Patent Application
20180246479
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing secure, online centralized control over the selection of services and commodities to meet for example energy capacity for an electric generating plant, the method and apparatus providing screening and rejection of unqualified applicants, transparency exceeding governmental guidelines, options to aggregate offers, and facilitate automated, real time evaluation and ranking of energy producers.
The process of strategic energy planning for an electric generating plant encompasses continual analysis of qualified energy producers that can meet capacity, location, price and the required combination of non-renewables such as fossil fuel or nuclear power production with renewables such as solar, wind, and geo-thermal. Proper management of a competitive procurement program that meets all requirements of, for example, a regulatory agency for disclosure and transparency is one important factor that is extremely resource intensive. Every step in the process requires careful review and evaluation of information provided in numerous documents for the determination of acceptable candidates. Even during a pre-screening process, the discrimination and removal of energy producers that do not conform to the minimum offer requirements can be a lengthy and inefficient process. In many instances time and money is spent reviewing incomplete or non-conforming offers that are not ready for an adequate review because documents and information required to be submitted by the energy producer have not been completed. In many industries, a streamlined process that provides pre-screening of non-conforming offers, an easily accessible document management system and current status of all offers submitted would greatly reduce costs and overhead of managing and fulfilling the energy capacity requirements of an electric generating plant.
As an example, in the industry of electric power production, the deregulation of the electric utility industry has resulted in a need for a sophisticated and strategic energy planning to maintain and meet current and future energy needs. Power procurement in the electric utility industry is dominated by fixed price arrangements set according to federal and state regulatory and governmental bodies, as well as by tariffs filed with these regulators by the provider, and also as contractual arrangements between providers and end users. In most instances, the electric utility company will still maintain primarily the wires and other equipment constituting the local power grid over which electric power is transmitted to end user locations. The procurement of energy, for the electric utility company, may then be from solicitations from a combination of conventional generation facilities using nuclear, coal, and natural gas fuels and for all types of renewable resources, such as solar, wind and geo-thermal generation. Typically, energy producers are required to deliver for 10-30-year terms, making the reliability of electricity to customers dependent on selecting supplies that are financially and physically reliable for long terms.
Deregulation of utilities required the procurement of electricity and capacity from non-utility entities, and spawned the creation of non-regulated affiliates of many utilities. To ensure system reliability, many utilities have developed “self-build” proposals to supply system needs in the event the competitive market is unable to meet needs with reliable services at the lowest possible price for customers. Affiliate and self-build proposals compete with non-utility marketers, creating the challenge of conducting fair and transparent solicitations. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and many state regulatory entities have standards to be met when affiliate or utility bids participate in competitive solicitations to ensure transparency, and to encourage the development of a robust competitive, non-regulated, power supply market. FERC and state standards require the monitoring of solicitations involving utility-affiliate bidding. Standards require transparency and accountability for conduct of such solicitations, and for the selection process. The standards are intended to prevent bias that would favor affiliate bids, and include requirements for record keeping giving regulators the ability to review details of the solicitation process.
The proliferation of “renewable portfolio standards”, intended to encourage the development of generation from non-fossil fuel sources, has resulted in the need to conduct frequent solicitations to accommodate small, diversified renewable generation. Development of renewable resources has also resulted in a significant increase in the number of participants in solicitations as the cost of developing diversified projects permits small firms to participate. This has resulted in the need to manage and evaluate many energy producers. For example, where previously there would be less than twelve qualified energy producers to build a large generating plant, there may be hundreds who respond to renewable product solicitations. In this as in many industries and government procurement programs, each of these solicitations must be transparent, secure, and fully documented to meet regulatory requirements. Conformance to these standards also protects a utility or other company from receiving corrective action notices from a regulatory agency, or from fines being levied for non-conformance, and/or from accusations from dissatisfied bidders that may result in project delay and/or in the worst cases costly, time consuming litigation.
The integrity of the electric grid is dependent on the availability of reliable energy sources. Further concerns for electric utility companies are that renewable resources, with intermittent, non-dispatchable power, create unique system challenges and demand rigorous performance standards. The low cost of small renewable projects attracts energy producers with limited experience and limited financial resources. However, where supply requirements are typically 10-30 years, long term planning and proven capabilities to maintain capacity and system reliability must be shown by these newcomers in the energy production market. Further, as renewable technologies evolve, even greater opportunities exist for market entry and with that the need for increasingly complex product designation and evaluation. Presently, in some solicitations over 1,000 offers are received, requiring increasingly more sophisticated ways to manage solicitations. All these submissions and all documents related to these submissions must be stored securely where confidential financial information may be provided.
