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Locking and Unlocking Suppliers' Bids
Locking and Unlocking Suppliers' Bids

This article will explain how to lock different sections in a Request and how to unlock a bid at the conclusion of a Request

Anika Gadher avatar
Written by Anika Gadher
Updated over a week ago

This article is intended for buyers. If you're a supplier, check out our supplier help articles here.

This article will explain how to lock different sections in a Request and how to unlock a bid at the conclusion of a Request.

This article will cover:

What is Locking a Bid

In cases where you require submissions from suppliers to be sealed, you can lock sections (Documents, Line items, Questions). This ensures that you and your team can only review and compare submissions when:

  • The stage deadline passes

  • A team member unlocks it

  • Or when both conditions are met!

You can decide whether or not to lock supplier submissions while building a Request in draft. This feature is available only to a Request Owner or Request Members.

To read more about different types of users and members, click here.

How Locks are Set for Different Sections

Specific types of sections are locked differently. Documents are locked individually, whereas Questions and Line items are locked at a Section level.

Read more about the different types of sections you can use to build a request here.

You can lock any document submissions excluding documents that have a set requirement:

  • Upload completed document or offer a deviation

  • Accept the document or offer a deviation

  • Any supplier-added documents

All documents are set as unlocked by default. To lock a document, click the lock button at the end of the document line.

To lock a Question or Line items Section you need to set your ‘Unlock criteria’:

  1. Within your draft Request go to the section you want to lock, click Edit and then expand ‘Section Configuration’

  2. In the ‘Lock responses’ line click Edit.

  3. You have two options to choose from: Automatic or Manual.

    1. If you select Automatic, this will unlock the supplier inputs when the stage deadline has passed.

    2. If you select Manual you will be given the option to either allow a team member to unlock the section ‘at any time’ or ‘when stage deadline has passed’. Based on what you have chosen, a team member will physically go in and decide to unlock the supplier inputs.

How to Unlock a Bid

A team member on a Request can unlock bids by:

  1. Go to the Suppliers tab.

  2. Click more actions.

  3. Selecting unlock bids.

  4. This action will be logged on the Audit Trail.

⚡ Top Tip: For a sealed bid, use both criteria to easily see who unlocked the submissions and when on the Audit Trail.

For any further queries, please use our live chat function or email: support@deepstreamtech.com

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