Invite suppliers, or open it to the network
Decide who can see and bid on your request, track invitation responses from the Invitations tab, and bring in more suppliers if response rates are low.
What you'll learn
- Choose between open and invite-only visibility for the right reasons
- Read and act on the Invitations tab after publishing
- Use Discover to find and invite additional suppliers at any time
- Know what suppliers see when they receive an invitation
A request with no confirmed suppliers is a request with no bids. The visibility decision you make during the wizard -- and the actions you take from the Invitations tab after publishing -- determine how many qualified suppliers actually respond.
Most buyers treat this as a one-time decision at the start. The stronger approach is to treat it as an ongoing process: publish, watch the response rate, and add suppliers if engagement is low before the deadline passes.
Why this matters
The supplier pool shapes the quality of every bid you receive. Too narrow and you may miss the best price or the most capable supplier. Too broad and you spend evaluation time on bids from suppliers who are not a fit. The visibility setting and the Invitations tab together give you control over both problems throughout the lifecycle of the request.
Choosing visibility during the wizard
| Visibility option | When to use it | What happens when you publish |
|---|---|---|
| Open to all suppliers | You want competitive pricing from a broad pool. The category is not commercially sensitive. You are sourcing from a market you do not know well. | The request appears in the opportunity feed for suppliers whose categories match yours. Any supplier on the network can find it and bid. |
| Invite specific suppliers | Your vendor list is fixed by policy. The request contains sensitive commercial terms. You need suppliers with specific qualifications you can pre-screen. | The request is private. Only the suppliers you name during the wizard can see it. Other suppliers cannot find or bid on it. |
You set visibility on the Details step of the request wizard, in the Supplier Visibility field.
Before you publish
- For an invite-only request: have your shortlist of suppliers ready. You can search by name during the wizard.
- For an open request: check that your category is set as specifically as possible on the Scope step. The category drives which suppliers see your request in their feed.
- If you plan to invite suppliers from Discover, the filter by Trust Score, location, and category helps you pre-screen before sending invitations.
The Invitations tab
Find the Invitations tab on your published request
After you publish, open the request and select the Invitations tab. Every supplier you invited -- or who received an automatic notification for an open request -- appears here with their response status.
Each row shows the supplier's company name (never an email address), their response status, and the date of the most recent action.
Read the invitation statuses
Three statuses are possible for each invitation:
- Pending: the invitation was delivered but the supplier has not acted on it yet. This is normal for the first few days after publishing.
- Confirmed: the supplier has accepted and intends to submit a bid. A Confirmed status does not guarantee a bid -- it means the supplier opened the request and signalled intent.
- Declined: the supplier chose not to participate. If they provided a reason, it appears beneath their company name.
The response rate at the top of the tab shows confirmed invitations as a fraction of total invitations sent.
A low response rate a few days before the deadline is a signal to act. Add more suppliers from Discover now rather than discovering the gap when bidding closes.
Invite additional suppliers at any time
You can invite additional suppliers at any point while the request is open, regardless of whether you started with open or invite-only visibility.
Go to Discover in the sidebar and filter suppliers by category, location, or Trust Score. When you find a supplier you want to reach, select Invite on their profile or card. They receive a notification and appear in the Invitations tab as Pending.
You can also invite suppliers directly from the Invitations tab using the Add Suppliers button.
What suppliers see when they receive an invitation
When you invite a supplier, they receive a notification that a request matching their category is available. They see your company name, the request title, the deadline, and the category. They do not see your company's email address or internal notes. They can open the full request detail to read the Scope and Bill of Quantities before deciding to confirm or decline. If they decline, they can optionally leave a reason that appears in your Invitations tab.
How it connects to the rest of the journey
Who you invite and how many suppliers confirm directly shapes the quality of the evaluation you will run after the deadline. A request that closes with two bids gives you a limited comparison. Three to five qualified, confirmed suppliers generally produces a meaningful competitive pool. If you are using AI Scoring, more bids give the ranking more data to work with.
What good looks like
- For open requests, a specific category produces a more relevant supplier pool than a broad one. Set it during the Scope step before publishing.
- Check the Invitations tab two to three days before the deadline. If fewer than three suppliers are Confirmed, invite more from Discover while there is still time.
- For invite-only requests, aim for at least three to four suppliers. Inviting only one or two reduces competitive pressure and limits your comparison options.
- When a supplier declines and gives a reason, read it. A short deadline, unclear scope, or a commercial term they cannot meet may be something you can fix and re-invite for.
- You can mix both approaches: start open to attract broad interest, then use targeted invitations to make sure your preferred suppliers have seen it.
Next steps
Related guides