The issues facing the energy production industry are like issues facing many other industries, such as within the government for military procurement, educational procurement, grant proposals for medical research and others where access to posted Requests for Proposal (RFP) and Requests for Information (RFI) are easily accessible to review and submit an offer, regardless of the ability of the energy producer to meet the most basic requirements. Procurement costs both within the private sector and government are driven up as resources are tasked with discerning competent acceptable energy producers from others. While many procurement programs accept electronically filed submissions, few provide any or very limited controls to restrict or remove non-conforming bidders early on in the process, a benefit that would greatly help to reduce resources and allow available resources to focus and better discern the offers provided by qualified bidders.
An important issue that has not been addressed in bid/proposal software platforms is that the requirements of each proposal may be vastly different from one another and therefore there is no standardization or conformity with for example the naming of file documents or the use of terminology where as an example even within a single industry some companies may refer to the proposal as an offer and others refer to the proposal as a bid. This may seem trivial where terms will certainly mean the same thing, but where hundreds of forms documents must be identified, correlated and compared as similar items, non-conformance in the naming of files or use of terminology can significantly increase time spent organizing documents prior to any time spent on evaluation of the qualifications of the bidder.
Differences in the bidding process from company to company may also leave a bidder unsure on the proper steps to take or files to be submitted, resulting in contacting the company to ask questions in order to complete their submission. While bid proposal software may provide a frequently asked questions page, the software may not provide an easily accessible process to enter a new question and distribute an answer and information to all bidders. A single individual may be answering the same questions repeatedly or sending emails out to each individual bidder to provide the information. This presents two distinct problems, first, the bid process must be fair and information that would help one bidder in theory must be provided to all bidders, a difficult task if a comprehensive list of all bidders has not been compiled; second, no favoritism should be shown to any one bid and a reviewer should not be compromised because they helped one bidder with a simple answer on a form. Most companies of course have controls to separate the administrators from the decision makers, but even any sense of impropriety may appear as unjust to a dissatisfied bidder. The ability of a company to fairly distribute information, answer questions and notify bidders of new dates or requirements is critical to maintain and meet the requirements of a fair competitive, bidding process, but currently most approaches again require significant resources to maintain this fairness.
What is needed is a method that tailors an offer proposal to a specific industry or need, and to a specific company within that industry. The method must further disseminate information fairly to all bidders and use information submitted to pre-screen bidders based on the basic requirements of the proposal. Further, security must be paramount, and all submissions and transactions must be maintained in a secure repository. The method must further allow access to submissions for review by both industry and regulatory authorities and allow the submissions to be ranked and qualified throughout the selection process to more efficiently and effectively select the most appropriate energy producers that meet and maintain the electric generating plant's capacity requirements.
The method and apparatus of the present invention relates to a customizable procurement management and ranking system that may be used for any competitive procurement program providing centralized control over the entire solicitation and bidding process. The invention is suited to applications in the utility industry, military and industrial procurement, grant proposals, educational procurement, and other applications where accountability, data management, communication and transparency are required.
In a first embodiment, the method and apparatus are used to meet the need for sophisticated and strategic energy selection in response to the deregulation of the electric utility industry.
In this application, the method manages a competitive bidding process for the selection of services and commodities from electric generating plants to meet power and capacity requirements for immediate and expected use. In the first embodiment, the method further provides a comprehensive management tool to filter and rank offers from electric power producers of various types of power generation, such as from conventional generation facilities using nuclear, coal, and natural gas fuels and from all types of renewable resources, such as solar, wind and geo-thermal generation. The power generation providers may be within the electric utility company's local geographic region where the power is purchased at a point on the regional grid nearest the seller's generating facility. Alternatively, if the buyer is a local distribution utility, the power may be purchased on its local grid at a transfer point where the grid interfaces with the power grids of neighboring utilities. In either, geographic information such as latitude and longitude showing the location of the power generation facility may be helpful in the bidding process to determine the availability of a grid interconnection and transfer points for procurement of the power generated. The present invention provides an interactive map function that displays the location of each bid submission to quickly evaluate potential requirements for connection of an electric generation facility to the power grid.
The present invention provides security for confidential documents and anonymity of bidders while enabling an open and transparent bidding process with features such as off-site remote back up services that could protect data from natural disaster, accidental error or system failure. The secure platform further meets or exceeds security requirements for managing information deemed to be restricted for national security reasons, such as transmission grid and nuclear power plant details. The method includes features such as automatic communication with the bidders, collecting and tabulating bid data, managing bidder presentations and creating a permanent record of all solicitation activities thereby ensuring the integrity of the bidding process. The design and implementation of the method addresses the accountability and transparency requirements for electricity and capacity procurements for regulated utilities and meets or exceeds these regulatory requirements.
The method further eliminates the possibility of the submission of non-conforming, late or incomplete bids through the implementation of bid specific entry forms having range and threshold level parameters within each data field, to screen and prevent entries outside of the prescribed parameters. This filtering of non-conforming energy producers reduces the resources required by a utility company or other entity to review and screen non-conforming or incomplete bids and thereby delivers a significant improvement in efficiency to the bid process. An administrative module provides controls for twenty-four-hour access to the complete record or to relevant portions of the bid process to select individuals within a company, or to regulatory personnel within a government agency to monitor adherence to regulatory protocols during the bid submission process. Each activity, access to data, electronic message communications, etc. is tracked and audit reports are provided identifying the user and the activities performed during access to the bid processing system. The apparatus further provides automated, real time, bid evaluation and ranking, thereby responding to the need for timely decision making to meet the multi-year development schedule, after a decision is made to contract with a bidder.
