Editing Rich Text Comments on a Watch List Item

Posted in: Help on March 14, 2011 | No Comments

Comments on an Opportunity allow rich text (HTML) formatting. In order to edit these comments, you’ll need to use the detail page. Bidspeed doesn’t support editing rich text comments directly in the list. Here’s how:

1. Locate the item in your watch list and click on the subject to see the main page:
   
2. Click on the caption of the top page:
   
3. Type your comments (using the toolbar to add rich text formatting – bold, color, …) and click the Save button to return to the main page:
   

New Email Features

Posted in: Blog, Help on November 22, 2010 | No Comments

Bidspeed now allows you to send email directly from your email provider. You will only need to set this up once. Here’s how:

1. Click Preferences
2. Type your SMTP settings. Note that the user name in the email settings will be the email address used to send mail, not your user ID. Click here for common email provider settings.
3. Before you close the preferences page, click the “Test Account Settings.” If the test succeeds, you will receive an email from yourself.

How to install DOD Certificates

Posted in: Help on October 27, 2010 | 4 Comments

If you are attempting to access DoD SSL sites (such as ASFI (acquisition.army.mil), DIBBS (dibbs.bsm.dla.mil)), you may receive a warning message stating that you should not proceed. Some browsers (FireFox), you can add an exception to the warning and continue normally. In Chrome, you’ll be stopped dead.

To get around this, you can install the DoD Root Certificates on your machine. This will allow your Web browser (Chrome, IE, Safari) to trust the identity of Web sites whose secure communications are authenticated by DoD.

Is this required? No, however, this will help you avoid Security Alert windows when you go to secure communication Web sites for various DoD agencies, including DTIC, DIBBS, AFSI. Future access to DoD Web sites may require certificates.

To do this correctly, you should download ALL of the certificates referenced here: http://dodpki.c3pki.chamb.disa.mil/rootca.html and import them into your Trusted Certificate Store. Here’s How (Windows):

• Browse to this site: http://dodpki.c3pki.chamb.disa.mil/rootca.html using IE 6.0 or later, or Firefox 3.0 or later. (You can’t use Chrome for this page, it isn’t supported by the DoD).
• Right click on each of the certificates and download them onto your disk.
• Open Certificate Manager by clicking the Start button , typing certmgr.msc into the Search box, and then pressing ENTER.‌ If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
• Click on Trusted Root Certificate Authorities, then Right Click and choose Import.
  
• Import each of the certificates that you saved to disk.
• As an option, you can import the certificates from Chrome. To do this, click the Wrench, Options, Under the Hood, Click the Manage Certificates Button, Click the Trusted Root Certification Authorities tab, then import each of the certificates.

If you have trouble with this feel free to give us a call and we’ll step you through it online.

Video How To: Filters & Search Agents

Posted in: Help on | No Comments

Watch a short video on how to setup a filter, save it, and create a daily search agent.

How to: Disable a User

Posted in: Help on October 15, 2010 | No Comments

Bidspeed doesn’t allow users to be deleted (for historical purposes) but you can disable them. Here’s how:

1. Click on My Account
2. Click Account Users:

3. Click ‘Disable’ next to the user you wish to disable.

Once the user is disabled they will not be able to login and they will not receive further email notifications.

Note that disabling users requires that you are an account administrator. Account administrators are initially setup by Bidspeed support for Business Plan users and higher.

Questions? Click here for contact information.

Search Agents

Posted in: Help on October 14, 2010 | No Comments

Search Agents

This is one of our most requested features. It is currently live and available for use today. It’s super easy to setup and use. Here’s how:

• Click on Search FedBizOpps
• Filter the list (Watch a Webinar on Mastering Bidspeed Filters)
• Click Filters, Save Filter, Name the Filter, and Click OK.
• Click Home
• On the “Search Agents” pane, click New
• Type a name for the agent, a frequency (Daily or Weekly), and choose the filter you’ve just created.

Note that there is a video of the recorded Webinar here (http://www.fedbidspeed.com/bidspeed-webinars#w402241776) that covers this topic in detail.

List Preferences

Posted in: Help on April 27, 2010 | No Comments

Bidspeed allows you a great deal of control over what you can do in a list.

Adding or Removing Columns

All lists allow you to change which columns are displayed. Here’s how:

1. Click the Customize Button
2. Choose the columns to be displayed
3. Click OK.
4. To remove columns, click the little red ‘x’ at the top of each column.

User Preferences

Posted in: Help on | No Comments

At Bidspeed, we’ve always believed that software should do what you want it to, not the other way around. In most parts of the application (lists, in particular) we remember everything – where you put your columns, your last search, sort, grouping, and column widths.

You may want to look at a few application wide settings that give you more control over everything. As usual, we’ve tried to keep it simple, so there are only a few settings that may need tweaking.

To change application wide settings, first click “Preferences.” (Upper right corner next to “Change Password.”)

My Account

Most of the settings are self-explanatory. The only one you will typically need to change is the “Full Page Width” setting. If you haven’t tried this yet and you have a wider (or higher resolution) monitor, then you might like it.

You can now change the overall display width of pages in Bidspeed from the standard centered version (800 pixels wide) to a full width version (as wide as your monitor).

Here’s how:

1. Click Preferences.
2. Check “Full Width” box on the Preferences page.
3. Click the Save button at the top of the page.

Full Width Preference

Email Settings

In order to send email from Bidspeed you’ll need to setup your SMTP settings in your user preferences. This allows Bidspeed to send mail as if it comes directly from your email account.

Click here for detailed instructions.

External Opportunities

Posted in: Help on April 21, 2010 | No Comments

So the deal you’re working on ISN’T in FedBizOpps? No problem. From the Home tab click ‘Create a new Opportunity’ and fill out the information. Note that these opportunities will be available ONLY to your account.

After you’ve created the opportunity, it will show up in your watchlist just like all other opportunities, and you’ll be able to attach documents, create tasks, assign priorities, and set important dates. It’s a good idea to attach the document(s) that are related to the opportunity as document on the opportunity.

The Solicitation Number you create is up to you. Our suggestion is to pick something that makes sense – we typically like to include a state prefix in the number – for example: TX-RFP-2054-9877. The text of the solicitation is optional, but we strongly suggest you type or paste at least a summary of the requirements into the summary editor.

On page 2 you’ll notice that you can enter a URL to the opportunity. It’s a good idea to enter a link to the main notification page and NOT the solicitation document, rather, attach the solicitation document to the opportunity as a document, and keep the link as a way to check for updates and amendments. (Remember, Bidspeed can’t check for updates on private opportunities.)

How to attach documents to an opportunity

Posted in: Blog, Help, Using Bidspeed on November 10, 2009 | No Comments

Part of the value of Bidspeed is that it keeps track of everything related to an opportunity. Most of the time, you’ll want to attach everything –email, proposals, designs, and any material you send to the contracting officer. This allows you to revisit the opportunity later for reference purposes and even reuse documents on another proposal.

Bidspeed allows you to attach any type of document and store it along with the opportunity. Documents stored in Bidspeed are secure, only available to authorized users of your account, and automatically indexed for searching purposes.

Attaching a document is easy. To attach a document, first navigate to the opportunity. Next, click on the “New” link on the upper right corner of the “Documents” panel.

Now, from the “New Document” form, click on the browse button, select the file from your file system, type a description and click save.

Bidspeed supports full text searching of documents. To search for a document, type the prefix “doc:” plus the text you want to search for in the search box at the top of the page and press enter.