This article walks you through submitting a complete response to a sourcing event in the Strategic Sourcing portal, from opening the response wizard to seeing the Submitted confirmation. A response is your full submission for the event: questionnaire answers, pricing, and uploaded documents. Everything you enter is saved automatically as a draft, so you can work in several sittings before the submission deadline.
How do I start my response?
To start your response, open the sourcing event and click Start Response (or Continue Response if you already began) in the header of the event overview page. You can also click Start response or Continue response directly on the event's card on your supplier dashboard. The response wizard opens at /supplier/sourcing-project/[event-id]/response.
Do I need to accept an NDA first?
To enter the wizard on events where the buyer requires a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), you must accept the NDA once. The NDA Required screen appears before any other step:
Read the confidentiality summary and, if the buyer attached the agreement file, click Download to review the full document.
Tick the acceptance statement confirming you have read the agreement and are authorized to accept it for your organization.
Click Accept NDA & Continue to unlock the response wizard, or Decline & Exit to return to your dashboard without responding.
How is the response wizard organized?
To navigate your response, use the wizard sidebar on the left. It shows the current round, your overall completion percentage, the submission deadline with the days remaining, and up to three sections: Questions, Pricing, and Documents. Only sections the buyer configured appear; an event without a questionnaire simply has no Questions section. Each section carries a badge: a to-do count such as 3 to do while required items are missing, Ready when everything required is filled, and Complete when the section is fully done. Click any section (or a questionnaire subsection) to jump straight to it.
How do I answer the questionnaire?
To complete the questionnaire, open the Questions section. Questions are grouped into numbered sections; move between them with Previous Section and Next Section. Questions can be short text, long text, single choice, multiple choice, or a file upload; file questions state their accepted formats and maximum size in MB next to the Upload File button. Required questions are marked and show This field is required if left empty. Every required question must be answered before you can submit.
How do I enter pricing?
To provide your prices, open the Pricing section. Prices are entered per lot (a group of related items) and per line item (a single product or service with a quantity and unit) into the pricing columns the buyer defined. Fill every required pricing cell; the sidebar's Pricing badge turns Ready when nothing required is missing. The article "Enter pricing and bulk discounts" covers the pricing grid, No Bid marking, and discounts in detail.
How do I upload the required documents?
To satisfy the buyer's document requirements, open the Documents section and upload one file per requirement. Requirements marked Required block submission until a file is uploaded; Optional ones do not. Each requirement lists its accepted formats and maximum file size. The article "Upload required documents" explains formats, the AI compliance check, and re-uploads.
How is my draft saved?
To avoid losing work, rely on automatic saving: the wizard header shows Auto-saved, and answers, prices, and uploads are stored as you go. Your response status is Draft while you work, and the event shows as In Progress on your dashboard. Click Save and Exit at any time to return to the dashboard; clicking Continue Response later brings back everything exactly as you left it. A draft remains fully editable until the submission deadline.
How do I submit my response?
To submit, use the Send Response button in the top-right corner of the wizard:
Check the sidebar: every section must show Ready or Complete. The Send Response button stays disabled while any required question, price, or document is missing, or once the deadline has passed.
Click Send Response. The button shows Submitting... while the response is transmitted.
On success you see the message Your response has been submitted successfully and are returned to your dashboard, where the event now sits in the Submitted tab.
The buyer is notified by email that your company submitted a response.
After submitting, your response becomes read-only: the wizard opens in view mode via View Submission, and the event overview shows a green Response Submitted alert with the exact submission date and the note that the buyer is reviewing all submissions. If you need to correct something after submitting, contact the buyer (see "Edit or resubmit your response").
What statuses can my response have?
To track where your response stands after you interact with an event, use this table of response statuses shown in the portal.
Status | Meaning |
Not Started / Awaiting Response | You have access but have not entered anything yet. |
In Progress | A draft exists; you can keep editing until the deadline. |
Submitted | Your response was sent to the buyer and is read-only. |
Accepted | The buyer accepted your response. |
Rejected | The buyer rejected your response. |
Not Selected | You were not carried into the current round of the event. |