The method and apparatus further support the submission of aggregate offers where two or more offers may be combined into a new bid as a new entity to meet for example capacity requirements. The method further supports inclusive offers where for example a reduced rate is provided if the solicitor accepts both bids, and for exclusive that restricts a concurrent bid from the same entity where the entity could not support for example the capacity requirements of more than one bid. Reporting and analysis features allow these types of bids to be reviewed in tandem with options to select any data field and configure data presented in reports for review. The system further provides ranking and statistical capabilities to assist in the selection of a bidder.
An object of the present invention is to ensure that all bidders have access to the same information at the same time twenty-four hours a day.
Another object of the invention is to provide an isolated data structure within the selected RFP, with no cross storing or access from any external entity.
Another object of the invention is to setup and manage multiple requests for proposals (RFP's) using a configure solicitation module or interface to configure bid terminology and set bid qualification parameters.
Another object of the invention is auto-transposable data fields within the configure solicitation module of a database structure to accommodate bid terminology specific to an agency, company or industry.
Another object is the ability to integrate graphics and file systems to allow the method and apparatus to be extensively customized for different projects, RFPs and RFIs.
Another object of the invention is the pre-screening and removal of bidders preventing or restricting access to bidders that do not meet pre-qualification parameters such as basic commercial viability standards, adequate financial support, enough proven performance capability, etc.
A still further object of the invention is the display of overlay maps showing latitude, longitude and other location information related to each bid submission.
A still further object of the invention is product specific proposal forms with range and threshold requirements for data entry.
Another object of the invention is to provide confidential communications between the solicitor and all anonymous bidders.
Another object of the invention is to provide a secure platform for uploading sensitive documents and information.
A still further object of the invention is the labeling of submitted documents in a standardized format that meets the terminology and bid parameter requirements.
A still further object of the invention is the organization and storage of each uploaded document and bid submission in a confidential offer or bid book specifically identified with a bidder.
A still further object of the invention is the implementation of a proposal specific RFP that may not be modified once active.
A still further object is the immediate shut down of a proposal specific RFP at the point of deadline for submissions.
A yet still further object of the invention is a notification and electronic messaging system that provides anonymous distribution of data and information to all parties.
A yet still further object of the invention is the access to all documents in appropriate formats for review, ranking and approval wherein bid submission data may be ranked based on a selection by a reviewer of data entry labels of interest.
A yet still further object of the invention is the ability to aggregate offers, create inclusive offers and exclusive offers.
A yet still further object of the invention is the creation of a permanent audit trail, that discloses each and every activity and transaction by any user accessing the procurement system.
The present invention is related to a non-transitory computer-readable media including computer instructions for implementing a strategic energy selection system to meet capacity for an electric generating plant, comprising electronic processing systems implemented on digital devices, the digital devices having a computer processors, memory, and data storage; the electronic processing systems comprising instructions for configuring an authentication interface accessible to one or more isolated data structures; the electronic processing systems communicatively coupled to a user interface and the electronic processing systems and user interface operable and comprising application software to implement instructions that receive, transform, transmit and display transactional data related to power supply requirements for an electric generating plant, the application software implemented on at least one database installed on a computer system having an internet connection accessible through the authentication interface; and comprising instructions of receiving specifications related to the power supply requirements of an electric generating plant, the power supply requirements comprising capacity requirements and a plurality of energy products; receiving capacity and a type of a plurality of energy products from a plurality of energy producers; activating a set of data fields related to one type of the plurality of energy products by implementing a configure technologies function of a configure solicitation module to configure data entry fields based on capacity and type of energy product received from one of the plurality of energy producers; verifying the capacity of each energy producer is within the capacity requirements of the electric generating plant; and denying access to the solicitation module to each energy producer having capacity outside of the capacity requirements; generating a plurality of qualification parameters related to the production of energy, each qualification parameter having a range and threshold based on requirements from the electric generating plant; receiving qualification parameter data from each of the plurality of energy producers that have capacity within the capacity requirements; generating a plurality of bid submission forms with each form comprising a plurality of qualification parameters specific to only one type of the plurality of energy products; displaying to one of the plurality of energy producers a bid submission form specific to the type of energy product of the energy producers thereby removing the requirement to enter qualification parameters that are not applicable to the energy producer; and selecting one of the plurality of qualification parameters as primary; selecting one of the plurality of qualification parameters as secondary; determining the value of each qualification parameter for each of the plurality of energy producers; filtering to display only energy producers that have the selected primary and secondary qualification parameters; ranking the energy producers by the value of the primary and secondary qualification parameters; and selecting an energy producer to supply energy to the electric generating plant based on their ranking. The isolated data structure prevents cross storing of data related to a specific energy producer; and the system may comprise generating a map site interface from qualification parameters of one of the plurality of energy producers; generating a document management module that defines a file folder structure to restrict uploaded documents provided from a specific energy producer to a directory structure and location specified within the bid submission form; configuring an electronic messaging module