BidDoctor Client Manual

01 · Overview

What BidDoctor covers

BidDoctor works in two parts: drafting and execution, then management of the signed contract. Everything about a contract stays on one record from the day Procurement hands over the file until the contract is closed.

Capability	How it works	See
Drafting from PPDA templates	Special Conditions captured once; a Word draft generated in PPDA standard wording, with the price in words	02
Tracking from file to execution	Seven-stage pipeline with owners, working-day targets and stall alerts	02
Solicitor General clearance	Added automatically above the threshold (UGX 200M); clearance letter required	02
Clean copies and execution	Three originals confirmed; signing on paper or electronically	03
Contract and contacts registers	Contract register, supplier profiles, contacts register; CSV export	04
Performance	Monthly progress reports (RAG) and scored supplier appraisals	04
Compliance with terms	Obligations per clause with owners, due dates, breaches and waivers	04
Contract status	Status and stage on every record; dashboard and alerts	05
Delivery dates and milestones	Milestones and deliverables with overdue alerts; payments tied to them	04
Expiry dates	Alerts at 90, 60 and 30 days; expiry report; calendar feed	05
Variations and extensions	Change orders, amendments and renewals within the regulatory limits	04
Payments	Schedule, invoice, certify, pay; 30-day payment clock; advance cap	04
Closure	Closure checklist, termination record, 7-year retention date	04

02 · Part 1

Drafting and execution

The workflow follows UEDCL's contracting process. A contract moves on only when its step is complete, and BidDoctor shows exactly what is missing.

File receivedfrom Procurement
Legal draftsPPDA template
Attachmentsbid document, supplier's bid
Company Secretaryreview or return
Solicitor Generalabove UGX 200M
Clean copies3 originals
Executionsupplier signs

The whole pipeline on one screen

A track across the top shows all seven stages at once: how many contracts are at each, and how many are late. Below, contracts are listed under their stage, with whose desk they are on and the working days spent there against the stage target. When a contract passes its target, its row turns red and the responsible people are told.

Click a stage to see only its contracts, or Waiting on me to see your own queue.
Working days exclude weekends and Uganda public holidays; targets are set per stage by the administrator.
Prefer cards? Switch to Board for one column per stage.

Drafting pipeline: stage track with counts and late contracts, and contracts listed by stage

Drafts from the PPDA forms, not from scratch

Legal fills in the Special Conditions once (delivery, payment structure, performance security, liquidated damages and so on), each labelled with its clause in the Standard Bidding Document. One click generates the Contract Agreement in PPDA wording, the Special Conditions schedule and the list of contract documents, as a Word file to refine.

Act s.58, s.67Regs 9(2)SBD Sections 8-9

Special Conditions form with PPDA clause references and the Generate draft button

Nothing is signed before the law allows it

Before the supplier is invited to sign, six conditions from the Contracts Regulations must be met. BidDoctor works out the end of the 10-working-day standstill from the notice date and holds the contract until it has passed.

Contracts Committee award decision
Price not above market price
Best-evaluated-bidder notice and standstill
No administrative review pending
Full funding committed
Solicitor General / Attorney General clearance

Regs 3, 4, 6(1)Act s.106(11)

Workflow tab showing the current step and the pre-signature checklist

03 · Execution

Electronic signing, with a sealed record

Contracts can be signed online or on paper. Online signing is faster and leaves stronger evidence. Each signer gets a personal link, proves who they are with a one-time code sent to their email, reads the contract on screen and signs. When everyone has signed, BidDoctor produces one sealed PDF.

Signer identity check with an emailed one-time code — The signer confirms it is them with a 6-digit code.

Signing page with the contract PDF and a typed signature — The contract on screen; a typed or drawn signature and initials.

E-signing tab showing both parties signed and the sealed contract — Both parties signed; the sealed contract is filed as executed.

What the sealed contract proves

Every page initialled electronically by every signer.
Certificate of execution: name, role, email, signature, time in EAT, identity check, IP address and device for each signer.
Audit trail of every step.
Digital seal (PAdES): change one byte and Adobe Reader shows the signature as invalid.

Legal basis. A contract may not be denied legal effect because it was concluded electronically (Electronic Transactions Act 2011, s.14). An electronic signature satisfies a signature requirement when it is linked to the signer, under their control, and changes are detectable (Electronic Signatures Act 2011, s.4). The Act's highest level, an advanced signature verified with a qualified certificate from a NITA-U-licensed provider, carries the same weight as a handwritten signature (s.10). BidDoctor seals each contract with the organisation's own certificate.

