Getting Started with Loocey DLA/DIBBS Module

Overview

Get started with Loocey and learn how to manage DLA RFQs, find and organize bidding opportunities, manage suppliers, prepare bids, and streamline your DLA contracting workflow.

This tutorial is a quick tour of the key features and workflows: the DLA RFQs module, the Bidding Board, supplier management, RFQ emails, bid pricing and the Label Maker. Whether you’re new to Loocey or want a refresher, it covers the basics so you can get started, with links to the detailed tutorials for each feature.

Step by step

The walkthrough covered in the video, written out so you can follow along inside Loocey.

1. On the far left you’ll find the apps navigation, also called modules. The Bid app holds the pages for your bidding workflow: the Bidding Board, Suppliers, Services (shipping, labor and packaging by default), Inventory, Contacts, Products and Configuration.
2. Your Bidding Board is empty the first time you log in. Solicitations appear once you add them.
3. Switch to the DLA app to see the DLA-specific pages. Click the Loocey logo at any time to return to the home page, which is your Bidding Board.
4. The top bar has Notifications, the Jobs Queue, Support and Tutorials, plus the light and dark mode switch. The profile menu opens Profile & Preferences, and administrators also see the Admin Panel with user settings, the organization-wide jobs queue and the Audit Log.
5. On the DLA RFQs page, each open solicitation shows the NSN, status, FSC code and required quantity, along with AS Bidding (an approved source is also bidding) and Same Winner (the same company won the contract within the last 36 months). You’ll also see quantity statistics, the packaging code, contracting officer details and Approved Source Cages.
6. Click an NSN to open its detail view with the current RFQ, approved parts and sources, award history, pricing and quantities. Use the list on the left to move between NSNs, and click a CAGE code to see company details.
7. Two views are built in: All RFQs, with only the status filter set to Open, and Simple RFQs, with a set of predefined filters. You can create your own view from either one.
8. For example, open Filters, select FSC Code as the column and In as the condition, and enter your FSC codes. Apply it, then click Save, Save As New, name the view My FSCs and click Save. The view appears as its own tab.
9. To search by CAGE codes, add a filter on Approved Source Cages with the Contains Any condition, enter one code per line, apply it and save it as a new view.
10. A blue dot next to the solicitation ID means the RFQ is new to you, and an orange dot means someone else in your organization marked it as viewed. Opening an RFQ does not mark it as viewed. Select one or more rows and click Mark As Viewed, then choose whether it applies only to you or to the whole organization.
11. Viewed RFQs stay in the list until you exclude them. Open Filters, go to Other Options, select Exclude Viewed Records or Exclude Organization Viewed Records, click Apply, and save the view.
12. Select the RFQs you want to work on and use Copy To Bidding Board. Loocey copies the RFQ details, approved sources and parts to your CRM, skips RFQs that were already copied, and adds approved sources as suppliers or links them to existing ones. RFQs can also be marked as viewed automatically when you copy them.
13. On the Bidding Board, click the solicitation ID to open the detail panel, where you can edit information, add notes and see changes made by your team. The NSN link shows award and NSN history, and the bids link shows the latest solicitation status.
14. Click a Bid Status to change it. Statuses and colors are fully customizable. Use Assigned To to split RFQs among your team.
15. To group bids that are ready to submit, click Filters, Add Filter, choose Bid Status, set it to Ready To Bid and click Apply. Then click Save As New and name the view.
16. For a visual board, click More, New, then Add Kanban/Pipeline View, name it and click Create. Organize cards into columns by bid status or priority and drag them to update their values.
17. Open an RFQ in detail view with the open item icon, or right-click it and open it in a new tab. The Supplier Quotes table already lists the linked approved sources with their part numbers.
18. In the Suppliers list, click Add Item to add a supplier, and make sure each supplier you want to contact has an email address. Set Quoting to Skip for suppliers you don’t want to contact.
19. To request quotes, select RFQs on the Bidding Board and open the Bulk Email Sender from the three-dots menu. Connect your Gmail or Outlook account, choose a template, adjust individual emails if needed and click Send.
20. Choose whether the solicitation status should change to Quote Request Sent after sending. Use the queue icon to monitor the emails, then click refresh to update the statuses in Loocey. Your From Name and Email Signature are under Profile & Preferences, Email Settings.
21. Under Supplier Quotes, update each supplier’s status and enter the unit price, lead time and quote file. Select the supplier you want to use and click Use For Bid.
22. The pricing module opens with the supplier’s part number, lead time and unit price, plus a default 10% product markup. Click Update to calculate the bid unit price, margin, cost and profit.
23. Compare your price with the last award unit price shown at the top and adjust the product markup if needed. To reach a specific target price, use Bid Additional Per Unit Price Adjustment instead of working out the percentage yourself. Click Update and close the pricing module.
24. Back on the record, enter any additional shipping, profit or other costs, and any extra lead time for packaging or other requirements.
25. Under Service Details, click Add Item to add packaging, shipping or labor costs. Without a margin, a service cost comes out of your profit and the bid price stays the same. With a margin, the cost is added to the bid price. Use the Notes tab to leave notes for your team.
26. After an award, make sure the Award / Contract ID column is visible, select the contract you won, open the three-dots menu and choose Label Maker. Many fields are filled in automatically, including the contract ID, NSN, unit of issue, quantity and description.
27. Choose the label type (Unit Container, Intermediate Container or Exterior Container) and enter your cage, preservation details, part number and shelf life. The Settings tab controls the label size, font size and 1D or 2D barcode format.
28. Click Download to generate the label PDF, and review it before printing. To print more copies, increase the label quantity. Each copy goes on its own page for label printers.
29. To find more tutorials, click Support in the top navigation and select DLA Help Center. Browse by topic or search by keyword, and each tutorial includes the video and written steps.

Where this fits

This tutorial covers the Demos & Overviews part of Loocey DLA. Start here — full product demos, webinars and feature round-ups for Loocey DLA.

• Loocey DLA Getting Started guide — account setup and the full bidding workflow
• Saved-search recipes — the exact column, condition and value for 20 common DLA searches
• DLA / DIBBS glossary — what every field on a solicitation means
• All Loocey DLA video tutorials