Running a competed solicitation

Procurement takes you from "we need to buy something" to a recorded award, with a process you can show an auditor.

The lifecycle is fixed, and the system refuses steps out of order:

1. **Draft** - write the solicitation. It saves as you type; there is no Save button.
2. **Open** - published and accepting bids. The terms are frozen here, because vendors are now bidding against them.
3. **Evaluating** - closed to new bids while you score them.
4. **Awarded** - a winning bid is recorded. This is terminal; you cannot re-award.

You can cancel from any state before award. You cannot skip evaluating, and you cannot award twice - the award stamps the winner and closes the solicitation in a single transaction, so two people clicking Award at the same moment cannot both succeed.

To start: Procurement → New. To publish: find it under Solicitations and choose Publish.

To enable: Settings → Modules → Procurement