Exporting a Proposal to Bids
In this Topic
Agencies can use AASHTOWare Project Preconstruction in conjunction with AASHTOWare Project Bids to distribute proposal bid item information and receive item bids from vendors electronically. Once proposal item details are finalized, they can be transferred (or exported) from Preconstruction to Bids in a comma-separated value (CSV) text file. You can also distribute proposal addenda via this file.
The GEN component of Bids converts the CSV file into a bid file for distribution to prospective bidders. Bidders enter their unit prices for bid items into the bid file using another component called BID. When finished, bidders submit their completed bid file to the highway agency. The agency then uses Bids to convert the bid file into a .CSV file, which is imported into web-based AASHTOWare Project for bid analysis.
Caution: You cannot export a proposal that contains:
Fractional lump sum items whose unit prices or quantities are invalid. For more information about fractional lump sum items, see Working with Lump Sum Items.
An unapproved addendum.
Note: All alternate information (category, section, and item) is exported at the level recorded in the proposal.
Performing a Simple Export to Bids
Follow these steps to generate a CSV text file for exporting to Bids:
Select Execute Process from the Actions menu on the Menu Bar.
The system takes you to the Execute Process component.Select the Export to Bids process.
Note: You can also run this process in one of the following ways: by clicking the Actions menu on the Bid Letting Summary component header; by clicking the Actions menu on a proposal row on the Proposals tab of the Bid Letting Summary component; or by clicking the Actions menu on a proposal row on the Proposal Overview component.Follow the steps in the Executing Processes topic, selecting the proposals on the Select Data page.
The system generates the CSV text file (pass2ebs.txt) and saves it as an output file of the process. To view the output files, select Open Process History in the Actions menu on the Menu Bar to go to the Process History File component.
The Process History File component also contains two other output files the system generates for the export process:
EXPORT.LOG, which contains a summary of the total number of proposals that were successfully exported and how many failed, followed by each exported proposal and each error that occurred listed by letting and proposal.
ERRORS.LOG, which lists any system errors that occurred during the process.
Adding Logic for the MISC01 Row
You can apply custom logic to the Export to Bids process to control the display of multiple screens within Bids. This is accomplished by populating the MISC01 data row in a custom version of the ExportToBids-MiscRow.rpx.
See Customizing the Export to Bids for information about how to define the specific logic required to generate the values for the MISC01 row.
Exporting to Bids with GEN
The Export to Bids with Gen option allows you to include additional functions of the GEN module as part of the export process. Using this option, the export process creates an EBS file for each proposal selected for export in addition to the CSV text file. You can also choose options to use a custom configuration for GEN, use script files to produce an encrypted DBE.BIN vendor file, and compress all the output files into a single archive file.
Note: For the Export to Bids with Gen process to complete successfully, the Gen component of AASHTOWare Project Bids must be installed on the AASHTOWare Project application server. In addition, if you are using AASHTOWare Project Bids, the <LogLocation> setting in the gen.cfg file must include the output directory for the AASHTOWare Project website log file. By default, the gen.cfg file can be found on the application server in the following directory:
C:\Program Files (x86)\AASHTOWare\AASHTOWare Project Bids - Gen and Load
In addition, the Windows Users group must be assigned Full Control permission to the above directory in order for users to create and retrieve the pass2ebs.txt file. Inadequate permission will cause the export process to fail with a permissions error.
Follow these steps to execute this process:
Select Execute Process from the Actions menu on the Menu Bar.
The system takes you to the Execute Process component.Select the Export to Bids with Gen process.
Note: You can also run this process on the Proposals tab of the Bid Letting Summary component by selecting Export to Bids with Gen from the Actions menu on a proposals row. Or you can run the process from the Proposal Overview by selecting Export to Bids with Gen from the Actions menu on a proposal's row.Follow the steps in the Executing Processes topic, selecting the proposals on the Select Data page and the following options on the Set Parameters page:
Configuration File — Click the down arrow to select the GEN configuration file you want to use.
Script File — Some agencies have script files set up to run prior to running GEN (for example, to parse the pass2ebs file into specific sets of proposals or proposal types). If you run a script file prior to running GEN, click the down arrow to select the script file you want to use. If you do not want to use these options, leave this field blank.
Archive File Name — If you want the process to generate an output archive file, click in this field and type a name for the file. Do not include the file extension in the name.
DBE File Name — If you are running a script to produce a DBE.BIN vendor file, click in this field and type a name for the file. Otherwise, leave this field blank. Note that the file name must meet Windows file naming specifications.
Click the Execute button on the component header.
The system generates the optional files and saves them as output files of the process. To view the output files, select Open Process History in the Actions menu on the Menu Bar to go to the Process History File component.