Certificate of electronic execution page — Certificate of electronic execution

Contract page with electronic initials in the footer — Initials stamped on every page

04 · Part 2

Managing a signed contract

Once executed, the contract has a named contract manager (reg 50) and everything about it lives on one page: delivery, money, securities, changes, compliance and performance.

The contract at a glance

Particulars, days to expiry, value and payments, delivery progress, variations, supplier contacts and anything that needs attention. A printable Contract Management Plan in the prescribed Form 49 is one click away.

Regs 50-52Form 49

Contract overview with particulars, payments, delivery and alerts

Payments that follow the Regulations

Schedule → invoice → the contract manager certifies → Finance pays.
Payment against a deliverable only once it is delivered.
Advance capped at 30%, and only after the advance payment guarantee is in.
30-day payment clock from certification, with overdue alerts.
Rejected invoices go back with reasons.

Regs 43, 44, 47, 49Act s.37(e)

Payments tab with totals, schedule and statuses

Variations inside the limits

Type	Approval	Limit
Change order	Accounting Officer	1% each, 1.5% total
Amendment	Funds → Contracts Committee → SG/AG	15% each, 25% total
Renewal	As amendment; Schedule 3 only	Once; then Treasury

The meters show how much headroom is left. Extensions update the end date; issued amendments update the value.

Regs 53, 54, 55

Variations tab with change order and amendment limit meters

Guarantees tab listing performance security and advance payment guarantee — **Guarantees.** Performance security due 21 days after signing, alerts before expiry, release only when obligations are met (reg 11).

Compliance tab with obligations, owners and due dates — **Compliance.** Each obligation with clause, owner and due date; met, breached or waived; recurring ones roll forward.

Performance tab with monthly progress report and appraisal — **Performance.** Monthly progress reports and scored appraisals that roll up to the supplier (reg 52(3)).

Printable Contract Management Plan in Form 49 layout — **Form 49.** The Contract Management Plan, generated from the record and ready to print.

Closure and termination. A contract closes only when its closure checklist is complete and no invoice is pending; records are then kept for 7 years (Act s.44). Termination requires the reasons, grounds, actions taken, costs and the Attorney / Solicitor General approval reference (reg 56).

05 · Day to day

Staying on top without chasing

BidDoctor watches the dates so people don't have to: expiries, deliveries, payments, guarantees, obligations, stalled drafts and missing reports.

Alerts, emails and your own calendar

Alerts page sorted by urgency.
Action-needed emails when a contract reaches your step or an invoice is certified.
Daily or weekly digest of your own alerts at 07:00.
Calendar feed: subscribe once in Outlook or Google Calendar and deadlines appear there.
Uganda public holidays built in; Eid dates added each year from the gazette.

Alerts page listing overdue payments, milestones and expiring guarantees

Email log with digests and action-needed emails — Every email is logged.

Public holidays calendar for Uganda — Uganda holidays drive working days.

My account page with two-step verification, notifications and calendar link — Notifications, calendar link, two-step sign-in.

06 · Trust

Security and access

Contracts are sensitive. Access is by role, every action is recorded, and sign-in is protected against both password guessing and automated bots.

Bot protection	Cloudflare Turnstile on sign-in, checked on the server
Two-step sign-in	Codes from any authenticator app; can be made mandatory
Roles	Legal, Procurement, Company Secretary, contract manager (own contracts), Finance, Management (view only), Administrator
Separation of duties	The user department certifies; Finance pays
Audit trail	Who did what and when, on every contract
Comfort	Light and dark mode; works on phones
Install as an app	Install app in the side menu adds BidDoctor to a phone's home screen, or a computer's taskbar or dock. Edge and Chrome show their install dialog; on iPhone, Mac Safari and Firefox it gives step-by-step instructions. The item disappears once installed.
Backups	Encrypted, scheduled backups of all data and documents to Microsoft 365, S3-compatible storage, Azure, Google Drive or a network share. Restore with a preview and an automatic safety copy.
Notifications	System notifications on phones and computers, even when BidDoctor is closed: a contract waiting for you, an invoice to pay, signing completed, and new versions. Turn them on under ⚙ My account; each kind can be switched off.
Help built in	A guided tour on first sign-in (replay it from ? in the side menu) and small ⓘ icons that explain terms
Always current	A notice when a new version is available, and a strip when the connection drops. Forms are held until it returns, so nothing typed is lost. If a page ever fails to load, a Reload app button appears.

