Submit a Bid
Complete the bid wizard from Details through Review, price your Bill of Quantities in your company currency, handle approval workflows, and submit with confidence.
What you'll learn
- Navigate every step of the bid wizard and know what to enter at each one
- Price line items in your company currency with confidence
- Choose between Submit and Submit for Approval based on your team setup
- Use auto-save to work across multiple sessions without losing progress
Winning a contract starts well before the buyer opens your bid. Buyers compare every response side by side, and a bid that is complete, clearly priced, and well-structured stands out immediately from one that is missing sections or has vague pricing. The bid wizard on VEXORS walks you through every section the buyer expects you to fill, in the order they expect to see it. This guide shows you what each step contains, what decisions you are making, and how to avoid the most common mistakes.
Why this matters
A structured bid wizard enforces completeness. Every supplier prices the same line items in the same units, answers the same questions, and submits by the same deadline. That means when the buyer compares bids, the differences they see are genuine differences in your offer, not artefacts of different formats. A complete, clear bid competes on merit.
When to use the bid wizard
You just found a relevant request
You are on the Opportunities page and an RFQ from a buyer in your category caught your eye. The deadline is 8 days away, there are two competing bids so far, and the category is a strong match. This is the moment to open the request and start the wizard. Even if you cannot finish today, your progress saves automatically as a Draft.
Before you start
- Open the request and read the full brief before you click View and Bid. Understanding the scope, delivery terms, and any special requirements before entering the wizard saves you from backtracking.
- Know your pricing for each line item the buyer has listed. You do not need exact final numbers to start a Draft, but having rough figures ready means the Bill of Quantities step moves quickly.
- If your company requires internal sign-off on bids before they go to buyers, know who your approvers are. You will need to choose Submit for Approval instead of Submit.
- If the request has a Questionnaire, read the questions in advance so you are not composing answers on the spot.
The bid wizard, step by step
Click View and Bid on any open request to open the wizard. Your progress saves automatically at every step, so closing the browser does not lose your work. You will find the Draft under Bids in the sidebar.
Details: review the request and confirm your intent
The Details step shows you the full request: the buyer's company name, request type, deadline, currency, scope description, commercial terms, and any special requirements. Read everything here before moving forward.
This step is always present on every bid, regardless of what other sections the buyer included. It is your chance to confirm that the request is genuinely something you can fulfill before investing time in pricing.
If anything in the scope is unclear, open the Chat button on this page to ask the buyer a clarification question. They can answer all invited suppliers at once so no one bids on different information.
Bill of Quantities: enter your prices
The Bill of Quantities step is where you enter your unit prices. The buyer has defined the items, descriptions, quantities, and units. Your job is to fill in the price for each line.
Your prices are in your company's currency. The buyer publishes the request in their preferred currency, but you price in yours. The platform handles the conversion context so both parties see consistent numbers.
If a line item is not something you can supply, set the quantity to zero. This marks it as "no bid" for that line rather than leaving it blank.
For requests with multiple sections, each section may have a delivery date field below the line items. Set the date when you can deliver that section if the buyer has made it available.
The running total at the bottom of the screen updates as you type. This is your cumulative bid value across all sections.
Questionnaire: answer the buyer's evaluation questions
Not every request includes a Questionnaire. When it does, the buyer has asked specific questions to evaluate suppliers on criteria beyond price, such as certifications, delivery capacity, experience, or approach.
Each question has a type: free text, yes/no, single choice, multiple choice, a number, or a date. Some questions are marked as Qualification questions. Answer all questions, but pay particular attention to qualification questions because a disqualifying answer removes your bid from consideration even if your pricing is competitive.
Answer qualification questions first. If your honest answer to one disqualifies you, it may not be worth completing the rest of the bid for this request.
Attachments: upload supporting documents
The Attachments step is where you upload documents the buyer requested: company registration, ISO certificates, portfolio samples, technical specifications, or anything else they asked for.
Not every request requires attachments. When none are requested, you can still upload additional supporting material here if you think it strengthens your bid. Check the request scope on the Details step to see what the buyer asked for.
Keep file names clear and professional. Buyers open these documents alongside your pricing, and a file named "Cert_v3_FINAL2.pdf" reads differently than "Company Registration Certificate.pdf".
Notes: add a message to the buyer
The Notes step lets you include a short message the buyer reads alongside your bid. Use it to:
- Highlight something about your bid that the structured fields do not capture, such as a value-added service, a faster delivery option, or a relevant project reference.
- Clarify a pricing decision, for example if you priced a line item differently because a specification is ambiguous.
- Introduce your company briefly if this is your first bid to this buyer.
Notes are not a substitute for completing the required sections. A well-completed bid with a short, relevant note is stronger than a sparse bid padded with a long message.
Review: check everything before you submit
The Review step shows your complete bid exactly as the buyer will see it: every line item with the quantity, unit, and price; every question with your answer; a summary of uploaded attachments; and your notes. Read through it as the buyer would, not as someone who just filled it in.
The Bid Quality Coach button is available here. It reads your entire bid and gives you structured feedback on strengths, areas to improve, and anything missing before you commit. See the Bid Quality Coach guide for details. Each run uses AI credits.
Once you are satisfied, you have two paths:
- Submit bid sends your bid directly to the buyer.
- Submit for Approval routes the bid internally to your team's approvers first. The bid stays in a Pending Approval state until someone signs off. This option only appears if your company has an approval workflow set up in Settings.
Bids cannot be submitted after the request deadline. The deadline is displayed on the Details step and on every opportunity card. If the deadline is close, submit a draft that is 90% complete rather than waiting for perfection.
What the buyer sees after you submit
The buyer sees a new entry on the Bids tab of their request. Your company name appears alongside the total value of your bid and the time you submitted. They cannot open the individual line prices until after the deadline passes, at which point all bids unlock for comparison. They can see how many suppliers have submitted but cannot see what any individual supplier bid until bidding closes.
How this connects to the rest of your journey
After submitting, your bid moves to the My Active Bids tab on the Opportunities page and to the Active tab on Bids. You can track its status there. If the buyer revises the request after you submit, you will be notified and may need to update your bid.
What good looks like
- Price every line item you can supply. A partially-priced bid forces the buyer to make assumptions about the lines you left empty. Assumptions rarely favour you.
- Match delivery dates to what you can actually commit to. An optimistic delivery date that you later miss is worse for your Trust Score than a realistic date you meet.
- Notes should be short and specific. One relevant point about your company or bid is more powerful than three paragraphs of generic capability claims.
- Submit early. Buyers can see submission timestamps. An early bid signals confidence and gives the buyer time to ask you clarifying questions before the deadline.
- Run the Bid Quality Coach before every submission. Even a bid you feel confident about often has a gap or two that the coach catches in seconds.
Next steps
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