Contract Search Application Instructions

Starting the Application
Searching for Contracts:
   The Main Menu
   Search Types:
      Keyword/Vendor Search
      Contract Number Search
      Category Search
      Source/Status Search
    Search for Minority Business Enterprises on Contract
Using Search Results:
   Navigating to the web publication
   More Contract Detail
   Printing a List of Results

Starting the Application:

From the Contracts Page, click on the Search All UW-Madison, UW System, and State (DOA) Purchasing Contracts link, under the Keyword Search heading. The user will be brought to the page allowing them to access the Contract Search Database. If this is your first time using the application, a program called Oracle JInitatior will need to be installed on your system. This should begin automatically when you click the Search Contracts link at the bottom of the page, and will allow you to connect to our database to use the search. If you are using Netscape instead of Internet Explorer, please follow the appropriate download link and instructions. The next time you use the application this will not be necessary. View and print the instructions for this installation, then return to the Search All UW-Madison, UW System, and State (DOA) Purchasing Contracts page and click on the Search Contracts link near the bottom of the page. If you have any trouble with your application loading please contact your System Administrator.

Searching for Contracts: The Main Menu

Once the application is running, you will be brought to the Main Menu as pictured below. This menu offers the user the ability to select from 4 different types of searches or to exit the program. Click on your desired selection to perform a search.
Contract Search Main Menu

Search Types: Keyword/Vendor Search

Searching by Keyword/Vendor is our first option. The actual search screen is pictured below. Enter a keyword relating to the goods or services you are interested in finding or a specific manufacturer or vendor name whose product or services you are interested in. You may enter up to 10 words, separating each with a space. The more words entered, the more specific the search, and consequently, less results are returned. 3 customized search options are available. You may choose a "Source" (either UW Madison, UW System, or State Contracts), "Status" (either Active, Expired, or All), or a search type (using "and" logic, "or" logic, or the "exact phrase" entered). In the example for this tutorial, we will search for a contract for a laptop using the default settings. Type "laptop" into the Keyword field and click on the "Search Contracts" button near the bottom of your screen. The results for our search appear in the Using Search Results section below.
Keyword search for "laptop"

Contract Number Search

Use this search method if you already know the number of the contract you are interested in. Type any part of the number into the "Contract Number" field and click the "Search Contracts" button. Dashes, spaces, and parenthesis are not necessary, but may be entered. A results list of contracts containing any part of the number you entered (in their contract number) will be generated.

Category Search:

We have separated our contracts into 15 categories as follows:
Academic Support Services Agreements (ASSA's)
Agricultural (Animals, Equipment, Supplies)
Copiers
Food
Furniture
Hotels/Conferences
Information Technology
Maintenance, Repair, & Operational (MRO)
Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)
Office (Equipment, Supplies)
Printing
Scientific (Equipment, Chemicals, Safety)
Services
Telecommunications, Audio/Visual, Photographic and Electronics
Vehicles & Transportation Services

Choose the category of interest and click "Search Contracts." Your results will contain all of the contracts we have categorized in this area. Only one category may be chosen at a time.

Source/Status Search:

This search option allows you to find all the contracts associated with 1 of the 3 sources by choosing the button for the contracting source of interest and limiting the search by Status (either the default of "Active" or by "Expired" or "All"). Click "Search Contracts" to generate your set of results. This will bring back a very large set of results (in some cases hundreds of entries).

Search for Minority Business Enterprises on Contract:

From the Main Menu, choose Category Search. Choose the "Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)" category as shown in the picture below and click on "Search Contracts." This will provide you with a list of purchasing contracts which have MBE vendors available.

Minority Business Contract Vendor Search

Using Search Results:

Once a search has been performed, a page of results, formatted as below, will be returned. The results will be formatted the same for any of the 4 types of searches conducted. The results below are for a Keyword Search for the word "laptop." The results will list the contract number, title, status, and provide a link for more information.
Search results for "laptop" search

Navigating to the web publication:

Now that you have your search results, you may look at the actual web publication of the contract you are interested in. The Contract Number and Title, both highlighted in blue text, are links to the web publication. Double click on either one to take you to the actual web document.

More Contract Detail:

Double clicking the text "More Summary" for the contract of interest in your search results will take you to a view of our actual database entry for that contract (as pictured below). You may navigate to the web publication from here by double clicking the blue text in the "html link" field. In addition to the contract number, title, and status, you may view the source, NIGP codes, category codes, keywords, and vendors listed for each contract. Use the exit button to take you back to your search results.
Dell Computers contract detail from search

Printing a List of Results:

The program allows the user to choose the option "Print the above List" from the bottom menu of your search results. This function puts your list of results into an Adobe Acrobat document which can be printed. To save the results, use the small disk icon available in your Acrobat toolbar as the File Save function will most likely not be available.


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