Project Dates

Advanced Project Settings: Project Dates

Fields in the Project Dates tab

Forum End Time: Set the deadline for questions to be submitted to the Project Forum.

Start Time of Event: All questions must be posted before the auction starts. (auctions only)
End Time of Event: All questions must be posted before the event ends. (sealed bid projects only)
Date and Time fields: Enter a specific date and time when the project forum will end.

NOTE: If no project forum is enabled for the project, this field is not available. Enable project forums in Project Settings.

Preliminary Bids: A preliminary bid is a legal and binding bid. You can collect them via facsimile, traditional delivery, or online using Iasta SmartSource. If preliminary bids are received outside of Iasta SmartSource, the Project Administrator must enter them through Bid Management before the Live Event. In the Live Event, a preliminary bid represents a bidder's lowest bid at the opening of the Live Event.

Preliminary bids can provide insight into the future success of the project while there is still time to make adjustments. Iasta recommends that you always collect preliminary bids to force bidders to place binding bids and uncover any possible problems. Requiring bidders to prepare legal, valid bids prior to the Live Event forces them to fully explore the ramifications of the bid and their ability to supply or buy to specification. With preliminary bids, bidder problems and questions are usually voiced while preparing the preliminary bid and may force an RFx revision or a change to the lot structure to improve the project. Unless the bidder base is very small and well known, some bidders are likely to be lost through attrition, due to technical inability to bid or supply, and you will get a good indication of the final number of qualified bidders. Iasta recommends that you exclude bidders from any lot for which they do not place a preliminary bid. Preliminary bids are automatically disabled for No Live Event projects.

Do not accept online preliminary bids: Bidders cannot submit preliminary bids through the Iasta SmartSource Desktop or Portal.
Accept online preliminary bids until: Enter the end date and time for Bidders to submit preliminary bids in the Live Event through the Iasta SmartSource Desktop or Portal. Bidders can submit preliminary bids from the date when you publish the project until this date and time.

NOTE: For Dutch Auctions, all bids must be submitted into a bidding interval so preliminary bids are not available. If the project is enabled for automatic proxy bidding, bidders can submit bids at any point after the specified start time for the event and Iasta SmartSource will automatically submit the saved bid for them if an interval with the correct bid range opens.

Historical Dates: These dates are treated as project milestones. The fields are initially entered by Iasta SmartSource when an event occurs in the software but you may edit them in cases where a project may have actually achieved an event on a different date then when Iasta SmartSource was updated.

Project Created: The date defaults to the date the project was created in Iasta SmartSource but you can edit it.
Project Published: The date defaults to the date when the project status was changed to published but you can edit it here. If the project has not been published, this field is not available.
Project Closed: The date defaults to the date when the project status was changed to a completed status but you can edit it here. If the project has not been completed, this field is not available.

Save as Default: Place a check mark in the box to make the settings currently on this page the default settings for all new projects.

Use these buttons to navigate:

OK: Saves changes and returns to the Project Settings page.
Cancel: Exits Advanced Settings without saving.
Help: Opens Iasta SmartSource Desktop Online Help.