Introduction
The DE Oracle Supplier Portal (‘the Supplier Portal’) is used by the department and some other Education portfolio bodies to release Requests for Quote (RFQs, also referred to as ‘negotiations’) and to allow suppliers to manage their responses. This includes use by the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) as part of the Infrastructure Portfolio Management (IPM) platform.
The Supplier Portal also allows suppliers to self-manage their organisational details and user access (except banking information).
Oracle upgrade – March and April 2025
The department’s Oracle platform is being upgraded at the end of March 2025. All suppliers should note the following impacts during the period Tuesday 25 March to Monday 7 April, inclusive:
- No new supplier registrations will be possible.
- No changes to supplier profiles, including new user creation, will be approved.
- The Supplier Portal will remain available for you to log into.
- Open RFQs will remain available for you to access, and you will still be able to create and submit responses to open RFQs.
- All RFQs open in this period will provide directions to suppliers on how to communicate with the department by means other than using Oracle Messages. Messages will not be accessible by department staff in this period.
- Current User IDs and passwords will not be affected by this upgrade. Future user accounts will be created using email addresses as the identifier, rather than a numeric ID.
Our Quick Reference Guides on this page will be revised following the conclusion of the upgrade process.
Other platforms
VendorPanel remains a mandated platform for DE to issue procurement requests to market that relate to a number of Victorian Government State Purchase Contracts and registers.
DE continues to issue these requests through VendorPanel, however suppliers responding through VendorPanel must also be a registered organisation within the Supplier Portal for us to properly manage the full lifecycle of that request and related processes. The Victorian Government will be progressively moving those arrangements to its new Digital Marketplace and Supplier Hub, but the need for dual registration will continue to apply.
The VSBA no longer uses VendorPanel, with all procurements undertaken in the Supplier Portal.
DE will continue to advertise open market procurement requests through the Buying for Victoria (BFV) Tenders Portal, but users will be redirected to this Supplier Portal to obtain documentation and submit responses. Responses submitted through the BFV Tenders Portal are no longer accepted unless specifically advertised as such.
New supplier registration
Prospective suppliers (those who have not previously been engaged by DE) need to self-register to create a new supplier record for their organisation in the Supplier Portal.
Self-registration includes the provision of basic organisational details and the creation of one or more user accounts for staff who will access and respond to RFQs through the Supplier Portal.
Download our Quick Reference Guide to learn more about this process:
QRG Supplier and User Registration Process (DOCX, 373KB)
User registration for existing suppliers
Suppliers who have previously been engaged by DE will already have a supplier record in our systems, but may not have any user accounts established to allow for accessing and responding to RFQs.
DE will manually create the first user account for any existing supplier. Users can then self-manage new user requests within their organisation.
Download our Quick Reference Guide for more detail:
QRG Supplier and User Registration Process (DOCX, 373KB)
Logging in and forgotten passwords
Users should always go to the front page of the Supplier Portal to log in.
Your User ID is the five- or six-digit number you were allocated when you were registered as a user. Logins using your email address will not be successful.
If you have forgotten your password or need to reset it for any reason, there is a reset process built into the system. Download our Quick Reference Guide on the key functions of the Supplier Portal for more detail:
QRG Supplier Portal Key Functions (DOCX, 829KB)
Key functions of the Supplier Portal
Our Quick Reference Guide on the key functions of the Supplier Portal covers the following topics:
- Finding a negotiation (RFQ)
- Navigating around a negotiation (RFQ)
- Communicating with the project team
- Creating a response
- Managing your responses
- Manage your organisation’s profile
Download our Quick Reference Guide for more detail:
QRG Supplier Portal Key Functions (DOCX, 829KB)
Requesting assistance
Questions about individual RFQs/RFTs/negotiations should, as a first option, be directed to the relevant project team using the Messages function within each negotiation.
Goods and services procurement
If you cannot find the information you need regarding the Supplier Portal in the above documents, please contact the DE Supplier Portal helpdesk: oracle.procurement.cloud@education.vic.gov.au.
Construction procurement
For support in relation to construction procurement activities, please contact VSBA Procurement: vsba.procurement@education.vic.gov.au.
For support with the IPM platform, please contact the VSBA IPM Support team: IPM.support@education.vic.gov.au
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