Introduction to AWARD electronic submission
The Authority will be using the AWARD software solution from QinetiQ
Commerce Decisions to manage the evaluation of tendered documentation.
AWARD manages tendered documentation electronically. The evaluation team
will have access to the electronic documents (files) on a secure MoD intranet
server using via AWARD using Microsoft Internet Explorer. The media (CD or
DVD) that you present the files on will not be copied or distributed to
evaluators, therefore the presentation of files on the media will not be used
(i.e. nested folder structures, auto-run applications or other executables). The
following sections give further instructions on how your files should be
structured to best represent your tender to the evaluators in AWARD.
AWARD Specific Files
AWARD can support either on-line or off-line interaction with bidders. In this
case Off-Line interaction has been chosen. Off-Line answer sheets (OLAS)
have therefore been generated by AWARD for completion by Tenderers and
returned as part of the tender. They are as follows:
DETL
DETL
DETL
DETL
–
–
–
–
Commercial (OLAS).htm;
Management (OLAS);
Technical (OLAS);
ILS (OLAS)
*Note: Pricing data is loaded manually and requested elsewhere.
These files will be processed differently from supplementary files and are not
subject to file size restrictions.
The following file is optional and if present will be read by the AWARD
administrator in order to execute any Tenderer specific instructions during the
file loading process.
 AWARD_loading_instructions.doc
If not present the AWARD administrator will load the tender in accordance
with the guidelines specified in this Annex.
Tender Content Files
These files will contain the bulk of your tender.
A Tenderer may use as many files as necessary to best represent the tender.
All files should occupy a single folder on your media. Each filename should be
unique and less than 100 characters in length (any file not meeting this
criteria will be renamed before importing to AWARD).
AWARD will present the list of documents in alpha-numeric order.
Individual files shall be no larger than five Megabytes (5MB). Larger files may
take significant time to open over an intranet and cause delays in evaluation.
To facilitate a 5MB limit, images should be compressed to a quality suitable
for printing on A4 or A3 paper and viewing on a 1024x768 pixel screen. The
Tenderer shall not use images that add no value to the tender.
How AWARD Specific Files and Tender Content Files Relate
to each other
The Authority has developed a set of evaluation criteria which represent the
risks the Authority perceive in the project that relate to the selection of a
provider. These questions have been loaded into AWARD and are represented
in the AWARD specific html files. These files contain two main elements for
the tenderer.
 Response area
 References
Response Area – shall contain text that explains to the evaluator where to
look in the Tender Content for the answers to the question posed.
References – shall contain a list of entered ‘search strings’. Each ‘search
string’ when searched for will find all occurrences in the Tender Content
(subject to the restrictions below).
It is noted that for DETL, a large % of the evidence will be generated by the
Authority during Equipment Test & Trialling.
Example of completed ‘Tenderers Response’ and ‘References’
Each reference (e.g. “[MGT04-01]”) should only occur once in the entire
Tender Content Files.
Once the response html file has been processed the data entered into the
fields will appear to each evaluator as shown below:
Each reference will be turned into a hyperlink that will activate the AWARD
search tool (e.g. [MGT04-01] & [MGT04-02]. The evaluator will be able to
locate the correct file (and location) immediately if the reference text appears
once in the Tender Content Files.
AWARD and Microsoft Word files (*.doc)
Unless otherwise directed (in AWARD_loading_instructions.doc) the AWARD
administrator will covert all word documents into html format (using Word
2003  save as  filtered html)
The original word document and the html version will be loaded into AWARD.
The original word document will not be made searchable. The evaluator will
follow the references to locate the answers to the questions. AWARD will
search for the references in two places
 the names of all the files
 the content of all html files.
If the reference exists only within the body of the html version of the word
document AWARD will open the html version at the exact location of the
reference so that the evaluator can start reading the text immediately below
the reference. This is the ideal outcome as it allows the evaluator to quickly
locate the Tenderer’s answer.
If the reference exists only within the file name AWARD will show that the
reference exists in the name of the word document and the name of the html
document, and give the evaluator the option to open both documents and
start reading from the top of the document. This may not be ideal as the
evaluator will need to choose which document to read and then read from the
top of the document to locate the answer.
If the reference does not exist in the Tender Content Files the evaluator will
not be able to locate it.
If the reference exists in the Tender Content Files in more than one place the
evaluator will be given a list to choose from.
Word documents shall not have embedded files within them. Embedded files
are not converted to html by the Word Save As function and should be
avoided.
AWARD and pdf files (*.pdf)
Unless otherwise directed (in AWARD_loading_instructions.doc) the AWARD
administrator will load each pdf file into AWARD and run the AWARD “Make
Searchable” function.
The AWARD “Make Searchable” function uses Adobe Acrobat library functions
to extract the text from the pdf file. AWARD holds this text on the server and
will be able to examine this text when a search or reference link is followed.
It is possible to create pdf files that prevent the text from being processed. In
the event that a pdf file is created in this way AWARD will not be able to
search the content of the file. This is not ideal.
If the reference exists only within the body of the pdf, AWARD will open the
pdf and start the Adobe search engine which will present the document at the
position of the first reference hit. This enables the evaluator to locate the
reference quickly. NOTE: Some evaluators may be using older versions of
Adobe Acrobat that do not support this AWARD functionality.
If the reference exists only within the file name of the pdf, AWARD will open
the pdf so that the evaluator can start reading from the top of the file.
If the reference does not exist in the Tender Content Files the evaluator will
not be able to locate it.
If the reference exists in the Tender Content Files in more than one place the
evaluator will be given a list to choose from.
The Tenderer may elect to provide search files for pdf files (see below). If this
is intended instructions must be placed (in AWARD_loading_instructions.doc)
that state that AWARD “Make Searchable” functionality must not be used for
pdf files.
Behaviour of AWARD with other files (.search)
The Tenderer may supply files in formats other than Microsoft Word and pdf.
The Tenderer should note that there may be restrictions on file types that the
Authority can read.
If the reference exists within the file name of the file, AWARD will open the
file so that the evaluator can start reading from the top of the file.
Alternatively, the Tenderer may provide search files.
A search file is a text file, created by the Tenderer that contains the search
term (e.g. the Unique Identifier/text tag) and is named using the following
convention:
<full source document file name>.search
Eg: v2_s3_p4-parts-brochure.jpg.search
This should then be submitted alongside the file. Ensure that the file is
named ‘.search’ and not ‘.search.txt’.
The .search file will not be listed in AWARD but will be read by AWARD when
performing searches.
If the .search file contains the item the evaluator is searching for, the source
file will be presented to the evaluator. The file will be opened at the top, and
the evaluator may then scan the document visually, or use ‘Find’ (if available
in the browser for the format).
Further assistance can be sought from QinetiQ Commerce Decisions, see
www.cd.qinetiq.com for contact details.