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Module 4: Capture and Read the Package. Written explanation, fictional example, and sources.
Educational content. Follow the applicable solicitation and contract. Official sources are provided below.
10 min · Progress tracking is not available yet
After this lesson you should be able to tell bid-submission instructions from post-award invoicing and payment instructions, put each line in the matching AsherGate analysis bucket, and avoid pricing a quote from an invoice portal or sending an invoice to the offer email. AsherGate does not submit bids and does not send invoices.
Bid and proposal submission instructions tell you how to send the offer: email to a contracting officer, a named portal, paper to a designated office, file-name rules, or a due date for the package. If FAR 52.215-1 is in the solicitation, proposals go to the office specified there by the time specified there. Commercial packages point to 52.212-1 and any addendum. Those rules apply before award.
Post-award invoicing and payment instructions tell a contractor how to bill after there is a contract. The payment system and the due date come from the awarded contract; they are not universal. Civilian agencies often use the Invoice Processing Platform, a Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service web service. Department of Defense contracts that include DFARS 252.232-7003 generally require electronic payment requests and receiving reports in Wide Area WorkFlow, accessed through the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment, with listed exceptions. FAR 32.904 generally makes an invoice payment due the later of the 30th day after the designated billing office receives a proper invoice or the 30th day after Government acceptance, except as prescribed for architect-engineer work, construction progress payments, food and specified items, and other listed cases. “Net 30” is not a universal term and is not a bid-submission method. In the uniform contract format those payment lines often sit in Section G, not in Section L.
AsherGate analysis keeps two labeled lists: Bid and proposal submission instructions, and Post-award invoicing and payment instructions. If a line about IPP or WAWF lands in the bid list, that is an extraction error to correct against the file. If the bid-submission list is empty, the product shows Not found in uploaded documents. That is not a reason to invent a portal, and it is not a reason to treat any AsherGate button as the destination.
Keep this as a side note. FAR 32.904(d) generally makes construction progress payments due 14 days after the designated billing office receives a proper payment request, unless the contracting officer specifies a longer period. Retainage and final construction payments follow different 32.904 clocks. Food and specified items in 32.904(f) can be due in 7 or 10 days. DFARS 252.232-7003 lists exceptions to WAWF, including written contracting-officer permission for a temporary method, certain transportation and TRICARE payment systems, and Governmentwide commercial purchase card payment, which still requires a receiving report in WAWF. Copy the system and due date from the contract. Do not assume IPP, WAWF, or a 30-day clock.
Using the Dunlin story below, Section L says quotations go by email to the contracting officer by 9 December 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Section G says invoices after award go through the Invoice Processing Platform. The first extract places the IPP sentence in Bid and proposal submission instructions.
Open both cited pages. Keep the email instruction as the bid path. Move the IPP sentence, in your own notes, to post-award invoicing. Do not email a quote to IPP. Do not send an invoice to the contracting officer’s offer address. AsherGate will not send either message.
Fictional example
Dunlin Hose Reels LLC is a fictional industrial-hose shop in Tacoma, Washington. It stores a fictional RFQ, AG-PAY-26-0912, from a fictional Commencement Bay Public Works Desk for 14 spring-rewind hose reels.
Section L of the RFQ PDF says email the quotation to the contracting officer by 9 December 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Section G says the contractor shall invoice through the Invoice Processing Platform after award. Analysis lists the IPP sentence under Bid and proposal submission instructions and the email sentence under the same heading.
A teammate opens both citations, writes that IPP is post-award payment, and keeps email as the only bid path named in the files. They do not look for an AsherGate submit control. They do not create an IPP invoice for a quote that has not been awarded. Nothing is submitted.
Each official source is listed with the teaching claim it supports. Product behavior is labeled separately. Review dates are when AsherGate last checked the page.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Section G is contract administration data, where invoicing and payment directions often appear. Section L is instructions to offerors for submitting the proposal.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Proposals and modifications shall be submitted to the office specified in the solicitation by the time specified there, unless the solicitation permits another method.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Commercial offer instructions, including submission method, are in 52.212-1 and any addendum, not in post-award invoice portals.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: SF 1449 commercial assemblies still separate solicitation provisions, including 52.212-1, from contract clauses and administration data.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Except as prescribed in 32.904(c) through (f), an invoice payment is generally due the later of the 30th day after a proper invoice is received or the 30th day after Government acceptance. Construction progress payments, retainage, food items, and other listed cases use different clocks. Payment timing depends on the contract.
U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: IPP is a Treasury web program for enrolled federal agencies and their vendors to manage invoicing from purchase order to payment notification. It is not a bid-submission portal.
U.S. Department of the Treasury · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: IPP is a web-based invoice system offered at no charge to participating federal agencies and their vendors.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Except as provided in paragraph (d), DoD contractors shall submit payment requests and receiving reports in electronic form using Wide Area WorkFlow. Listed exceptions include written contracting-officer permission, certain transportation and TRICARE systems, and Governmentwide commercial purchase card payment.
Defense Logistics Agency · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: WAWF is a web system for electronic invoicing, receipt, and acceptance. Access is through the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment at https://piee.eb.mil.
AsherGate · AsherGate product · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Analysis shows bid-submission instructions and post-award invoicing instructions as separate lists. Empty bid instructions display Not found in uploaded documents. The product does not submit bids or invoices.
AsherGate · AsherGate product · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Use of the platform does not submit a bid or create a contract with any government agency.