Multistage sourcing is the act of combining multiple events into a continuous sourcing process.
- This enables project owners to narrow down the list of suitable participants at each stage.
- A multistage event can also help sourcing professionals gather information about market conditions and manage potentially large numbers of suppliers and large amounts of bid data.
Auctions can be run as standalone events or following an RFP. The RFP can be used to assess the marketplace.
A common use of a multistage event is to begin with an RFI, which serves as a prequalification stage. Only suppliers who pass the RFI stage are allowed to view and bid in the following event, which often is an RFP or an auction.
Benefits of Multistage Sourcing
- There's no limit on the number of stages that can be included in a multistage event. You can decide on multiple events after one stage is complete.
- Multi-stage sourcing mimics the natural sourcing process. To mimic their current sourcing processes, project owners can combine any number of different event types.
Hint
If you know from the beginning that you’ll be running multiple stages, you must communicate this to suppliers at the first event.
Multi-Round Bidding in Guided Sourcing
Multi-round bidding is an exclusive feature to Guided Sourcing which allows project owners to include/exclude suppliers and items between rounds and compare pricing evolution across rounds.
To trigger a new round, enter your event under the review responses status. Choose the Options menu and selectCreate new round.
You can include or exclude specific items or suppliers for your next round. You may feel comfortable with a supplier’s bid for a specific item, but expect the other items to have better prices in the next round.
To use multi-round bidding functionality, the Enable multi-round bidding rule must be turned on in the event rules. Reference the complete documentation on working with multi-round events for the full procedure.