Non Mandatory Lots in an RFP

[polyvios_dimiou]

Hello all

We would like to run an RFP that cover 10 markets in Asia. The same lots and- or line items will appear for Singapore, Australia, Indonesia etc, the services requested are the same accross the regions.

Our goal is to give the suppliers the option to bid for as many countries as they can. Some can bid for 2 countries, some for 3, etc, depdening their capacity.

As it can be seen in the first printscreen, I set the lots with the option "response not required".

But according to the 2nd printscreen, in the supplier view all lots appear with asterisk, that is, they are mandatory, and if any is being left blank, then the supplier will not be able to submit their proposal.

response-not-required.pngsupplier-view-with-asterisks.png

I called the SAP Ariba helpdesk and they -surprisignly- confirmed that there is not way to make it optional, and that all lots will be mandatory for the suppliers to bid, indepedently of the configuration displayed in the first printscreen.

Could you please propose any alternative? Could I for example block some sections-countries to certain suppliers so that they bid only on the countires they are interested in and not view at all the other section countries?

Thanks in advance

Polyvios Dimiou