having an email management module, a distribution module configuring user attributes, a message generator and a notification generator distributing messages anonymously from the energy producers to the electric generating plant. The non-transitory computer-readable media including computer instructions for implementing a strategic energy selection system wherein the configure solicitation module constructs alternative terms as label attributes for a plurality of data entry fields within a database; the plurality of data fields configured to be autotransposable by selecting the alternative term label attribute to provide for every instance of a selected word to be changed to the alternative term in all of the plurality of data fields. In embodiments of strategic energy selection system, the range and threshold requirements are specific to the products and technologies of an energy producer and the pre-qualification requirements may have restrictive data entry fields to prevent access to specific energy producers that do not meet bid pre-qualification parameters. The strategic energy selection system may have the map interface display location information related to each specific energy producer. The strategic energy selection system may have data related to a specific energy producer stored in a confidential bid book. The document management module of the system stores and identically names uploaded documents in a standardized format specified by the bid submission form, the uploaded documents stored within the confidential bid book. The electronic messaging module of the system provides anonymous distribution of data and information to all parties. The strategic energy selection system further comprises at least one of aggregate offers, inclusive offers and exclusive offers.
The present invention is also related to a non-transitory computer-readable media including computer instructions for performing a method of selecting an energy producer to supply electricity to an electric generating plant comprising authenticating using a central processing unit (CPU) connected via a network to a remote storage device user accessibility to one or more isolated data structures in a remote memory device; querying at least one database on a computer system having an internet connection accessible to the isolated data structures to obtain transactional data related to qualification parameters comprising power supply requirements for an electric generating plant, the qualification parameters comprising capacity and technology requirements for different types of a plurality of energy products; generating an output for the selection of one type of the different types of the plurality of energy products; querying using the computer system a selection by one specific energy producer from a plurality of energy producers of one type of the plurality of energy products; compiling using the computer system product and technology data for each of the different types of the plurality of energy products; constructing using the computer system data entry fields based on the compiled data of the one type of the plurality of energy products selected by the specific energy producer; generating at least one bid form comprising one of at least prequalification parameters, a plurality of qualification parameters and company profile requirements, and the data entry fields compiled from the products and technology specific to the selection by the energy producer of the one type of the different types of the plurality of energy products; and wherein the plurality of qualification parameters related to the production of energy, each qualification parameter having a range and threshold based on requirements from the electric generating plant; displaying visually within a user interface using the computer system the data entry fields specific to the selection of one type of the plurality of energy products by the energy producer; querying using the computer system data specific to the one type of the plurality of energy products entered into the data entry fields by the specific energy producer; generating using the computer system a bid submission for the specific energy producer based on the query results, the bid submission comprising the data specific to only the one type of the plurality of energy products thereby removing data that is not applicable to the energy producer; selecting one of the plurality of qualification parameters as primary; selecting one of the plurality of qualification parameters as secondary; determining the value of each qualification parameter for each of the plurality of energy producers; filtering to display only energy producers that have the selected primary and secondary qualification parameters; ranking the energy producers by the value of the primary and secondary qualification parameters; and selecting an energy producer to supply energy to the electric generating plant based on their ranking.
The method of selecting an energy producer to supply electricity to an electric generating plant of may comprise storing the bid submission comprising data related to the specific energy producer within an isolated data structure; receiving prequalification parameters related to the power supply requirements of an electric generating plant, the power supply requirements comprising capacity requirements and a plurality of energy products; receiving capacity and a type of a plurality of energy products from a plurality of energy producers; activating a set of data fields related to one type of the plurality of energy products by implementing a configure technologies function of a configure solicitation module to configure data entry fields based on capacity and type of energy product received from one of the plurality of energy producers; verifying the capacity of each energy producer is within the capacity requirements of the electric generating plant; and denying access to the solicitation module to each energy producer having capacity outside of the capacity requirements. Embodiments of the method comprising constructing using the computer system alternative terms as label attributes for a plurality of data fields within a database; autotransposing using the computer system the plurality of data fields within the database by selecting the alternative term label attribute to change every instance of the selected word to the alternative term in all of the plurality of data fields. Embodiments of the method comprising constructing data entry product specific proposal forms with range and threshold requirements specific to the products and technologies of an energy producer. Embodiments of the method comprising displaying location information related to each energy producer with an icon identifying the type of energy product. Embodiments of the method comprising constructing a confidential bid book comprising the file folder structure specified within the bid submission form for storing bid submission data from the specific energy producer in a confidential bid book. Embodiments of the method comprising storing and identically naming uploaded documents in a standardized format specified by the bid submission form; storing uploaded documents within the confidential bid book. Embodiments of the method comprising sending electronic messages anonymously to distribute data and information to all parties. Embodiments of the method comprising accepting at least one of aggregate offers, inclusive offers and exclusive offers.
