Bidder Assist Download ((TOP))
Cris Luczak
Upcoming EventsThe Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) participates in educational events to assist bidders, contract suppliers, and other key stakeholders in understanding the processes and regulations that govern the DMEPOS CBP.
CMS has contracted with Palmetto GBA to operate as the CBIC to assist CMS in administering the DMEPOS CBP. In coordination with CMS, the CBIC is responsible for conducting certain functions including performing bid evaluations, selecting qualified suppliers, setting payments for all competitive bidding areas, and supporting CMS education efforts. The CBIC also assists CMS in monitoring the program's effectiveness and beneficiary access to quality DMEPOS.
In the context of digital advertising, Google identifies users with cookiesthat belong to the doubleclick.net domain, and biddersparticipating in Real-Time Bidding may have their own domain where theyidentify some set of users they would like to show ads. Cookie Matchingenables the bidder to match their cookies with Google's, such that they candetermine whether an impression sent in a bid request is associated with one ofusers being targeted, they will receive either their own cookie data or abidder-specific Google User ID that is an encrypted form of thedoubleclick.net cookie in the bid request.
The cookie matching service described in this guide facilitates the creationand maintenance of the association between a bidder's cookie and the GoogleUser ID, and also allows one to populate user lists.
A match table can be used to map an ID or other data from one domain toanother. Bidders can use the Cookie Matching Service to populate their ownmatch tables by mapping their cookie for a given user to the user's GoogleUser ID, or to populate a match table hosted by Google. Match tables arenecessary for a bidder's bidder application to access cookie data for the userbeing shown the impression.
In any of the supported Cookie Matching workflows,a bidder's Cookie Matching URL typically has parameters appended in anon-guaranteed ordering. Bidders with integrations requiring consistentordering of parameters can place macros in their Cookie Matching URL toguarantee their placement.
A bidder has a cookie matching integration with an endpoint hosted at , and their implementation requirespreset bidder-defined parameters in addition to Pixel Matchingparameters in the following order: google_push,google_gid, google_cver, andgoogle_error. The bidder can accomplish this by setting theirCookie Matching URL to:
Bidirectional Cookie Matching refers to a bidder-initiated workflow, wherethey place a match tag in the user's browser that directs it to Google. Thisworkflow allows both Google and the bidder to populate match tables. Below is asimple example of this workflow.
In order to initiate this flow, the bidder must place their match tag suchthat it renders in the user's browser. A simple match tag that only returnsthe Google User ID to the bidder may be structured as follows:
The match tag will cause Google's Cookie Matching Service to receive arequest from the user's browser, which will issue an HTTP 302redirect to the bidder's Cookie Matching URL. The redirect will include queryparameters specifying the Google User ID and its version number in the URL, andthe bidder will also receive their cookie included in the request headers. Inpractice, for a cookie matching URL specified as ,the redirect URL for the simple match tag as seen above could look like thefollowing:
The Google User ID passed through the google_gid parameter isan unpadded web-safe base64-encodedstring. For bidders choosing to host a match table, it is recommended that theystore the exact string returned by the Cookie Matching Service. In subsequentbid requests, this will correspond to values specified through BidRequest.google_user_idin Google's RTB protocol, or BidRequest.user.id in Google'sOpenRTB implementation.
The bidder receives a redirect to their cookie matching URL includingparameters they specified in the first step, and those Google provided in thesecond step. In addition, they will also receive their cookie in the HTTPheaders. If the operation was successful, a bidder hosting their own match tablecould match their cookie to the Google User ID included in the response. It isrecommended that bidders store the exact string returned by the Cookie MatchingService.
If the operation was unsuccessful, the bidder will receive a google_errorparameter in the redirect. This is a numeric value corresponding to differenterror states that identify the particular error that occurred. You can learnmore about the possible error values here.If you receive an error, you may attempt to match for that user again byplacing a new match tag.
