Three offers arrive by email. One is a single page, one is a twelve-page PDF and one is a price in the body of a message. Each supplier describes the work in different words, so the totals are not really comparable. In many small companies the cheapest total wins by default, and nobody can later explain why.
This article is about the moment after the offers arrive. It is not about writing the request itself (for that, see a one-page brief before asking for quotes) or about the first meeting (see eight questions for the first meeting). It covers a sheet, five criteria and a written decision, and it works for any supplier: a printer, an agency, a developer or a maintenance firm.
Make the offers comparable first
Before you score anything, check that the three offers describe the same job. Make a list of what you asked for, and tick off what each supplier included. Typical gaps are:
- one offer includes delivery or installation and another does not;
- one price is per month and another is a one-off total;
- one assumes you provide materials, access or data, and the others do not say;
- VAT is included in one price and not in the rest.
Send one short question to each supplier to close the gaps, and ask all three the same thing. Give a date for the answer. A supplier who does not reply to a simple question before the sale is telling you something about the time after it.
The comparison sheet
Use one page, with the offers in columns and the criteria in rows. A spreadsheet is enough. Put the real figures and short notes in the cells, not only scores. The sheet has two jobs: it makes you look at the same things in every offer, and it is the record you keep afterwards.
The five criteria
Five is enough for most purchases. More criteria make the sheet longer without making the decision better.
- Total cost. The full price for the whole job, including extras you will clearly need, such as delivery, training or a first year of support. If there are running costs, write the cost for twelve months, not only the first invoice.
- Scope and fit. How closely the offer matches what you asked for. Note what is missing and what is added that you did not ask for. Extra items are not a bonus if you have to pay for them.
- Delivery and risk. The dates, who does the work and what you must provide. Ask what happens if the date slips. For anything that touches your data or systems, check security too: the NCSC has guidance on supply chain security with questions you can borrow.
- Terms. Payment schedule, what is paid before the work starts, how changes are priced, how to cancel, and who owns the result. Payment terms should be agreed in writing; GOV.UK explains the rules on late commercial payments that apply when a contract does not state them.
- After delivery. Who answers questions in the first month, what support costs and whether you can leave without losing your work. A cheap offer with no support can cost more by the end of the year.
For each criterion write a short note, then mark each offer as strong, acceptable or weak. Avoid scoring from one to ten with weights: the false precision hides the judgement behind it.
Check one thing beyond the paper
Offers are written to sell. Before you decide, do one check that does not come from the supplier's own document. Ask for a reference from a similar customer and call them, or look at a finished piece of work. Ten minutes on the phone is often more useful than another hour with the sheet. Ask the reference what went wrong and how it was handled, not whether they were satisfied.
The cheapest offer
The cheapest offer is sometimes the right one. It is a problem only when it wins because nobody looked at the other rows. If the lowest price is much lower than the other two, ask why. It may be a smaller scope, an assumption that you do the part of the work, or a price that will rise through change requests. Ask the supplier to confirm in writing what the price includes. If the answer is clear, a low price is a fair reason to choose it.
The written decision
When the sheet is filled in, write the decision in five lines and keep it with the sheet:
- Chosen: the supplier and the price.
- Why: the two or three rows that decided it.
- Why not the others: one line for each.
- Open points: anything still to be agreed in the contract.
- Decided by and on: a name and a date.
The note takes five minutes. It stops the same debate returning in three months, and it helps the next person who has to buy something similar. It also keeps the decision honest: if you cannot write a reason, you have not finished choosing.
Telling the others
Send each unsuccessful supplier a short message within a few days: thank them, say you chose another offer, and give one reason if you can do so without sharing the other prices. Do not leave them waiting. You may need them for the next job, and a clear answer builds the kind of relationship that gets a quick reply next time. Do not share another supplier's prices or details.
What to do this week
- Take the last purchase where you had more than one offer and fill in the five criteria. Check whether you would choose the same supplier.
- Make a template of the sheet and keep it in a shared folder.
- Agree who decides purchases above a certain amount and who writes the five-line note.
- Next time, send the same questions to all suppliers in one message with a deadline.
Sources
- NCSC, Supply chain security guidance: questions to ask about suppliers that handle your data or systems.
- GOV.UK, Late commercial payments: interest and debt recovery: payment terms and what applies when a contract is silent.