- Provide all service and materials necessary for Reverse Auctions. - Act as an independent third party to any Reverse Auction, conducting all actions in a manner impartial to Vendors and Commonwealth agencies alike. - Host a secure website for conducting online Reverse Auctions. Site shall include security measures to immediately identify unauthorized users and prevent them from bidding. No software purchase by the participating vendor or Commonwealth shall be required. - Register all technically responsible Vendors identified by the Commonwealth Buyer for participation in the Reverse Auction. - Verify the identity of every registered Vendor with the Commonwealth Buyer prior to conducting a Reverse Auction. - Notify all participating Vendors of any changes to the Reverse Auction schedule. - Conduct training on Reverse Auction procedures during Pre-Bid Conferences sponsored by the Commonwealth, as required. - Allow all Vendors to bid anonymously so that no Vendor can identify the number or identity of its competitors during a Reverse Auction. - Allow all Vendors to submit “blind bids” so that each Vendor knows only its relative ranking (first, second, etc) and no Vendor knows the exact amount bid by a competitor. - Set pre-determined time limits for each Reverse Auction. - Automatically extend the active time of each Reverse Auction whenever a new bid is received within a predetermined number of minutes from the stated expiration time, preventing a last-second low bid from winning without giving adequate time for other Vendors to respond or allowing a Vendor to find and overtake first place as the lowest bidder. - Provide secure, anonymous telephone backup procedures and surrogate bidding for Vendors should they experience an interruption in service from their ISP or have scheduling conflicts with the online auction. The backup mode shall protect Vendor information and privacy to the same extent as the automated system. - Provide a backup power supply system and backup server to prevent an interruption of services during the Reverse Auction. In the event of a power failure or interruption of services, the Reverse Auction Vendor must have the capability of immediately notifying all participants via a backup communications system. - If a bid is interrupted due to a failure of the Reverse Auction Vendor’s equipment or software, there shall be no charge to participants or Commonwealth and the auction shall be rescheduled as soon as possible, with minimal additional information required from the participants. Multiple failures of Vendor’s equipment may be considered cause for cancellation of the master agreement. - Provide full disaster recovery capability to restore all files within a reasonable time following a system failure. - Immediately tabulate results and provide all bid data electronically to the Commonwealth buyer no later than two hours after the completion of the Reverse Auction. - Provide all files concerning registration, bidding, tabulation, and any records of malfunctions experienced during the bid to the Commonwealth buyer electronically and in hard copy within 24 hours of completion of the auction. - Compile report of spend analysis for each bid, including the number of Vendors, number of lowering bids received, and projected savings in actual dollars and percent, within 24 hours of completion of each bid. - Provide capability for live viewing by the Commonwealth Buyer on a Reverse Auction.
