Clarifications are used by Suppliers to ask questions of the Authority, to which the Project Manager can respond. For example you may want some additional information about the content of a document, or wish to enquire about some missing documents.
Clarifications are viewed by clicking the Communications option on the toolbar, then Clarifications
in the left-hand navigator:
Creating a Clarification
To create a Clarification, click Create and enter your query. (There may be the option to mark it as confidential; you can use this if you wish to alert the Project Manager that the Clarification is of a sensitive nature.)
You can also attach Documents to the Clarification; you can do this whilst creating the Clarification or after it has been sent (up until the Project Manager has responded and closed the Clarification).
The Clarification will be created with a Status of New and given a consecutive Clarification Number. (Each Supplier has their own numbering system, for example Supplier A will have their Clarifications automatically numbered 1, 2, 3 and so on, and Supplier B will have their Clarifications numbered 1, 2, 3 and so on. These numbers will be automatically assigned unique pre-fixed references within the Project Manager’s view of the Data Room.)
- Once you have created a Clarification, you will not be able to edit or delete it, other than attaching or removing Documents (up until the Project Manager closes it).
On creation of a Clarification, email alerts will be sent to Project Managers, Project Support and Stakeholder Users.
Viewing Clarification Responses
Once the Project Manager has responded (Clarifications with new or updated responses are marked as Unread and will appear in the Open & Unread list) you can view the responses by clicking the Clarification name:
The Project Manager may acknowledge receipt of your Clarification by entering a Comment
which will set the Status to In Progress.
When they have the final answer to your query, this will appear under the Clarification Answer section, and the Clarification will be set to Closed. Project Managers can also attach Documents with their response, which will also appear under this section.
If the Project Manager published a Clarification Notification (to pass on the information to other Suppliers) this will appear under Clarification Notices from the Notifications list. (Notices cannot be published to other Suppliers if you originally marked the Clarification as confidential.)
When a response to a Clarification is sent by the Project Manager, email alerts will be received by the Supplier who created it, and other Supplier Users for that Supplier.