Long Term Contracting (LTC)

Long Term Contracting

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QuickSteps
for LTCS Vendor's Application
Point & Ctrl + Click subject to view. Selected text will display.
Click [Top of Page] to return to the LTCS / Vendor Application QuickSteps Menu.

System Administrators Add Persons for
Corporation/Plant
Bid Process
How to Access LTCS
Links
Online Help
Additional Topic: [LTCS / Vendor Application] [Edits and Validations/Vendor Application]

System Administrators Add Persons for Corporations/Plants
[Corporations] [Plants]

Corporations
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Logon to LTCS VENDOR Application (LTCVENDOR)

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Click Admin

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Select Person Page

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Click Add Person

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Click Update

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Select added persons name from the Select Person page

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Click on Logon ID button

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Assign existing Role Name

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Click Update

Note: The Corporation user cannot modify their own logon Id information. They can only modify the logon Id and password
information of other added persons. The corporation user cannot modify the Corporation address information.
To view corporate address information:
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Click on Edit Entity button

To view corporation/plants relationship information:
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Click on Relationship button

[Return to System Administrators Add Persons for Corporations/Plants]
[Return to Top of Page]

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Plants

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Logon to LTCS VENDOR application (LTCVENDOR)

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Click Admin

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Select Person Page

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Click Add Person

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Click Update

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Select added persons name from the Select Person page

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Click on Logon ID button

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Assign existing Role Name

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Click Update

Note: The Plant user cannot modify their own logon Id information. They can modify the logon Id and password information for
other added persons. The Plant user cannot modify the Plant address information.
To view plant address information:
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Click on Edit Entity button

To view corporation/plants relationship information:
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Click on Relationship button

[Return to System Administrators Add Persons for Corporations/Plants]
[Return to Top of Page]

How to Access LTCS

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Logon to Internet using URL to be provided by Dairy and Domestic Operations Division (DDOD).

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Enter Logon ID provided.

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Enter "PASSWRD$1" as default password.

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Immediately enter and verify your new password.

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New Password must be 9 characters long, and at least: One character must be alphabetic. One character must be
numeric(0-9). One character must be a special character: ! @ # $ % \ & * ~ ?.

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Verify Password. The Verify Password must be identical to the New Password field. If not, the user will receive an error
message.

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Click Logon. [You are now in LTCS . . . Menu options within LTCS will be displayed according to the access (security)
role you have been assigned.]

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Note: Session will time out after 30 minutes (approx.), if you have not accessed the server.
[Return to Top of Page]

Bid Process
[Invitation Select] [Price] [Copy Price] [Capacity] [Certification] [View Bid] [Submit Bid] [Withdraw Bid] [Authorize Change]
[Acceptance Wire] [Order Wire]

Invitation Select
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The Invitation Select page is automatically displayed when the vendor enters into the Long Term Contracting System
(LTCS).

The vendor may:
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View the available announcement/invitations details and
Select an announcement/invitation to work on by clicking on the Select field radio button, and then click on the Bid
Process menu button.

Note: The vendor may go to the acceptance wire, order wire and item register screens for a given announcement/invitation by
clicking on the respective menu buttons at top of the screen, once an acceptance wire and order wire have been published.
[Return to Bid Process]
[Return to Top of Page]

Price
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This Price page is automatically displayed after the vendor has selected an announcement/invitation to work on by clicking
on the Select field radio button, and then click on the Bid Process menu button.

A list of plant locations, products, and destinations are displayed so vendors can enter the bid price for delivering a product from
one of their plant locations to any destination anywhere in the state listed on this page. This page allows a vendor to bid on
individual states, or all states by entering a price in the Contiguous US price field. The vendor can only enter prices for one
commodity at at time. Multiple plant locations for the same vendor may enter a bid. Once the prices have been entered, vendors
can only update their bids. The vendor must complete the certification and capacity pages also for a submitted bid to be
successful.
To create a new bid or update an existing bid:
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Select a Location from the location dropdown.

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Select a Product from the product dropdown.

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Select a Preference from the Type/Preferences dropdown (if displayed).

For new bids: 1) The destination price fields OR contiguous US price field will be blank.
2) Either enter values in the destination OR contiguous US price fields. In addition, enter any applicable offshore
price fields.
For existing bids: 1) If Contiguous US price is existing in the database, it will be displayed in the Contiguous US price field.
All the state price fields will not be displayed.

