Who can see a bid, and when

Two rules govern bid visibility. Only one of them is a setting.

**Never, and not configurable: a bidder cannot see another bidder's bid.** Not before award, not after, not under any option. Nothing in Procurement can turn this off, because a sourcing tool that leaks a rival's price is not a sourcing tool.

**Per solicitation: whether YOUR evaluators see who submitted a bid before you award.** Identity is visible by default, because past performance is usually a legitimate thing to weigh. Turn on **blind evaluation** and bid content is still scored while the bidder's name and contact are withheld until award.

**Sealed bidding** is a third, stronger setting. With it on, nobody on your side sees any bid at all until you press Open bids - not even anonymously. The moment you open them is recorded with a timestamp, because when the seal broke is a fact an auditor asks about.

If a bid list looks empty or anonymous, the page tells you which of these is why. It is not a loading error.