The contracting authority has two options when specifying the opening dates of envelopes:
- From 24 hours after the deadline for submission of offers.
- On a specific date and time.
Regardless of the option defined, the tool will not allow opening an envelope that has another previous envelope in a closed state. Therefore, the envelopes must be configured taking into account that they can be opened in cascade (eg: envelope C cannot be opened if envelope B has not been opened).
Additionally, the body's contractor profile has a section to specify the interval for applying credentials (30 minutes by default). This section is accessible by the organ administrator through the "Basic data" tab of the profile.
To apply credentials and access the contents of the envelopes, there are two scenarios depending on the opening dates:
- If the date is set after 24 hours of the bid deadline, the first custodian can apply credentials anytime after 24 hours and all other custodians must apply credentials within the defined interval in the profile of the contractor.
- If a specific date and time exists, custodians must apply credentials on the specified date with the margin specified in the contractor profile, i.e. if the interval is 30 minutes and the opening time is at 12:00 custodians must apply credentials between 11:30 and 12:30
If despite the application of credentials by the custodians, the envelopes cannot be opened, the following aspects must be checked:
- Custodians are applying credentials within the defined interval for applying credentials. If not, you will need to change the opening date and re-apply credentials once within the interval.
- The minimum quorum may not be reached because the same user always applies credentials (you can check who applies credentials using the open log). In this case, every time a custodian applies credentials he must exit the tool using the “disconnect” button or apply credentials from another workstation.
- The defined opening date and time has not arrived.
