This week I touched base with one of my colleagues at the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training to get an update. I urge you to register on the new BC Bid portal now to be ready for opportunities coming this fall.
The new BC Bid platform replaces the old one on August 31. There will be orientation workshops this fall, but again, register now to avoid the deadline rush.
Yesterday, I updated ASPECT's BC Bid registration and here's what I learned:
- If everything works as it should, the process is relatively easy, but in my case, it didn't work as it should.
- You will be required to sign in using your BCeID; however, you must use your business BCeID (as a supplier) and not your Basic BCeID. ASPECT is a non-profit and a supplier, so we have two.
- If you use the wrong BCeID, you will automatically become a "purchaser" and not a "supplier," which cannot be changed by BCBid. Try to correct this on your own, and you can get locked out.
- The tech support people at BCeID and BCBid are excellent but not the same people.
- If I had read the instructions, I would have saved myself a lot of time and headache.
The process that I thought would take a maximum of 30-minutes took much longer as I needed to step away occasionally to deal with my frustration and password resets. Once the transition is complete, the new BCBid portal has its advantages.
- The supplier dashboard lets me update information quickly and easily.
- The notification of opportunities is an email that directs you to the dashboard. The dashboard shows all the opportunities available at a glance.
There are probably many more advantages to the new portal, but when I tried to log in to get a screenshot for this post, I accidentally got locked out because I logged into BCeID incorrectly again. Perhaps I need to step away again for another coffee...
Janet Morris-Reade, CEO
ASPECT BC