These and other features, advantages and improvements according to this invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.
Several embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
In the method and apparatus, a customizable procurement management and ranking system implemented on an internet or intranet database platform is described. Some embodiments of the present invention will be described in terms that would ordinarily be implemented as software programs. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the equivalent of such software may also be constructed in hardware. Because data manipulation algorithms and systems are well known, the present description emphasizes algorithms and features forming part of, or cooperating more directly with the method and hardware of the presently disclosed invention. General features of databases, digital communications devices, email and computerized systems are likewise well known, and the present description is generally limited to those aspects directly related to the method and related hardware of the invention. Other aspects of such algorithms and apparatus, and hardware and/or software for producing and otherwise processing the data involved therewith, not specifically shown or described herein may be selected from such systems, algorithms, components, and elements known in the art.
The present invention can be implemented in computer hardware and computerized equipment. For example, the method can be performed using a system including one or more digital communications devices and/or one or more personal computers. Referring to
The output device 7 provides visually to the user transactional data that has been subject to transformations. The output device 7 can be a monitor or other visual computer screen or graphical user interface (GUI), a printer or other output device that provides a visual or other representation of a final output from the microprocessor-based unit 5. The output device 7 can also be an output device that provides the transactional data as a digital file.
The microprocessor-based unit 5 provides means for processing the transactional data to produce readily discernable, informational and organized images and data on the intended output device or media. The present invention can be used with a variety of output devices that can include, but are not limited to, a digital photographic printer and soft copy display. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention is not limited to just these mentioned data processing functions. The server computer 4 shown in
It should also be noted that the present invention can be implemented in a combination of software and/or hardware and is not limited to devices, which are physically connected and/or located within the same physical location. One or more of the devices illustrated in
In each context, the invention may stand alone or may be a component of a larger system solution. Furthermore, human interfaces, e.g., the input, the digital processing, the display to a user (if needed), the input of user requests or processing instructions (if needed), the output, can each be on the same or different devices and physical locations, and communication between the devices and locations can be via public or private network connections, or media based communication. Where consistent with the foregoing disclosure of the present invention, the method of the invention can be fully automatic, may have user input (be fully or partially manual), may have user or operator review to accept/reject the result, or may be assisted by data or metadata (data or metadata that may be user supplied, supplied by another computer program or database from a different application or determined by an algorithm). Moreover, the algorithm(s) may interface with a variety of workflow user interface schemes.
In the following description, some features are described as “software” or “software programs”. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the equivalent of such software can also be readily constructed in hardware. Because data manipulation algorithms and systems are well known, the present description emphasizes algorithms and features forming part of, or cooperating more directly with the method and hardware of the presently disclosed invention. General features of databases, digital communications devices, email and computerized systems are likewise well known, and the present description is generally limited to those aspects directly related to the method and related hardware of the invention. Implementation of the present invention may be in conjunction with one or more database management systems (DBMS) such as Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, or others using widely supported database languages such as SQL to define and manipulate data and perform data queries. Other aspects of such algorithms and apparatus, and hardware and/or software for producing and otherwise processing the data involved therewith, not specifically shown or described herein may be selected from any such systems, algorithms, components, and elements known in the art. The present invention may further be implemented on a secure web server 9 using SSL, SHTTP or other security protocols for encryption and decryption of transmitted data. Data replication and redundancy is performed automatically, and all servers are secured in optimal conditions. Further security is provided wherein each proposal is setup using a unique domain name that is active solely during the prescribed period for accepting bids, and is immediately deactivated at the close of bid acceptance. At bid close, the entire database with all data is ported to a storage unit and provided to the solicitor as a secure record of all bid submissions, communications and transactional data of the solicitation.
As described briefly above, in a first embodiment, the present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for efficient management of a bidding process for bidders to provide power generation offers to solicitations as requested by utilities to meet the utilities power supply requirements and commitments. The invention provides for security of confidential documents enabling an open and transparent bidding process for all participants and specifically facilitates automatic communication with the bidders, collects and tabulates bid data, manages bidder presentations and creates a permanent record of all solicitation activities for later review and regulation requirements. While a first embodiment of this application is generally drawn in an exemplary manner to a solicitation and bidding process for electricity production, it is to be appreciated that the same method and apparatus could be used to solicit and bid for almost any commodity, good or service. In the first embodiment as shown in
The secure web-based platform of the present invention, as shown in
The administrator 30 directly controls the content/site management and through this module controls and edits the basic website settings and content including configuring bid parameters, managing the facts, e.g. FAQ's, capacity requirements, and other information that must be collected from bidders regarding the solicitation to properly evaluate and select an appropriate bidder. The administrator 30 further controls question and answer (Q&A) information, announcements, timelines/calendar and documents available on the website to the registrants and bidders. It is also to be appreciated that the terms registrant and bidder may be used interchangeably throughout the specification as a bidder by necessity must be registered to supply a bid and be part of the solicitation process. The administrator 30 also controls a bid management module or interface 180 through which the administrator can build and generate prequalification and qualification parameters, company profile requirements, product information, bid form databases, configure products and technologies, and configure a bid book folder structure for uploading and storing documents. The administrator 30 may further view and manage existing bids in the queue.
