Buyers make a conscious choice of running their procurement or purchasing process through Negometrix. Suppliers by contrast are more or less "forced" to work with the software. Sometimes this may evoke uncertainty or resistance.
That's why on this page some points are described that suppliers may find useful and valuable.
General:
The use of Negometrix is free for suppliers. You do not have to install or download any software to work with Negometrix. The software is completely web-based and can be used on any computer/PC with an internet connection.
There is also a "mobile version" that enables you to do most of the tasks necessary to participate in a solicitation.
A digital purchasing process through Negometrix:
Negometrix specializes in the digitization of solicitations. Through the automation of this (formerly paper) process, a time-consuming process is made easier and more transparent. The electronic offer to be filled out by vendors is divided into three clear steps.
The buyer is responsible for creating and setting up the solicitation. The buyer will "break-up" the solicitation into two sections: the pricing sheet and the questionnaire. The questionnaire often consist of question groups containing individual questions related to the solicitation criteria. This subdivision makes the solicitation organized and clear for the buyer, but especially for the suppliers that have to fill out the electronic solicitation.
Cooperate with colleagues:
Once connected to a solicitation you can add colleagues; each colleague can log-in with his/her personal data and open the solicitation. Now you can jointly work to fill out the price and questionnaire requirements.
Only one person can be the main contact in a solicitation. This person is responsible for submitting the offer.
Benefits for Suppliers:
The transparency of the questions is often positively perceived by suppliers.
When preparing the questions the buyer determines whether a question is a "knockout", how much weight is given to a question (how many points are to be "earned" with different answers), and which method (yes/no, multiple choice or "open" questions) will be used to evaluate the suppliers' answers.
As a supplier you will see how the buyer has thought about all the requirements, "nice-to-have's", and values of the questions. This transparency ensures objectivity and excludes discrimination; the risk of errors in the assessment is considerably lower.
During the awarding stage it is now much easier for suppliers to identify where the final quality score comes from. Questions like "where have we done well?" and "where did we lose points?" are easy to answer.
After the Offer Phase has ended, the software calculates, by means of a formula chosen by the buyer (e.g. Negometrix utility index, weighted factor method, or Best Value Procurement), which supplier has the most economically advantageous offer. By using one of the different calculation formulas a faster and more efficient negotiation is supported.
Depending on the settings chosen by the buyer, a graph of the scores of your offer, and if required, of the offer of the winning competitor, are made visible.
Electronic and hard-copy:
All of the submitted information including questionnaire answers, messages and documents can be found in the system. The questionnaire and buyer provided answers to the questions can easily be exported to Excel and/or PDF. If necessary, it is possible to share solicitation information outside the platform with colleagues or save all data onto your own servers/computers.
Once a solicitation is completed it will be archived; all offers will remain accessible and visible and the data is not lost.