Sign-in page with Cloudflare security check — Sign-in with the Cloudflare check (test mode shown)

Contract payments on a phone — Payments on the go

The guided tour highlighting the Drafting pipeline in the side menu — The guided tour walks new users through the main features, one step at a time.

Who can do what

Everyone who signs in can see every contract, register and report. What differs is what each role can change. The system enforces this on the server, not just on screen. Own means only on contracts where the person is the named contract manager.

Action	Admin	Legal	Procurement	Co. Sec.	Contract mgr	Finance	Mgmt
Drafting and execution
Receive a procurement file	✓	✓	✓	–	–	–	–
Edit the contract record	✓	✓	In drafting	–	–	–	–
Special Conditions and drafts	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–
Move a contract to the next stage	✓	Their stages	First stage	Review	–	–	–
Return a draft for corrections	✓	At clearance	–	At review	–	–	–
Pre-signature checklist	✓	✓	✓	✓	–	–	–
Cancel a procurement	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–
Send for electronic signature	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–
Managing signed contracts
Milestones, guarantees, compliance, progress reports	✓	✓	–	–	Own	–	–
Schedule payments	✓	✓	–	–	Own	–	–
Record invoices; reject payment requests	✓	✓	–	–	Own	✓	–
Certify invoices	✓	✓	–	–	Own	–	–
Record payments as paid	✓	–	–	–	–	✓	–
Raise a variation	✓	✓	–	–	Own	–	–
Approve and issue a variation	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–
Close or terminate	✓	✓	–	–	Own	–	–
Records and administration
Upload documents	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	–
Add or edit suppliers	✓	✓	✓	–	–	–	–
Add or remove contacts	✓	✓	✓	–	✓	✓	–
View everything; reports and exports	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Users, settings, holidays, email, backups	✓	–	–	–	–	–	–

Closed, terminated and cancelled contracts are read-only. Administrators can also certify and pay, for support. Every action is recorded in the audit trail under the person's name.

07 · Foundations

Built on the law and on open standards

The rules come straight from the PPDA Act and the Contracts Regulations 2023. Limits such as the clearance threshold and variation percentages are settings, so a change in the law needs no new software.

Rule	Source	Enforced
Award decision, market price, standstill, no review, funding, clearance before signing	Regs 3, 4, 6	✓
Three originals; notice of signed contract within 5 working days	Regs 9(4), 10(2)	✓
Contract manager appointed; Form 49 plan; monthly reports	Regs 50-52	✓
Advance ≤ 30% with guarantee; payment against deliverables; 30-day payment	Regs 43-49	✓
Change orders ≤ 1% / 1.5%; amendments ≤ 15% / 25% with approvals in order	Regs 53-54	✓
Renewals limited to Schedule 3 categories	Reg 55	✓
Termination only after Attorney General approval, with full record	Reg 56	✓
Records retained 7 years	Act s.44	✓

Open data

OCDS 1.1

Contracts export in the Open Contracting Data Standard, the standard behind PPDA's Government Procurement Portal. Validated against the official schema.

Signatures

PAdES PDF seal

The international format for signed PDFs, verifiable in Adobe Reader, with SHA-256 fingerprints.

Calendars

iCalendar

Deadline feeds for Outlook, Google and Apple Calendar.

Sign-in

TOTP · Turnstile

Standard authenticator codes and Cloudflare's privacy-friendly bot check.

Works alongside e-GP. PPDA's national e-GP system runs the procurement itself. BidDoctor covers what happens around the contract inside the entity: Legal's drafting, Company Secretary review, Solicitor General clearance, electronic execution and day-to-day tracking. It exchanges data in OCDS, the standard used by the national systems.

08 · User manual

Quick guide by role

The everyday tasks for each role. The full step-by-step user guide is available from the Manual link inside BidDoctor.

Procurement unit

Hand over a file

Dashboard → Receive procurement file.
Enter reference, subject, supplier, value, award date.
Attach the procurement file on Documents.
Tick pre-signature items you hold (award, notice date).

Legal

Draft and execute

Drafting: fill Special Conditions, Generate draft, refine in Word, upload.
Attach bid document and supplier's bid; move to Company Secretary.
After clearance, confirm 3 originals.
E-signing: send the PDF to the signers, or upload a scanned signed copy.
Enter dates and contract manager; mark Executed.

