AI Bid Assistance Tools are currently not available to UK based customers
The Challenge with Tender Documents
Tender documents can be incredibly complex, often containing hundreds of pages spread across multiple files, appendices, requirements, and contract terms. While an initial AI summary is excellent for a quick overview, it cannot anticipate every unique question your team might have.
As you evaluate and work with a new opportunity, you need to be able to locate and understand specific information quickly, without having to repeatedly search through the full documentation manually.
Meet Bid Buddy
Bid Buddy is an interactive credit-based AI chat assistant designed to help you explore a tender and ask questions directly about the available procurement documents.
Instead of relying solely on predefined checklists, Bid Buddy gives you the flexibility to ask specific questions in your own words. It helps you find, understand, and verify relevant information as new questions arise, ensuring that you can continue investigating the opportunity seamlessly within the Mercell platform.
Key Benefits:
Save Time: Get direct responses to your questions without having to read through hundreds of pages to find a single answer.
Stay in the Platform: Continue your tender investigation and planning all in one place, using the tools you are already familiar with.
Flexibility: Because every tender is different, Bid Buddy handles the questions that cannot be anticipated or standardised in advance.
Digging Deeper with Bid Buddy
Step 1: Open the Bid Buddy tool, which functions as an on-demand chat interface on the side of the screen.
Step 2: Type any specific, real-time question you have about the tender that wasn't covered in the Go No-Go checklist (for example, asking if there are any specific ISO certification requirements).
To send your message to Bid Buddy
We do not want you to accidentally use your AI credits by tapping on the Enter key by mistake. So to send your message to Bid Buddy use the arrow icon in lower right of the messaging box.
Step 3: Review the instant response. Bid Buddy will scan the tender documents and provide a direct answer, deducting credits based on your usage. Bid Buddy’s answers are provided to individual users and are not shared with other users in your organisation from within the application.
Your Two Robotic Colleagues
We have two different AI assistants ready to help you save time and win more business. While they are both incredibly smart, they have very different day jobs. Here is a quick guide to who does what:
Bid Buddy: Your Tender Expert Think of Bid Buddy as your strategic bidding partner for a specific Business Opportunity. If you want to know the nitty-gritty details of a 200-page procurement document—such as "What are the ISO requirements?" or "Are there any penalty clauses?"—Bid Buddy is the bot to ask. It reads the complex tender documents for you, answers questions in your own words, and points you directly to the source text.
Customer Support Chatbot: Your Platform Guide Think of the Support Chatbot as your friendly tour guide. If you need assistance using the Mercell system itself—such as "How do I reset my password?", "Where do I add a new user?", or "How do I upgrade my account?"—this is the bot you need. It helps you navigate the platform so you can get back to your work.
The Golden Rule: If your question is about the buyer's tender documents, ask Bid Buddy. If your question is about how to use the Mercell platform, ask the Support Chatbot.
Exploring Tenders and Verifying Information with Bid Buddy
Bid Buddy introduces a highly interactive way to make progress on your bid. It is not just a search bar; it is designed to help you understand the finer details of an opportunity and relate them back to your own business.
How Bid Buddy Helps You Explore
When evaluating a tender, your questions will naturally evolve. Bid Buddy supports this workflow by allowing you to dive deep into the documentation:
Ask in Your Own Words: Type your questions naturally. Bid Buddy will analyse the procurement documents to find the relevant information.
Ask Follow-Up Questions: Bid Buddy is conversational. Based on the answers you receive, you can ask follow-up questions to explore the tender documentation in even greater depth.
Understanding Demands and Sourcing
Bid Buddy does more than just retrieve text; it actively explains the buyer's demands.
Source Verification: For every answer provided, Bid Buddy shows you the exact source within the procurement documents. This means you never have to blindly trust the AI—you can easily click through and verify the information yourself.
Company Comparison: Bid Buddy can help you compare the tender's specific requirements directly against your own company information.
By handling the heavy lifting of document search and extraction, Bid Buddy lets you "keep one eye open" on the big picture, ensuring you maintain full control over your bid strategy while the AI handles the time-consuming details.
Don’t forget, if you decide to submit a bid and need help with that, then Bid Buddy has helped as much as it can. Instead it is the Customer Support Chatbot (lower left of your screen) who can guide you from here.
Article Ref: 110820261015