Award a contract
Choose the winning bid, set an expected completion date, confirm the award, and understand what happens to the other bids -- including how to withdraw if you need to reverse course.
What you'll learn
- Award a contract in three steps from the Bids or AI Scoring tab
- Understand what the Award Details card records and who can see it
- Know what happens to other bids and to the request after the award
- Use Withdraw Award correctly when the supplier cannot proceed
The award is the point where evaluation ends and the relationship begins. A well-structured award on VEXORS does three things: it notifies the winning supplier, it closes the request to further bids, and it creates a permanent record of the decision that your team can refer to without digging through emails.
The decision itself happens outside the platform -- in your evaluation, your scoring, your judgement. The platform records and communicates it.
Why this matters
Awarding from the platform rather than by email means the supplier receives a formal, traceable notification tied to the exact bid they submitted. Your team sees the same record. If you ever need to explain why this supplier won over another, the Award Details card is the answer -- no reconstruction required.
Before you award
- You should have reviewed bids from the Bids tab and, ideally, run AI Scoring.
- If bidding is still open, awarding automatically closes the request to further bids from other suppliers.
- Only one bid can be awarded per request. If you need to start over after an award, you will need to withdraw it first.
The award flow
Find the bid and select Award Contract
Go to the Bids tab or the AI Scoring tab on your request. Find the bid you want to award. Select Award Contract on that row.
You can award from either tab. If you have AI Scoring results, awarding from the AI Scoring tab lets you see the recommendation and rank in the same view before you confirm.
Add an expected completion date and rationale
A dialog opens. Two fields appear:
- Expected completion date (optional): a target date for fulfilment. You can set it now or later from the Award Details card. When the work is done, you mark the contract complete, which starts the supplier rating step.
- Rationale (optional): a note explaining why you chose this supplier. This is visible to your team in the Award Details card but is never shown to the supplier or any other bidder.
The rationale is worth completing even briefly. "Lowest price with strongest compliance answers and demonstrated delivery track record in category" is enough context for a manager or auditor who was not involved in the evaluation.
Confirm the award
Select Confirm Award. The award is confirmed immediately: the winning supplier receives a notification that their bid has been awarded, and the other submitted bids move to a non-awarded status.
The request status changes to Awarded.
The supplier is notified the moment the award is confirmed. Be confident in your decision before you confirm, because the notification is immediate and cannot be recalled.
The Award Details card
After the award, an Award Details card appears on the request overview. It records:
- Which supplier won and which bid they submitted.
- Who confirmed the award and when.
- The expected completion date.
- The rationale you entered.
- A link directly to the awarded bid.
This card is the permanent record of the award decision. Your team can see it any time without needing to reconstruct the evaluation from emails or spreadsheets.
What happens to other bids
When you confirm an award:
- All other submitted bids remain visible in the Bids tab. Their status reflects that the request has been awarded to another supplier.
- Suppliers who did not win are not notified about the award unless your account settings include that notification. They can see their own bid status if they check the request.
- You can still view, export, or compare the non-awarded bids at any time.
Withdrawing an award
If you need to reverse the award -- because the supplier cannot proceed, a contract term cannot be agreed, or circumstances have changed -- use Withdraw Award on the request overview.
You must provide a reason. The withdrawal reason is recorded in the Award Details card and is visible to your team. The request moves back out of Awarded status, and you can select a different bid to award or reopen bidding.
Withdraw Award before making alternative arrangements. Awarding a second bid without withdrawing the first is not possible -- only one bid can be in Awarded status at a time.
How it connects to the rest of the journey
Awarding a contract is not the end. The expected completion date you set triggers the next phase: once it passes, you will be prompted on the Ratings tab to mark the contract complete and rate the supplier's performance. That rating feeds into the Trust Score network and helps future buyers make better decisions.
Next steps
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