Congratulations! You’ve been invited to bid on a project by a contractor who is using the Kahua platform.
You should have received an email with information on an opportunity to bid on a project from the contractor. The email will typically contain a link to view the bid solicitation in Kahua and an attached Bid Solicitation form with details about the bid.
When you click on the link, a page will open with the option to view the bid information in Kahua, to decline to bid without viewing the details, or to respond as undecided so you will continue to receive updates about the bid solicitation. You will also be able to decline to bid after reviewing the bid solicitation in Kahua.
There are several steps involved in responding to the bid solicitation. This article will describe the process to review the bid solicitation and submit your intent to bid or not bid.
Once you’ve submitted your intent to bid, you may have questions for the contractor. For instructions on submitting questions and reviewing answers to submitted questions, refer to Using the Bid Room - Submitting and Reviewing Questions and Answers (Q&A).
When you are ready to submit your bid, you will complete the Bid Form tab on the Bid Proposal in the Bid Room. For those instructions, refer to Using the Bid Room - Submitting Your Bid.
How to review the bid solicitation and submit intent to bid or not bid
- Open the email that has been sent to you. Typically, there will be an attached Bid Solicitation form in PDF format that includes information about the bid, including a Response Due date, Questions Due date, Bid Due date, and other important dates and details.
- Click the link in the email to access more information. A web page with several options on it will open. Select one of the following options:
- View Bid Details – Select this option to open the bid details. If you are already a Kahua user, you can log in to your account to view the bid. If you are not yet a Kahua user, you can use this link to set up a username and password. You do not need to have a Kahua license to access the bid details or submit a bid in Kahua. All you need is a username and password.
- Will Not Bid – Select this option to inform the contractor that you will not be bidding on this project. There is no account setup required to select this option.
- Undecided – Select this option if you have not yet decided if you will bid or not. There is no account setup required to select this option. You will continue to be informed of any changes or updates to the bid solicitation.
- Complete the log in or registration process and open Kahua. When Kahua opens, click the messages icon in the header to access the message regarding the Invitation to Bid. Click on the Invitation to Bid message to open it.
- In the message, click on Open in Kahua to open the Bid Invitation in the Bid Room application.
- Notice when you open the bid, the Bid Room application becomes active on the launch bar on the left. To collapse the launch bar, click the collapse icon
at the top of the launch bar.
- To switch between seeing a list of all your bid invitations in a list view or an individual one in detail view, click the log view icon
or detail view icon 
at the bottom of the page.
- When you open the Bid Invitation, there are three tabs to review: Overview, Bid Form, and Documents & Drawings.
- The Overview tab contacts basic information about the bid, including the project name and address, important dates such as Bid Due, Response Due, and Questions Due, and Scope and Schedule information.
- The Bid Form tab contains any Minimum Requirements, Instructions, and the Bid Sheet.
- The Documents & Drawings tab contains relevant documents and drawings as attached files. Scroll to the right to select the ellipses. From here you can View, Download, or Markup the file. Any markups you make on the file will be saved to your account and will not appear to the contractor. For more information on viewing drawings and using markups, refer to Markup Tool - Basics.
- The Overview tab contacts basic information about the bid, including the project name and address, important dates such as Bid Due, Response Due, and Questions Due, and Scope and Schedule information.
- Before the Response Due date, select Will Bid or Will Not Bid to inform the contractor of your intent to bid or not bid.
- Once you select Will Bid, the Status of the solicitation will change from "Pending" to "Will Bid" and the Q & A tab will appear.
Once you’ve submitted your intent to bid, you may have questions for the contractor. For instructions on submitting questions and reviewing answers to submitted questions, refer to Using the Bid Room - Submitting and Reviewing Questions and Answers (Q&A).
When you are ready to submit your bid, you will complete the Bid Form tab on the Bid Proposal in the Bid Room. For those instructions, refer to Using the Bid Room - Submitting Your Bid.