.

Step 2

The Compose New Message page is displayed. When you have finished composing your message, click “Submit” at the top-right corner of the browser page. 

You will receive responses through SAP Business Network and by email if you email notifications enabled. You can also access the response through the Event Messages Page at the top-left of the browser page. 

You have successfully completed all the required steps to respond to an opportunity.  

Note: Do not submit another bid for the same opportunity. If there are changes required to your responses, please refer to the section of this guide on how to Edit your responses to a tender opportunity.