Contract Search Application Instructions
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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