System and method for performing online competitive bidding

Abstract

One embodiment is directed to an online competitive bidding system and method for performing online competitive bidding. One or more financial proposal pages are transmitted from a server to a bidder client device, which are operable to cause said bidder client device to display on a display device associated with said bidder client device a bidder user interface for the online competitive bidding system. The bidder user interface is configured to cause said bidder client device to receive information for a set of line items for a financial proposal. Each line item is associated with a resource, a standard billing rate, a time estimate, a billing method entity, and a cost estimate. The bidder user interface causes said bidder client device to display the updated cost estimate for each line item associated with a billing method entity when there is a change to an associated attribute.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method of performing online competitive bidding by a plurality of bidders that bid to provide professional services to a customer, the method performed using at least one server hosting an online competitive bidding system and at least one bidder client device used by at least one bidder, the method comprising:
 transmitting, from said server to said bidder client device, one or more financial proposal pages operable to cause said bidder client device to display on a display device associated with said bidder client device, a bidder user interface for the online competitive bidding system, wherein the bidder user interface is configured to cause said bidder client device to receive information for a set of line items for a financial proposal of a project proposal for said bidder to provide the professional services to the customer; and   receiving, at the server, the project proposal for said bidder to provide the professional services to the customer;   wherein each line item is associated with a resource, a standard billing rate, a time estimate, a billing method entity, and a cost estimate;   wherein each billing method entity is associated with a billing method that is used for calculating the respective cost estimate for each line item associated with that billing method entity;   wherein the bidder user interface is configured to enable said bidder to specify multiple billing method entities for the financial proposal using the bidder user interface;   wherein the bidder user interface causes said bidder client device to receive the information for the set of line items for the financial proposal of the project proposal of said bidder received;   wherein the bidder user interface causes said bidder client device to receive a change to an attribute associated with a first billing method entity specified for at least one of the line items received via the bidder user interface;   wherein the financial proposal is updated so that the cost estimate for each line item associated with the first billing method entity is automatically updated to reflect the change to the attribute; and   wherein the bidder user interface causes said bidder client device to display the updated cost estimate for each line item associated with the first billing method entity.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the bidder user interface is configured to display a respective user interface element for each line item via said bidder client device receives information about the resource selected for that line item, the time estimate for that line item, and the billing method entity selected for that line item. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the bidder user interface is configured to display a user interface element via which said bidder client device receives the change to the attribute associated with the first billing method. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the bidder user interface is configured to:
 receive, for each line item of the financial proposal, information about actual time or actual costs associated with the associated resource performing an associated service; and   display, for each line item of the financial proposal, information about the actual time or the actual costs associated with the specified resource providing the associated service.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the server comprises a plurality of servers. 
     
     
         6 . An online competitive bidding system for performing online competitive bidding by a plurality of bidders that bid to provide professional services to a customer, the system comprising:
 at least one programmable processor to execute software;   at least one network interface to communicatively couple the system, using a communication network, to at least one bidder client device used by at least one bidder;   wherein the system is coupled to at least one storage device to store information related to the online competitive bidding; and   wherein the software, when executed by the programmable processor, is operable to cause the system to:
 transmit, to said bidder client device, one or more pages operable to cause said bidder client device to display on a display device associated with said bidder client device, a bidder user interface for the online competitive bidding system, wherein the bidder user interface is configured to cause said bidder client device to receive information for a set of line items for a financial proposal of a project proposal for said bidder to provide the professional services to the customer; and 
 receive the project proposal for said bidder to provide the professional services to the customer; 
   wherein each line item is associated with a resource, a standard billing rate, a time estimate, a billing method entity, and a cost estimate;   wherein each billing method entity is associated with a billing method that is used for calculating the respective cost estimate for each line item associated with that billing method entity;   wherein the bidder user interface is configured to enable said bidder to specify multiple billing method entities for the financial proposal using the bidder user interface;   wherein the bidder user interface causes said bidder client device to receive the information for the set of line items for the financial proposal of the project proposal of said bidder received;   wherein the bidder user interface causes said bidder client device to receive a change to an attribute associated with a first billing method entity specified for at least one of the line items received via the bidder user interface;   wherein the financial proposal is updated so that the cost estimate for each line item associated with the first billing method entity is automatically updated to reflect the change to the attribute; and   wherein the bidder user interface causes said bidder client device to display the updated cost estimate for each line item associated with the first billing method entity.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the bidder user interface is configured to display a respective user interface element for each line item via said bidder client device receives information about the resource selected for that line item, the time estimate for that line item, and the billing method entity selected for that line item. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the bidder user interface is configured to display a user interface element via which said bidder client device receives the change to the attribute associated with the first billing method. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the bidder user interface is configured to:
 receive, for each line item of the financial proposal, information about actual time or actual costs associated with the associated resource performing an associated service; and   display, for each line item of the financial proposal, information about the actual time or the actual costs associated with the specified resource providing the associated service.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the system comprises a plurality of programmable processors.