A user management module 200 allows the administrator 30 to view registrant records and approve manual registrations. This module permits the viewing, editing, enabling and disabling of user records and manages user security parameters to provide access and/or restrict or lockout users for non-approved activity using a user's IP address or other system identifier.
The administrator uses an email management module 210 to create content for, and generate individual and group emails as necessary. While generally used to inform registrant and bidders of ongoing and critical solicitation activity, the email management may also be utilized for communication of information with non-registered users who have requested notification with respect to a solicitation. A reports/logs module 240 allows an administrator 30 to configure and generate bids, users, email reports, view site access and email generation logs, view site contact and activity logs, manage site maps, and create “in-service” sites or other iconic indicators to be included on a map of, for example, potential energy production facility sites. A more complete discussion of the above noted modules and features of the present invention are discussed in detail below.
An important feature of the present invention is the creation of a dedicated secure website for each new solicitation that includes all information and details of the solicitation. Alternatively, multiple solicitations could be presented through a single existing website, but for security and control a single solicitation within a single website domain allows for access to the site to be activated precisely when bid submissions are accepted and be deactivated precisely when bid submissions are no longer accepted. The website further provides for all data including the bid submissions and communications to be ported to a secure server for storage and recordkeeping after the website has been de-activated. The administrator 30 can customize each solicitation page using the content/site management module 170 as discussed in further detail below.
An RFP home page 31, as shown in
This restricted access to data of a single RFP is unlike other file systems of the prior art where a set of documents from one RFP are stored in one or more folders in a tree like file structure on a single server. The folder and files of multiple RFPs are accessible to anyone who has access to the server and creating a security risk and potential for misfiling by saving data in an incorrect folder. The solicitation management system 12 excludes access to all other folders and files except those associated with the selected RFP. This improvement on current data file structures restricts access to highly confidential information to only those administrators and reviewers of the selected RFP and prevents access or filing errors of documents where another RFP could be mistakenly selected.
An RFP hyperlink 51 provides access to an introduction screen 53 for each RFP 35 as shown in a first embodiment in
An important feature of the solicitation management system 12 is the ability for an energy producer 16 to pre-register for RFPs of interest prior to the RFP becoming active and accepting bid submissions 85. Registration may be automatic for pre-approved bidders, based upon administrator setup and lists of known bidders. A bidder will receive a username and password by submitting a registration submission form 51 requesting information to be used in a company profile for the bidder as shown in
As shown in
If a form 67 is submitted with incomplete acknowledgements or unacceptable data field entries 69 a notice 71 is automatically provided to the energy producer 16 indicating access to the RFP site has been denied. Alternatively, the submitted prequalification form 67 may be reviewed for acceptance 73 by the administrator 30 or an engineer 18 or other member of the utility company and a decision may be made, and a notification sent to the energy producer 16. The accepted bidder 77 is provided with a username and password 75 allowing them to be registered giving them access to the solicitation. A registered bidder 77 may then access the secure authentication interface 81 and login to view the RFP bid from 37 to enter data that will be reviewed by the solicitor 83 and be compiled as a bid submission 85 as described in further detail below.
For RFPs that have been posted prior to becoming active and accepting bids, announcements and other information about the solicitation may be sent to all registered bidders 77 using the communications management system 28. Upon activation an activation notices 79 is sent to all registered bidders 77 and solicitor reviewers 83 telling them the RFP is open and accepting bid submissions 85. Upon activation, access to the bid form 37 and other solicitation information is available to registered bidders 77 and other interested parties twenty-four hours a day with access to the same information at the same time being equal to all bidders 77 until the deadline for submission when the system 12 is inactivated. At this precise time, no modifications to bids or further bids may be made or submitted.
The RFP bid form 37 provides a set of modules to assist in facilitating data entry, communication, and document transfer. The modules include a number of functions as shown in
The RFP bid access portal 98, as shown in
By selecting the current bid 107 as shown in
The bid book 120 further provides access to the communications management system 28 using the create memo access key 126 and viewing tools 128 that manage the document folder and subfolder lists to more easily find and access the large number of documents submitted with the bid. Access to uploaded documents is also provided in the document transfer system 93 that provides a list of all uploaded documents and allows a reviewer 83 to download a document for further analysis. Date and time stamps 127 are also provided for the upload of each document to the system. An audit trail of every transaction by any user of the system is also provided as described in further detail below.
