From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: GAO's E-Filing System - Joining a Case as an Agency
Representative

Description: Tutorial on GAO's E-Filing system for bid protests

Released: January 2018

[ Opening Screen ] Electronic Protest Docketing System (EPDS) JOINING A
CASE AS AN AGENCY REPRESENTATIVE GAO Logo

Welcome to the tutorial on Joining a Case as an Agency Representative in
EPDS. Before we get started, please keep in mind that EPDS performs best
when accessing it using the following web browsers: Google Chrome,
Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge. We recommend that you do not use
Internet Explorer. So, let's get started.

As an agency representative, you can submit a request to join a bid
protest case that has been filed by your agency. To do so, click the
Join a Case tab in the Navigation Pane.

The Join a Case screen appears prompting you to enter the B-Number for
the case you wish to join. If you don't know the B-Number for the case,
click the Search button.

Clicking the Search button will provide you with a complete list of your
agency's open cases. Review the case information displayed on the screen
to verify this B Number is the case you wish to join. Once verified,
respond to the question "Do you want to enter an appearance in this
case?" by clicking the Yes button.

The Join a Case screen updates by displaying the Notice of Appearance
section. At this point, you need to click the Add File button to upload
a document for your request to join the case.

The Open dialog box appears. Keep in mind that the file you upload must
be in one of the following formats - PDF, Word, Excel or Zip. Locate and
select the document you would like to upload, then click the Open
button.

The Join a Case screen reappears and the document you just uploaded
displays in the Notice of Appearance section. If you wish to upload a
different document, click the Remove button first to remove it and then
repeat these steps.

When you have the desired document uploaded, click the Submit button.

The Dashboard appears and the case you just requested to join is listed
as an Active Case but is in a "pending" status. Once GAO reviews your
request to join the case, it will either be "acknowledged" or
"rejected." If you attempt to view the Case Docket Sheet by clicking the
B-Number before GAO makes a decision, the Request Pending dialog box
appears alerting you that the status of your request is pending. The
case docket screen only appears if your request has been acknowledged by
GAO. To close the Request Pending dialog box, just click OK.

Once GAO acknowledges your request, you will receive an email
confirmation from EPDS. Then, next time when you click on the B-Number,
you will be able to see the Case Docket Sheet.

As you scroll down the screen, you will see your Notice of Appearance
was acknowledged.

Now, if GAO rejects your request, an email confirmation is sent from
EPDS letting you know your request has been rejected. When you click on
the "rejected" B-Number, the following dialog box appears alerting you
that your appearance has not been acknowledged by GAO and includes a
link to a file that contains additional information about why GAO did
not acknowledge the case. You will need to click on the link to read the
information. Here, we will click OK to close this dialog box.

The Dashboard reappears. All cases you requested access to appear on the
Active Cases screen whether they are pending, acknowledged or rejected.
However, after a sufficient period of time, cases will automatically be
removed by the system.

This concludes the tutorial on Joining a Case as an Agency
Representative. To learn more about using EPDS, check out the other
tutorials in the bid protest section of our website at www.gao.gov.