The value is a web-safe base64-encoded string (padding optional). The raw data must be 40 bytes or less. For example, Q29va2llIHRoYXQgaXMgdW5kZXIgNDAgdG90YWwgYnl0ZXMuLi4u. google_redir A URL-encoded string that a bidder can specify if they want to direct Google to send the HTTP 302 redirect to the encoded URL for this match tag. This allows Google to be placed at the front in a chained call to partners. This will result in an error if specified without google_hm, or with google_cm. google_ula A string used to add the user to an existing user list. The value's expected format is userlistid[,timestamp]:
- userlistid: a single numerical user list ID.
- timestamp: an optional timestamp in POSIX format, indicates when the user has been added to the user list.
In addition to the above parameters, bidders may specify their own, whichwill be appended as parameters to the redirect URL. Note that bidder-definedparameters named with the google_ prefix will be ignored becausethose are reserved by Google for future development, and preservation of theparameters' ordering is not guaranteed. A match tag including bidder-definedparameters may look like:
The redirect URL is built from the base Cookie Matching URL configured fora bidder's account, including google_ and bidder-defined parametersdepending on those specified in the match tag. The following google_response parameters are defined:
Unidirectional Cookie Matching is similar to the Bidirectional workflow,except that it is altered such that only Google hosts and populates a matchtable. This can be used in instances where the bidder is not permitted to hostGoogle User IDs in their own match table. In order to use this flow, biddersmust allow Google to host the match table, can no longer specifygoogle_cm in requests to Google's Cookie Matching Service, andwill consequently not receive google_gid to populate their ownmatch table. Once Google has established a match for a user, bidders can addthem to user lists using their own cookie data. Similarly, bid requests forthese users will exclude the Google User ID, but include hosted match data. Asimple example of the revised workflow is summarized in the steps below.
In order to initiate this flow, a bidder must place a match tag such that itrenders in the user's browser. Unlike the workflow for users not from a US state with privacy restrictions,the match tag must direct the user's browser to your CookieMatching URL. For example, with a Cookie Matching URL configured as , it would look like:
When loading in the user's browser, it will request a pixel from the bidder'sCookie Matching URL. This request will contain their cookie in the HTTP header,which should be extracted for the next step.
The bidder's cookie matching endpoint must redirect to Google's CookieMatching service, including the google_hm parameter populated withtheir web-safe base64-encoded cookie data. The redirect URL might look like thefollowing:
Otherwise, if an error occurred, Google will send a redirect to the bidder'sCookie Matching Report URL with the cause of the error specified in thegoogle_error parameter. If the bidder's Cookie Matching Report URLwere , the redirect URL would looklike:
The user's browser will redirect to the bidder's Cookie Matching Report URL,including the error reason (if any) specified by Google in thegoogle_error parameter. To learn more about interpreting the errorcode, see the parameter description.
Bidirectional Pixel Matching is a workflow for Google's Cookie MatchingService where Google attempts to match a Google User ID with an algorithmicallyselected bidder other than the Real-Time Bidding auction winner. When an ad isplaced, Google will place a match tag directing the user's browser to load atransparent pixel from the chosen bidder's Cookie Matching URL. This will enableboth Google and the bidder to populate a match table with a given user. Below isa simple example of this workflow.
When a participating publisher's page loads in the user's browser, and anad slot on that page is filled by Google, a match tag may be placed thatrequests a pixel from an algorithmically selected bidder. The Pixel Matchingtag placed by Google combines the bidder's Cookie Matching URL withadditional parameters thebidder can use to populate their match table. For a Cookie Matching URLspecified as , it is structured asfollows:
Note that the above redirect URL is similar to that of the URL used in thematch tag for the Bidder-Initiated Cookie Matching Workflow.In Pixel Matching, the google_cm parameter is replaced by thegoogle_push parameter, and its value must be equal to the valueprovided by Google in the request. Also similar to the bidder-initiatedworkflow, additional parameterscan be specified to fulfill additional use cases.
Unidirectional Pixel Matching differs from the Bidirectional workflow inthat Google's match tag does not include a parameter specifying the Google UserID, but will continue to populate a Google-hosted match table. This can be usedin instances where the bidder is not permitted to host Google User IDs in theirown match table. A simple example of the revised workflow is summarized in thesteps below.
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