Electronic Bid Bonds
When working with Suppliers for Events with large dollar amounts, such as construction, it is common to require that the Supplier provide a Bid Bond with their response. The Bid Bond is a form of insurance that shows the Supplier can perform the work. Surety 2000 offers the ability provide a Bid Bond ID, which ties to a Bid Bond that can be verified electronically. Electronic Bid Bonds support the electronic storage and validation of Bid Bonds along with some support for paper Bid Bonds.
Defining a Bid Bond Event
Define an Event as using bid bonds from the Response Options section of the Event header. Select the Require Bid Bond checkbox to display an optional Bid Bond Percent field, which indicates the percentage of the total bid that must be supplied to the bond insurer by the Supplier. This percentage must match the percentage on the Electronic Bid Bond. The Require Bid Bond checkbox can be selected or cleared until a Supplier enters a response.
Entry of a Bid Bond ID in Supplier Portal
When a Supplier responds to an Event that requires a Bid Bond, there is an additional tab during the response process for entering the electronic Bid Bond ID or attaching a scan of a paper Bid Bond. If the Supplier has a Bid Bond ID number from Surety 2000, they can enter it. The Bid Bond ID number is verified with Surety 2000 based on the ID number existing, the supplier number matching the number on the bond, and the Event number matching the number on the bond. If the Supplier does not yet have a Bid Bond ID number, there is a link on the form to go to the Surety 2000 website and start the process of getting a bond ID.
If any of these items do not match, an error is displayed to the Supplier and they must work with Surety 2000 to get a valid bond ID. If the bond ID is validated, further editing is done at submission to verify the Bid Bond percentages match (if entered on the Event) and that the bid amount does not exceed the Bid Bond amount (if the Bid Bond has an amount). If either of these conditions cause an error, the response is not allowed to be submitted.
If the response is allowed to be submitted, the Bid Bond Validated field is set to Yes (true) so the buyer knows the Supplier's bid bond ID has been validated. If the Supplier does not enter a Bid Bond ID on the response, a message on the submission form indicates they will have to provide a paper Bid Bond. If an attachment of a paper Bid Bond is entered, a message is displayed indicating that the Supplier still has to provide a physical copy of the paper Bid Bond.
An electronic and paper Bid Bond cannot both be entered. The text at the top of the Bid Bond form is user defined. It has a default value but can be changed in Sourcing Company under Bid Bond Text.
Manual Entry of Responses with Paper Bid Bonds
If a Supplier provides a manual response along with a paper Bid Bond, that information can be attached to the response by scanning the paper Bid Bond and attaching it to the response in the Attach Paper Bid Bond field. When a paper Bid Bond is attached to a response using the Attach Paper Bid Bond field, the Bid Bond is considered to be validated.
Bid Bonds in the Analysis Forms
During the Event Response Analysis process, pertinent information on Electronic Bid Bonds can be viewed by clicking the View Electronic Bid Bond button. Paper Bid Bonds that have been scanned and attached can be displayed by clicking the View Paper Bid Bond button.
If a Bid Bond has not yet been validated for an Event, click the Enter Validated Paper Bid Bond button and attach a paper Bid Bond. Otherwise the Event will not be allowed to be awarded. If a Supplier has attached a paper Bid Bond, a validation action still must be performed in the response analysis forms to allow the Supplier to be awarded.