Company Secretary

Review

Open the emailed link, or the pipeline with Waiting on me.
Read the draft on Documents.
Workflow: record the outcome and move on, or Return to drafting with what must change.

Contract manager

Run the contract

Prepare the Form 49 plan; add milestones and payment schedule.
Record guarantees as they arrive.
Certify invoices when deliverables are in.
Raise variations; file a monthly progress report.
Appraise the supplier; close when complete.

Finance

Pay on time

Watch the digest or Alerts for certified invoices.
Open the contract → Payments → Record paid within 30 days of certification.

Management

See everything

Dashboard for status and what is overdue.
Contract register and Reports for exports.
Read-only: no accidental changes.

Administrator

Set it up

Users: add people and roles.
Settings & rules: threshold, limits, stage targets.
Public holidays: add Eid dates each year.
Email: test delivery, send digests.

External signer

Sign a contract

Open the link in the email.
Email me a code, enter it.
Read the contract, type or draw your signature, tick consent, Sign.
Receive the sealed copy when all have signed.

09 · Try it

The demonstration environment

The demonstration environment holds fictional contracts at every stage. Sign in as different roles to see how each person's view and permissions change.

Address: supplied with your demo access. All demonstration accounts use the password BidDoctor-demo-1.

Administratoradmin@biddoctor.local

Legallegal@demo.local

Procurementprocurement@demo.local

Company Secretarysecretary@demo.local

Contract managermanager@demo.local

Financefinance@demo.local

Managementmanagement@demo.local

Guided tour (15 minutes)

Dashboardas Administrator: pipeline, the Solicitor General queue, overdue items.
Drafting pipelinenote the red row: a contract stalled past its target.
Transformers contract → Workflowthe pre-signature checklist and why it cannot move yet.
Drafting → Generate draftopen the Word file: PPDA wording, price in words, Special Conditions.
Armed guard services → E-signingas Legal: send the clean copy for signature. The signer's emails are in Admin → Email; open the link and sign as the provider, then as UEDCL.
ACSR conductors contractOverview, Payments (overdue certified invoice), Variations (limit meters), Contract Management Plan.
Try to break a ruleraise a change order above 1% or an advance above 30%: BidDoctor explains the regulation and the alternative.
Sign in as Finance, then Managementsee how permissions change.

Contract register with search and filters — The contract register with search and filters.

10 · Setup

Setup and rollout

An administrator configures BidDoctor once before go-live. Every item below is a setting, so it can be changed later without new software.

Setting	What to configure
Users and roles	Everyone who will sign in, with their role and department.
Clearance rule	The clearance authority (Solicitor General) and the value threshold (UGX 200M).
Stage targets	Working-day targets for each drafting stage, used for stall alerts.
Public holidays	Statutory holidays load automatically; Eid dates are added each year from the gazette.
Email	The organisation's mail server, so notifications, digests and signing invitations are delivered.
Signing certificate	The organisation's document-signing certificate, used to seal executed contracts.
Security	Cloudflare bot-protection keys; whether two-step sign-in is required for everyone.

Step 1

Configure

Set up users, rules, email and the signing certificate. Load existing contracts into the register.

Step 2

Run in parallel

For four to six weeks, run live contracts in BidDoctor alongside the existing paper process and compare drafting times.

Step 3

Go live

Move all new procurement files into BidDoctor and retire the manual tracker.

11 · Questions

Common questions

Can we keep signing on paper?

Yes. Print the clean copies, sign, scan and upload the scan as the executed contract. Electronic signing is an option, not a requirement.

What if the law or our thresholds change?

The clearance threshold, variation limits, advance cap, payment period, standstill and stage targets are settings an administrator can change without new software.

Does the provider need an account to sign?

No. Signers use a personal link and a one-time code sent to their email. The link works once and expires.

Can the PPDA or an auditor see what happened on a contract?

Every action is in the contract's audit trail, every email is logged, and e-signed contracts carry their own certificate and audit trail inside the PDF.

Where is our data kept?

BidDoctor runs on a managed cloud platform, on UEDCL's own servers or in the national data centre. All data sits in one database and one documents folder. BidDoctor backs both up on a schedule, encrypted with a passphrase only UEDCL holds, to SharePoint/OneDrive, S3-compatible storage (including on-premises MinIO), Azure, Google Drive or a network share. Administrators can restore any backup after previewing it.

Is the demo data real?

No. Every name, company, contract and figure in the demo and in this manual is fictional.

From procurement file to signed contract, on one record, under PPDA rules.