Frequently Asked Questions
My
Account
How do I register as a supplier on your site?
If I am a Manufacturers Representative or a Manufacturer with a Representative, how do I register?
My company owns subsidiaries or is a subsidiary, how do I register?
How
will I know when my registration is complete?
How
do I update my contact information?
Why
is it important to set up commodity codes on my profile?
What
is a proxy?
Why
do I get an error message when trying to access your supplier web page?
How secure is my sensitive information?
Finding Sourcing
Events
What
is a sourcing event?
How
can I find events to respond to?
How
can I get more information about an event?
Responding to an
Event
How
do I submit a response?
How
do I retrieve and submit a response I drafted earlier?
How
can I see my past responses?
How
do I add to or change a response I already submitted?
Who
will see my response?
How
will I know if my response was successful?
General Questions
What
if I have trouble logging in to the portal?
How
do I change my password?
What
if I forget my password?
Where
can I get information about what you require of suppliers?
If
I exit in the middle of a task, will my work be saved?
My Account
Q.
How do I register as a supplier on your site? Top
To register as a supplier, click the Register link on the Welcome page. If you are the first person registering
from your company, you become the "primary contact" - the
administrator of your company's account with us. We require you to accept our
Terms and Conditions (for use of the website) on your company's behalf before
you can proceed with registration. You will set up the company information and
your own contact information (including e-mail) as the primary contact. You'll
maintain your company's information in the future using the Update Account
Information link.
The primary contact can also set up logins for other Supplier Contacts in your
company, so you may wish to identify these people before you get started. They
will log in later using the login information you set up, and afterward will
maintain their own contact information, including changing the password you set
up for them. A primary contact cannot view the responses of other people at
his or her company and only the primary contact can add additional contacts.
Immediately
after registration you and the other Supplier Contacts need to login so you can
answer the security questions to enable the password reset functionality. If you forget your password and have
not answered these questions you will have to go through the entire
registration process again. Your
answers will be used to verify your identity later, if you ever forget your
password. Each contact will have their
own security questions.
This will depend on the specific bidding arrangement between the manufacturer and rep. For Representatives who quote on behalf of the manufacturers, you would be registering each of your manufacturers with their data c/o your Company with the factory as a ÒproxyÓ so they will receive notifications. Future bids would be input by the Representative Company.
For Manufacturers who
submit bids directly, you would be registering your Company with your data c/o
your Manufacturers Rep with the rep as a ÒproxyÓ so they will receive
notifications. Future bids would be input by the Manufacturer.
Q.
My company owns subsidiaries or is a subsidiary, how do I register? Top
If
the tax ids are different, this would require separate registrations.
If the tax id is the same, the primary contact would set-up additional contacts (with temporary passwords). The additional contacts would log-in, change their passwords, and attach their commodity codes. Contacts will not have the ability to view events, bids, or other information specific to the other Contacts.
Q.
How will I know when my registration is complete? Top
Registration is complete when you complete all required fields and click
Finish. You'll see a Congratulations page, then immediately be logged in. If
you are unsure whether you have completed registration, click the Check
Registration Status link. Be aware that if you later delete some required information,
your registration status can change back to "Not Complete". Some documents are required and will
not let you complete registration without providing the necessary answers and
documentation. You may save your
work and upload later but please note your registration will remain in an
incomplete status.
Although we send you an e-mail confirming that a login was created for you,
this e-mail does not necessarily mean your registration is complete.
Please note: If you get a "Duplicate Tax ID" message when you try to
register, this may mean someone has already registered your company as a
supplier on our site. In this situation, please contact us.
Q.
How do I update my contact information? Top
Most suppliers get their login from the primary contact at their company. After
you get a login, you can change your own contact information. First, log in.
Click the Update Account Information link and change any of the information you
can access. You can change your personal contact information, select commodity
codes for items you are responsible for, and designate a proxy if you wish. When
you are finished, click the Done button. If you make changes to your name and
other details, they will not take effect until the next time you log in.
If you are the primary contact, you can click the Update Account Information
link to change your own contact, commodity code, and proxy information. In addition,
you can change Company Information and answers to our questions (if any), and
use the Add New Contact tab to add or look up Supplier Contacts (Please note: you
cannot look up existing passwords or view others' responses to events).
See General Questions for information about changing your password.
Q:
Why is it important to set up commodity codes on my profile? Top
Commodity codes allow you to tell us what types of events you want us to notify
you about. If you have supplied a current e-mail address and indicated you wish
to receive e-mail, then it is easier for our purchasing staff to notify you
when we release an event matching any of the commodity codes you have indicated
and been approved to bid upon. You maintain commodity codes as part of your
Supplier Contact profile, so different Supplier Contacts from your company can
be notified about different events. If you are the primary contact, the codes
you set up are your own and do not automatically carry over to other Supplier
Contacts you may have set up for your company.
