Comparing Quotes Side by Side
Once at least one vendor has priced a request, the Comparison tab lays every answer out together: one row per item, one column per vendor, each cell carrying the rate, the lead time and the minimum order quantity.
Reading the table
- Open the request under Purchases → Requests for Quote and click the Comparison tab.
- The left-hand column names each item and the quantity you asked for. It stays put as you scroll sideways through the vendor columns.
- Each cell shows:
- the rate per unit,
- what that works out to for the quantity you actually need,
- the lead time and the vendor's minimum order quantity,
- +x% over cheapest, when this is not the best rate on the line.
- Labels call out what matters: Cheapest, Fastest, and Over MOQ — that last one meaning the vendor will not sell you as little as you need.
- A vendor who did not price a line reads Not quoted, never 0.
- Basket total at the bottom is that vendor's total for the lines they priced. When a vendor did not price everything, the total says so — a partial basket is not comparable to a complete one.
- Best possible spend, above the table, is every line at its cheapest quote: what a perfectly split award would cost you.
Why the numbers are what they are
Every rate is restated at your quantity, not the vendor's pack size, so the columns are genuinely comparable. All the working out happens on the server, and the award is checked against exactly the same figures — so what you see here cannot drift from what you are allowed to award.
Where two vendors tie, both are flagged. Nothing arbitrarily picks a winner for you.
Quotes that have lapsed
A quote past its "price holds until" date stays in the table, greyed and marked Expired. It is not hidden, because knowing that the cheapest supplier let their price lapse is often the reason a dearer one won. An expired quote cannot be picked as a winner.
Chasing the silent ones
If invited vendors have not replied, they are named above the table. You can chase them, or award without them — the choice is yours, but you make it knowingly.