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2) If no Contiguous US price is existing in the database, the existing state price fields will be retrieved from
the database and displayed against the corresponding state.
3) The vendor has the ability to change the existing price, remove the existing prices or enter new prices in the
fields which do not have any.
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Click on Update menu button.

Note: The vendor may access the Price Page by selecting one of the announcement/invitations from the invitation select screen,
and then clicking on the Bid Process menu button.
[Return to Bid Process]
[Return to Top of Page]

Copy Price
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Click on the Copy Price button

This page is only accessible for invitations having 'Released to Vendor' (RV) status. The Copy Price Page is used by
corporation vendors to copy the bid price data that has been entered into the system for one of their plants to another one of
their plants. Prices must have been entered for a given location before clicking on this button. The vendor must copy all his prices
at one time. You cannot copy some and then go back and copy additional prices.
To copy data from one plant location to another complete the following steps:
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Select a Plant Location in the Copy From Location dropdown.

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Select one or more Plant Locations in the Copy to Location list box.

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Select/deselect Products that need to be copied.

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Click on Update button.

Once the bid price data has been copied from one plant location to one or more plant locations, that data will be visible in the price
page. If the vendor copies the data by mistake, then they have to go to the price page and manually blank out all the prices
and hit update to remove all the bid price data for that plant location and product combination.
If the vendor changes any data on the page and then clicks on any other button on menu, the system will display a message
stating "If you continue, you will LOSE your data! To save your data, return and select update! Ok to continue, Cancel to return."
If the user confirms it, the system will save the page data to the database.
Note: The vendor may access the Copy Price page by selecting one of the announcement/invitations from the invitation select
screen, clicking on the Bid Process menu button, and then clicking on Copy Price button.
[Return to Bid Process]
[Return to Top of Page]

Capacity
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Click on the Capacity button

To add a new capacity for the announcement/invitation, do the following:
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Select "***New***" in the capacity dropdown.

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The location and product list boxes will display all the locations and selected products that have bid price data filled and

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that have no capacity or zero capacity data existing in the database.
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Select one or more plant locations in the location list box. "Total for all plants" can be selected if the vendor wants to
enter the total capacity for all the listed plant locations at the same time.

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Select one or more products in the product list box. "Total for all products" can be selected if the vendor wants to enter the
total capacity for all the listed products at the same time. [Note: The product dropdown will be dynamically generated
based on the location selected in the location list box. If capacity has already been entered for a combination of plant
location and product, that product will not be displayed in the product list box.]

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Enter capacity quantities in the fields corresponding to the delivery periods that the vendor wants.

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Click on the Update button.

To modify an existing capacity for the announcement/invitation, do the following:
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Select an existing capacity in the capacity dropdown. The vendor cannot select "***New***" to update an existing
capacity.

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The location list box will display the plant location or locations associated with the existing capacity. If the vendor wants
to associate additional plant locations with the existing capacity, then they will have to delete the capacity record by
clicking on the delete button on the menu and then create a new capacity with the original and additional plants selected.

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The product list box will display the product or products associated with the existing capacity. If the vendor wants to
associate additional products with the existing capacity, then they will have to delete the capacity record by clicking on
the delete button on the menu and then create a new capacity with the original and additional products selected.

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Modify the existing capacity quantities in the fields corresponding to the delivery periods that the vendor wants.

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Click on the Update button

To delete bid data for an existing capacity the vendor clicks on the delete button. All the capacity records will be physically
deleted from the database.
Note: The vendor may access the Capacity Page by selecting one of the announcement/invitations from the invitation select
screen, clicking on the Bid Process menu button, and then clicking on the Capacity button.
[Return to Bid Process]
[Return to Top of Page]

Certification
This page is filled out once per announcement/invitation that is in 'RV' status.
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Click on the Certification button

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Answer Certification Questions-- i.e. Vendor designation and questions entered by the USDA user which are specific to the
announcement/invitation.

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Click on the Update button

The vendor can also modify the existing questions and click on the Update button prior to bid opening. The vendor will receive
a message saying, "Your bid has been modified" displayed against the bid on the vendor invitation select page to remind the
vendor to submit the bid, so the changes will be considered for evaluation.
Note: The vendor may access the Certification Page by selecting one of the announcement/invitations from the invitation select
screen, clicking on the Bid Process menu button, and then clicking on the Certification button.