If you do not set up commodity codes, you will not see events on our web portal
or receive e-mail notifications alerting you to events of interest. We have required that you provide
commodity codes. You will not be
able to complete registration - and bid on events - without providing at least
one code.
To search for a commodity code, click the Add From Repository button then click
the filter icon (looks like a funnel on the right side of the column
heading). You may enter letters or
numbers in the Commodity Description field. The Services and Commodity Listing is also available on our
webpage.
Q:
What is a proxy? Top
A proxy is a person who receives a copy of a Supplier Contact's event
notifications. A proxy cannot submit responses. A Supplier Contact might choose
to designate a proxy, for example, before an extended absence when the Suppler
Contact may not have immediate access to e-mail. An office support person who
has been set up as a proxy can monitor events and let the Supplier Contact or a
colleague know that a bid opportunity has come up. Another example is a Manufacturer/Manufacturer
Representative.
Q:
Why do I get an error message when trying to access the Supplier Portal web
page? Top
You may see a message when you try to access our site if the browser is not
maximized or if you have partial pages (such as a bookmarks or Favorites list)
displayed. To correct this, click OK until the message box closes, then
maximize your browser and close the bookmarks list.
A requirement for registering is that you use Internet Explorer 6 or 7 as your
browser. If you access our site through another browser, you may receive
unexpected results, or you may see an error message. If you use Internet
Explorer 6 and are still having problems, it is possible that your computer's
monitor is set to a low screen resolution, which you can increase. In Windows,
click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display > Settings >
Screen Resolution, and drag the bar until it shows a resolution of at least
1024 x 768 pixels. Click OK. It is not necessary to restart your computer to
use this setting. This setting will also resize other programs you run and will
remain on your monitor until you change it.
Q: How secure is my sensitive information? Top
The Family of Companies
Supplier Portal is accessed through a secure HTTP connection, Hypertext
Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer, or HTTPS. It uses a different
default TCP port and an additional encryption layer/authentication layer
between the HTTP and TCP. HTTPS was designed for security-sensitive
communication such as payment transactions. To prepare the web server for accepting HTTPS connections
there is a public key certificate installed on the web server. This
certificate is signed by a certificate authority (VeriSign), which certifies
that the certificate holder (GSOC) is the entity it claims to be. In addition, each SupplierÕs data is
encrypted using "unlimited strength" Javaª Cryptography
Extension. This is the strongest form of encryption available and
provides the most security for your data.
Finding Sourcing Events
Q.
What is a sourcing event? Top
A sourcing event is a request for a bid, information, proposal or other that we
choose to make available to approved or conditionally approved suppliers over
our web portal. An event might have many lines, and you may bid on (respond to)
any or all lines. We usually
establish Terms and Conditions specific to each event, which you must agree to
before responding. We may also
attach questions to an event, which are sometimes required for all who respond
to the event.
Q.
How can I find events to respond to? Top
If you have registered, you can receive e-mails that notify you immediately
when an event is released. To sign up for this, click Update Account
Information to select commodity codes that your company supplies. Also make
sure you have provided a current e-mail address and selected to receive e-mails
from us. When an event is released to our web portal that matches the commodity
codes you have been approved for, you (and your proxy, if you have one) will be
notified by e-mail. Events will be visible to you and other selected suppliers and
not visible to non-notified suppliers who visit our web site.
You cannot respond to a closed event.
Q.
How can I get more information about an event? Top
Click an event on an events list to view its details. You can click Print to
send a printable version of the event to your default printer. If you still have questions, you can
ask them on the Q & A Forum tab on the event page (if this event contains a
Q & A Forum tab). When you submit a question, our purchasing staff will
respond to you by e-mail. Be aware that they may also choose to publish it with
the other event information if it will help ensure a fair bidding process. In
this case, your anonymous question and our answer will be available to any
supplier who views the event.
Answers to questions asked by others may be viewed on the Q & A Forum panel
on the event summary.
Responding to an Event
Q.
How do I submit a response? Top
Only suppliers who have completed registration and have been validated may
respond to events. Click Respond Now on an event listing to display the Event
Response page. View the Terms and Conditions for this event by clicking the
link, if any. You must accept the Terms and Conditions before you can submit a
response, then click Next. If you decide not to respond, please select No Bid
and click Next.
Any response you submit must contain at least one line, and it is possible that
an event will require you to respond to all lines. Click the Respond link for a
line. When completing lines, you can respond for the full quantity or for a
partial quantity. If you choose to respond to some but not all of the lines,
please check No Bid for the lines you are not interested in. If you want to
indicate that you will not be charging for an item - for example because it is
a promotion, or an accessory, or a sample - select "No Charge" at the
line level.
An event or line may include required question(s) that you must answer as part
of your response.
You can attach a pricing catalog or other information using the Attachments tab
of the Event Response page.