The view bid button 114 may be selected to access the bid form templates 92 that list the information and requirements that must be provided by each registered bidder 77 for review by the solicitor 83 as shown in
Providing a customized predetermined bid form 37 for any given solicitation is an important aspect of the present invention. Using specific terminology that conforms to the company's standards, as described in further detail, while also providing the flexibility to select specific data fields necessitated by the solicitation, allows RFPs to be quickly created and to be secured so that modifications to the bid form 37 may not be made once the solicitation is activated. In this way the same information at the same time is consistently presented to all bidders, an important mandate for transparency and equality in the bidding process.
The customized predetermined bid forms 37 further implement range dependent and threshold level data fields 133 with detailed instructions 134 for each data entry required to assist in evaluating the bidder as a viable candidate. Commercial viability standards, adequate financial support, and proven performance capability must all be shown to permit a bidder to meet and be considered to receive the offer of the solicitation. Each of the pre-qualification bid form sections and registered user bid form sections within the solicitation may further use distinctive go-no-go fields 139. In this way if an answer is entered that is outside the required range or criteria set within the data field, other data entry fields 133 may remain gray and block data entry as shown in
The RFP bid form 37 and each module is configured specifically for each RFP through an administrator module 140 that includes many functions for managing the site content. After logging in as an administrator 30 the administrator navigation toolbar 142 is shown on the RFP bid form 37 providing access to the administrator tools 33. As shown in
Administrative tools such as control of user's passwords and levels of security access that are given to each user in modules 143 and 145 are known in the art. However, the solicitation management system 12 further provides immediate restriction and lockout to users that for example do not meet the prequalification parameters or that overburden the system by submitting an excessive number of bids. The system 12 further includes anti-hacking protocols that detect data entries and document uploads that are coded for hacking. These administrative tools further restrict user access to a single login username and password for each company profile restricting access per company to one registered bidder 77, in this way the responsibility for any data or document posted to the system 12 is held by the one listed user of that facility, limiting control and focusing disputes with the solicitor to a single individual. Further control is maintained over the default registry security settings and access settings, e-mail and login setup of each user and other security features to secure and protect confidential information supplied by both the solicitor and the bidders. Data replication and redundancy is performed automatically on all data to prevent the loss of data and all servers are secured in optimal conditions.
The configure solicitation module 146 allows the administrator 30 to configure control settings which determine how the site and system behave, for example enabling and disabling certain modules and determining when the modules are visible, and to whom. Through a series of display sections 152, as shown in
As shown in
The configure solicitation module 146 also enables the administrator 30 to set other parameters for the solicitation such as prequalification and qualification parameters, company profile, desired technology and product parameters, bid, pricing and display options to customize the site and electronic bid application form according to client, i.e. utility, preferences. The configure solicitation module 146 also provides for the selection of pre-qualification form templates and other information that will be displayed prior to the solicitation becoming active, showing what the specific requirements for prequalification may be. For example, form templates may require an interested energy producer 16 to enter personal information on the bidder and basic location and ownership information on the energy producing facility. The configure solicitation module 146 may also be used to determine what general information may be displayed to the public during the period of solicitation. This information would not include access to any information about or from the current registered bidders 77.
The administrator menu 160 as shown in
As shown in
The administrator menu 160 also provides access to the bid management module 180 such as access for the administrator 30 to view all bids, setup data entry fields for the information required under the company profile for each registered bidder 77, and configure the prequalification form template. The prequalification function enables the administrator 30 to set and control the parameters for who may be accepted to bid on the solicitation. The prequalification may include a main section and subsection details that can be configured and previewed from this location. A company profile function includes a form having sections, subsections and certain details and instructions which can be configured and previewed in this location once the profile is configured by the administrator 30. A product information function includes sections and subsection details that can be configured and previewed from this location. Once the prequalification, company profile and products information forms are configured, a bid form database and domain may be configured and interested bidders may submit their prequalification information.
The bid management module 180 also provides access to configure each data entry field of the bid form 37 a section of which is shown in
The use of templates, sections, subsections and preset data entry fields are important features of the present invention in the configuration and modification of the bid form 37. Using these features, the layout and display of each web page may be completed without additional coding or scripting of the database and without requirements of recompiling software or the database for these modifications. After completion of the layout and data entry fields for each web page, access to any modifications of the application software and database is closed and secured. The solicitation is then activated to accept bids, and all contact information, data entry, all communications, and all other transactions of the solicitation are tracked and recorded. Any modification to the solicitation after activation requires the deletion of a current RFP and the creation of a new RFP within the system and setting up a new domain location. Inactivating an RFP prior to a scheduled close date due to error or the presentation of incorrect information, requires the restart of the complete solicitation process with the requirement that all entered bid submissions be reentered. In this way, uniformity and the consistency of information presented to all bidders is maintained, a requirement for fair and unbiased solicitations. The procurement management system 12 further provides for many stages of review by the solicitor 83 prior to activation to avoid any scenario that would require an unscheduled shutdown due to the presentation of inaccurate or incomplete information.
