RFQ Leveling puts every vendor's pricing for one RFQ on a single screen, line by line, so you can see who is cheapest on what and place the order from there.
Before you start
The RFQ must have gone to more than 1 vendor. There is no leveling screen for a single-vendor RFQ.
You need permission to see costs.
Leveling is available on some plans. If you cannot reach it, check with your account team.
To place the order from this screen you need permission to send both orders and RFQs. Some people can read the comparison but not order from it.
Open it
Open the RFQ and click Leveling in the header, which carries the number of vendors on the RFQ. From Orders, you can also hover the row and click the leveling icon on the left of it.
Reading the comparison
Materials run down the left with Description, Qty and Unit. Each vendor gets a pair of columns, Unit Cost and Ex. Cost, under their name and reference number. Grand Total runs along the bottom.
A key at the top left of the table explains the marks on the cells: Lowest price, Material ordered, Material not added to order, Potential mismatch and Unit of measure conversion.
Below the table, Quote Attachments and Vendor Attachments hold what each vendor sent you.
RFQ Optimizer
RFQ Optimizer sits above the table and shows the saving it can find on this order. Open it and it asks what matters most, with 3 choices:
Fewest vendors: the cheapest single vendor for the whole order, and 1 purchase order to manage.
Lowest cost: the cheapest total, which may mean splitting the order and raising 1 purchase order per vendor.
Fastest delivery: greyed out until your vendors put lead times on their quotes.
Pick one and it gives you the total, the difference against the next-best quote, and a button to place that order.
Placing the order
Click Place Order and choose a vendor to give the whole order to 1 of them. Choose Split Up RFQ to award different lines to different vendors.
What splitting does
Splitting raises a separate purchase order for each vendor you award work to. A review screen headed Review & place orders shows every vendor and what they are getting before anything is sent, so you can back out.
A vendor you award nothing to has their RFQ cancelled. The review screen says so on that vendor's card, in as many words, before you confirm. Nothing you entered is deleted and the cancelled RFQ stays on record, and the vendor is notified. Reopening it afterwards works the same way as any RFQ you cancelled yourself.
Other things on this screen
Add More Materials adds materials to every vendor's RFQ and re-sends it for pricing.
Add vendor brings another vendor into the comparison.
Download saves the comparison as a spreadsheet.
Best practices
Open RFQ Optimizer before you pick a vendor by eye. It compares the cheapest single vendor against splitting the award across several, which is the comparison people do worst in their heads.
Read the split saving as material cost only. Ordering from 3 vendors instead of 1 can add delivery charges that the figure on screen knows nothing about, and a $400 material saving can cost you $600 in freight.
Before you split, check that every vendor you mean to keep has at least 1 line awarded to them. A vendor left with nothing has their RFQ cancelled as part of the same action, and they are told.
If this doesn't work
Start a chat from the Messenger in the bottom-left of this page, or email help@subbase.io. Include the order or project number and what you expected to happen.