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[Return to Bid Process]
[Return to Top of Page]

View Bid
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Click on the View Bid button to view all the bid information
Click on the Print button

Note: The vendor may access the View Bid Page by selecting one of the announcement/invitations from the invitation select
screen, clicking on the Bid Process menu button, and then clicking on the View Bid button.
[Return to Bid Process]
[Return to Top of Page]

Submit Bid
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Click on the Submit button
Reply to the confirmation window which asks the vendor to confirm that they really want to submit the bid.
If confirmed "OK", the vendor receives a message stating the bid has been successfully submitted and gives the date and
time the bid was submitted.
Click on the Print button
If the bid is "Canceled", the bid will not be submitted and the vendor will remain on the view bid page.

Note: The vendor may access the Submit Bid page by selecting one of the announcement/invitations from the invitation select
screen, clicking on the Bid Process menu button, and then clicking on the Submit button.
[Return to Bid Process]
[Return to Top of Page]

Withdraw Bid
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Click on the Withdraw button
At the window box, if click "OK", the vendor receives a message stating the announcement/invitation number, amendment
number, announcement type, announcement description has been successfully withdrawn and gives the date and time.
Click on the Print button
At the window box, if click "Cancel", the bid is not withdrawn before the bid open date and time have passed, and the
vendor will remain on the view bid page.
If the vendor still wants to withdraw the bid after the bid open date and time have passed, they need to notify USDA to
ignore the bid. The vendor will not have access to any of the bid process pages after bid open date and time have
passed.

Note: The vendor may access the Withdraw Bid Page by selecting one of the announcement/invitations from the invitation
select screen, clicking on the Bid Process menu button, and then clicking on the Withdraw button.
[Return to Bid Process]
[Return to Top of Page]

Authorize Change
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Click the "Authorize Change" button to approve the changes requested by the USDA user

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Click on the Update button

Authorized change comments cannot be modified by either the vendor or the USDA users.
Note: The vendor may access the Authorize Change Page by selecting the invitation from the invitation selection menu that has
the authorize change message listed in the comments fields, clicking on the Bid Process menu button, and then clicking on the
"Authorize Change" button.
[Return to Bid Process]
[Return to Top of Page]

Acceptance Wire
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Click on the Acceptance Wire menu button to display the wire created by the USDA user for the vendor

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Click on the Print button

The vendor may access the Acceptance Wire page by selecting an invitation from the vendor invitation select page and then
clicking on the Acceptance Wire menu button.
[Return to Bid Process]
[Return to Top of Page]

Order Wire
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Click on the Order Wire menu button to display the wire created by the USDA user for the vendor

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Click on the Print button

If an order wire has been created for multiple months, then all the first half and the second half delivery periods of all the months
will be displayed.
The vendor may access the Order Wire page by selecting an invitation from the vendor invitation select page and then clicking
on the Order Wire menu button.
[Return to Bid Process]
[Return to Top of Page]

Links

The Link Page contains a list of links to other websites that may assist users in the vendor bid process.
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Links are created and stored by USDA personnel.

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To access link:
{

Click Link

{

Point and click appropriate Link

{

A new window will open for that website.

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[Return to Top of Page]

Online Help

To access this information, you must click on the question mark (?) located on the left side of the screen. The Online Help utilizes
a hypertext format. Hypertext documents are files created in an electronic format which allows you to move quickly and easily
from one part of a document to another. This is done by creating hotspots (jumps) which are activated by the mouse pointer.
When the pointer is placed over a hotspot, it becomes a pointing hand. With this hand (pointer) displayed, left click the mouse
and the selected topic will display.
LTCS has been designed to get maximum user of the mouse, i.e., drop down menus which allow a "point & click" selection. A
Navigation Bar provides smooth transition through the LTCS application. We suggest you do not use the forward or backward
buttons on browser toolbar. Forward/Back buttons pull from your browser's cache storage and may not accurately display your
last action. The Navigation bar works in sync with the LTCS application and the USDA server and best depicts the actions you
have taken.

Printing Help Topics
The print function will be activated from the browser. The command is probably File, Print or File, Print Frame. LTCS utilizes a
limited number of topics allowing a convenient printing of Online Help for reference during the initial learning period. While screen
displays allow you to move easily between topics, it will be necessary to print each topic separately. The three topics include:
LTCS Online Help, QuickSteps, and Menu Options.
To print topics from the Online Help document complete the following steps:
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Open the Topic you wish to print.
Click the mouse within the topic content. [Note: This is important, otherwise you get the frameset but not content.]
Choose: File, Print OR Choose: File, Print Frame (...varies by browser...)
Online Help will open to LTCS Online Help. Once you've printed this, use the mouse to jump to each remaining topic and
print those as well.

[Return to Top of Page]

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