As shown in
A view bids function 197 gives the administrator 30 the ability to view pending, submitted and deleted bids. The function 198 includes sorting tools 199 and export controls to export all or a portion of the bids to an Excel spreadsheet as shown in
The bid management module 180 provides other features that assist m configuring technology, capacity requirements and other detailed requirements that are necessary for the solicitor reviewers 83 to properly evaluate each bid submission 85. Further features include a technologies increment function that provides for the selection of a failed bid being linked to a specific technology if increment values are required. Using the entered values within the prescribed qualification ranges and the specific technology templates, bid submission data may be ranked based on a selection by a reviewer of data entry labels to select and display only those energy producers that meet the selected criteria of interest. A reviewer may select one or more data entry fields of interest and bid submissions having the highest and/or lowest values within the specific criteria selected would be displayed in order of their ranking, for example, base load, peaking and non-peaking power production values, and the cost per kilowatt/hour may be displayed to quickly determine and select only energy producers of the highest ranking and thereby filter out other energy producers.
The administrator menu 160 also includes a user management module 200 that allows the administrator 30 to access attributes of pending, approved and disapproved such as their contact information and date of registration. If registrant approval is configured as manual, registrants can be managed via this function. Alternatively, a user module 201 may be used to have the administrator 30 add, edit and manage all user level access rights, security permissions and notification settings. A set of radio buttons 203 may be used to define access rights and privileges for a user to perform functions such as modify a bid form, enter FAQ's, respond to questions and access bidder documents, and access may be allowed or denied prior to or following activation of the bid form 37 as shown in
A critical component of the solicitation management system 12 is the email management module 210 that provides for both anonymous and direct communication to and from any bidder, reviewer or administrator 30 within the bid form database. The module provides for restrictions to prevent the identity of a bidder from a reviewer in communicating a question or comment. The email module 210 further provides for global or blast emails to every user, to only users that have submitted bids or to other subsets of users, again providing for the same information to be provided to all users at the same time. A diagrammatic representation of the communications system and networks that the email management module 210 must encompass is shown in
Alternatively, a blast email responding to a question may be sent to all registered users 77, depending on the information that must be communicated. The response 225 may further result in an amendment 223 to instructions or other RFP documents 216 that may be uploaded 222 to further explain the content and requirements of the RFP. The question or important new information may also be posted 226 to an announcement 218 or calendar 219 if there are changes to the schedule or critical new information must be distributed. The post may be distributed privately to registrants 77 or to the public 220. The criteria for each distribution are configured through the email messaging module 210.
The email messaging module 210 includes a message generator 26 and a notification generator 29. The message generator 26 provides for automated emails to be generated for the appropriate parties whenever a new posting is made to the bid management form. The notification generator 29 can be set to trigger on the posting of new information in the RFP and automatically distribute notification message of the new posting. The automated message may simply be a new posting, requiring the user to login to the system 12 to review the posting, thereby maintaining security of information within the database. For example, a notification message stating simply “Post to Q & A” may be generated and distributed when an answer from the reviewer 83 or administrator 30 is posted for a question submitted from a bidder. As shown in
As shown in
By closing the configure bid report layout 243 and selecting generate bid report 248, as shown in
A status report 262 may be generated by selecting data field headings in the configure status report layout 268 as shown in
Other features within the module 240 provide audit control and tracking of all transactions by all bidders 77 or a select set of bidders or users within the system. As an example, an access log function enables review of transactions and includes the date, time internet protocol (IP) address the action taken and the web pages accessed. The email log provides email review and displays all emails sent or received up to and including a selected day, and as many days prior to that date as selected with date and time stamps of every message. A contact log may provide information from contact form submissions of each user including registered and rejected bidders for review by the administrator 30 and reviewer 83. Activity record reports 290 enables the review of bid related activity up to and including a selected day, and as many days prior to that date as selected with date and time stamps. Access to these and other features may be through both the administrator navigation toolbar 142, through features within the administration menu 160 or through other access points. Other features include lists of registered bidders 145 and the time of bid submissions in a manage bid queue application 147. A further manage documents module 148 provides access to information such as regulatory information or instructions on using the bid submission website or other information that was posted by the administrator 30 in setting up the solicitation. Other features and templates may be configured to particularly accommodate the type of product procurement or industry, such as military procurement, educational procurement, grant proposals for medical research and others that are contemplated within the scope of the present invention.
A map site function 300 as described above provides that prequalified users and registered bidders 77 denote their energy production facility location as part of the bid submission and the location of those facilities can be superimposed and viewed on a map by a reviewer 83 as shown in
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be affected within the spirit and scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13537595 | Jun 2012 | US |
| Child | 15875711 | US |