When you have nearly completed your response, the portal may display a list of
messages indicating if you have missing information. When your response is
complete, click Submit then OK to send us your response now, or just click OK
to save your response in Draft status for submitting later. If you click OK
without submitting, a message may display reminding you of the submission
deadline. We are unable to view
responses that are in Draft status, so it is important that your response
status shows ÒSubmittedÓ.
Q. How do I retrieve and submit a response I drafted earlier? Top
Log in, then click View Bid History for responses you have prepared, including
responses with a status of Draft. Click the draft event whose response you want
to change. The Terms and Conditions will already be marked as accepted; click
Next. To edit your response to a line, click the Edit Response link. To manage
any attachments to your responses, click Next. Click Finish to return to the
line list. When you are done with all your line edits, click Finish from the
lines list. Click Submit, then OK.
You cannot respond to an event after it is closed, even if your draft was
started before the close date.
Q. How can I see my past responses? Top
Log in, then click the View Bid History link to view the Bid History page.
Optionally complete one or more search fields and click Search. If an event is
cancelled after you bid on it, it will continue to be listed on your Bid
History page.
Q.
How do I add to or change a response I already submitted? Top
Log in, then click Browse Open Sourcing Events for responses you have
submitted. Click the event whose response you want to change. Click the Modify
Response button to place the response into Draft status. Click Open. The Terms
and Conditions will already be marked as accepted; click Next. To edit your
response to a line, click the Edit Response link. To manage any attachments to
your responses, click Next. Click Finish to return to the line list. When you
are done with all your line edits, click Finish from the lines list to access
the Submit button. Don't forget to click Submit to send us your response again.
Each time you re-access your submitted response via the Edit Responses link
- even if you don't change anything - it returns to Draft status until you
click Submit. Click OK.
If you want to withdraw your response from consideration, highlight the
response and click Withdraw Response Submitted. The response will be visible
from View Bid History with a status of Withdrawn. Please note: this action is valid only if the event is in
OPEN status.
Q.
Who will see my response? Top
After you submit it, your response to a non-sealed-bid event may be viewed by
those on our staff who are responsible for the event. However, your response to
a formal (sealed-bid) event cannot be viewed by anyone but you until after the
response period for the event has closed. Your response is never visible to
other suppliers during the response and award phases.
Q. How will I know if
my response was successful? Top
If you have indicated that you wish to receive e-mail, you may be informed by
e-mail when we have made a decision to award an event or event lines to one or
more specific suppliers. However if your response was not successful, you may
not receive an e-mail. In this
case, you should check the portal to see if we have posted award status. If we
also choose to post some information about the award to the portal, you can see
this on the event record under Award Summary. Please note this will only be viewable if your company was
awarded the event. If there is a
dispute period for the event, and our decision is successfully disputed, you
may receive a subsequent award notice with new information.
General Questions
Q:
What if I have trouble logging in to the portal? Top
The primary contact for your company will set up your account and give you your
username and temporary password. If you can't log into our site, make sure your
computer does not have Numlock or Capslock set, because this changes how your
password appears (consult your computer's documentation for details). Please
note: log-in and password are case-sensitive.
Too many toolbars (including the Google toolbar) can also cause problems. Press
the F11 key to expand the browser to full screen without toolbars.
Also make sure that your computer monitor's resolution is set to at least 1024
x 768 pixels (instructions for this are given in the answer to the question,
"Why do I get an error message").
If you try multiple times to log in and are not successful, the system will
eventually prevent you from trying. Please try again later on. If you still
cannot log in after waiting, please contact us.
If you thought you were registered but now find that you are not, it may be
because:
- When you originally provided a password, you
typed it two different ways
- You forgot to provide (or later deleted)
commodity codes that were required
- You forgot to provide (or later deleted) your
answer to a question that was required
If you are still having problems, contact us at SupplierReg@gatrans.com
Q:
How do I change my password? Top
Log in. Click Change Password. You will be prompted for your old password, then
you must type the new password twice. Click Save. You can use the new password
immediately the next time you log in.
Q: What if I forget my password? Top
If you forget your password, provide your username on the Login page, then
click the forgotten password link. You will be prompted to answer the
question(s) for which we stored your previous security answers. After answering
them, you can type your new password twice, and then click Save to log in.
Q:
Where can I get information about what you require of suppliers? Top
Review the Family of CompaniesÕ Supplier Information website and Important Documents links for full details on requirements.
Q:
If I exit in the middle of a task, will my work be saved? Top
There may be times when unforeseen circumstances prevent you from responding to
an event or completing registration in one session. While responding to an
event, if you click Next or Finish before submitting the response, your bid
will be saved in Draft status on the Open for Bids page. During registration,
if you click Cancel before providing contact information for your company and
yourself, there is no record of you in our system. If you click Finish after
providing contact information but before completing registration, you will see
a page telling you what is missing before your registration will be complete.
Click OK to go back to the Home page or Back to continue providing your
information. Please note: to log-out, click HOME in upper left-hand corner,
then LOGOUT in upper right.
