How to play Bid Desk

You’re the buyer. Your factory needs four parts, and four or five suppliers have sent quotes. Award each part to one supplier by tapping its quote, then sign the contracts. The aim is the lowest total bill that still meets every part’s needs.

In time: a supplier’s lead time (in weeks) must be no later than the week the part is needed.
Good enough: its defect rate must be no higher than the part allows.
In full: some suppliers can only make so many; they can’t take a part they can’t make enough of.

Quotes that break a rule are greyed out with the reason. The rest is about price.

How the bill adds up

Price breaks: each quote has a lower price from a set quantity. If the break is above what you need, the bill buys up to the break when that’s cheaper than buying exactly what you need (it says “buys 500”).
Delivery fee: each supplier charges its fee once, however many parts it wins. Giving one supplier more parts saves fees.
Bundle discount: some suppliers take a percentage off their goods when they win two or more parts.

So the cheapest quote for each part, taken one at a time, is rarely the cheapest buy. When you sign, you see the best possible total (we work it out by trying every combination) and the quotes that make it up.

Grades

Best buy is the cheapest possible. Sharp buy is within 1% of it, good buy within 3%. Anything more is over budget.

Questions

Is there a new one every day? Yes, today’s buy is the same for everyone and changes at midnight. You get one go at it. Practice buys are unlimited.

Is this how real buying works? It’s a simplified version of a real sourcing decision: comparing landed cost rather than unit price, and checking lead time, quality and capacity before price. Our free Procurement and purchasing course covers price breaks, total cost of ownership and choosing suppliers properly.

Are the suppliers real? No, they’re made up (and named after ducks).