Sourcing DeskPut Supplier Quotes on a Common Basis Before You Rank Them by Price
The short answer
You cannot rank supplier quotes by price while they are quoted on different bases. Restate every quote on one common basis first: the same product specification, the same quantity, the same delivery point, the same currency, and the same list of costs that sit inside the number. Any cost that belongs to you and that you have not yet confirmed stays on the sheet as unknown until confirmed, not as an estimate. Once each quote is restated on that common basis, the ranking usually becomes straightforward; before that, the ranking mostly measures how differently each supplier chose to quote.
Why the lowest number is often just the shortest list
A unit price is not a total. Each supplier decides what goes inside that number: whether it includes packing to your specification, inland pickup, export handling, main carriage, insurance, or delivery to your door. A quote that includes only the goods and a quote that includes the goods plus carriage to your warehouse are not two prices for the same thing, even when the product is identical. Ranking them as if they were will usually put the supplier who included the least at the top.
The same problem appears in quieter places. Price breaks are quoted at quantities you may not be buying. Lead times differ. One quote is valid for a short window and another for a long one. Payment terms differ, and terms change what the money actually costs you. None of this means a supplier is being difficult; it means each quote was written from that supplier's own defaults, and your job is to translate all of them into one language before comparing.
What an Incoterms rule does and does not tell you
When a quote names an Incoterms rule, it is telling you how delivery, carriage, risk and cost are allocated between buyer and seller under that specific rule and the named place. That is exactly what you need for normalization, because it lets you read off which cost lines are yours. The allocation of delivery, carriage, risk and cost under a given rule and named place is set out in the Incoterms 2020 rules published by the International Chamber of Commerce.
It does not do anything beyond that. An Incoterms rule does not validate supplier capability or product quality, and it does not set payment terms. So treat the rule as a cost-map for the quote, add the payment terms as a separate line you confirm with the supplier, and keep quality acceptance as a separate conversation.
The common-basis worksheet
Copy this into your own sheet with one column per supplier. Fill it in the supplier's own words first, then add your restated line at the bottom. Leave a cell empty rather than guessing; an empty cell is information.
| Field | What to record | Your note |
|---|---|---|
| Quote reference and date received | Identifier and the date the quote arrived | |
| Product specification | Material, dimensions, finish, tolerances, colour standard, packing standard | |
| Quantity quoted and price breaks | Quantity the price applies to, and the break points | |
| Unit price and currency | Price exactly as written, and the currency | |
| Incoterms rule and named place | Rule plus the named place, copied verbatim | |
| Packing and packaging | What packing is included, and whether it meets your specification | |
| Quote validity | Expiry date or stated validity period | |
| Payment terms offered | Deposit, balance trigger, and method as offered | |
| Inland pickup and export handling | Included or excluded from the quoted price | |
| Main carriage | Included or excluded, and to which place | |
| Insurance | Included or excluded, and who arranges it | |
| Import clearance, duties and taxes | Whose cost, and status of confirmation | |
| Final delivery to your address | Included or excluded | |
| Bank charges and currency conversion | Status of confirmation | |
| Tooling, moulds, samples or setup | One-off or amortised, and whether included | |
| Minimum order quantity and lead time | As stated | |
| Inspection basis and acceptance criteria | As stated, and what still needs confirming | |
| Restated cost on the common basis | Your comparable line, with unknown items marked | |
| Rank | Provisional only while any unknown remains open |
Which lines you should deliberately leave blank
The discipline that makes this worksheet work is refusing to fill in your own side of the cost from memory. Import clearance, duties, taxes, port and terminal handling on your side, final-mile delivery, bank charges and currency spread are all real costs, and they are the ones buyers most often guess at because they are the ones the quote does not mention.
This article does not give customs, legal or regulatory advice. The practical suggestion is simply to leave those lines marked unknown until confirmed and to confirm them with your own broker, freight forwarder or adviser, then write the confirmed figure into the sheet. The same applies to any cost that depends on a quote from another party: until that party has answered in writing, the cell stays empty.
Two consequences follow. First, a quote that looks cheapest but leaves the most unknown lines open is not cheaper; it is less resolved. Second, if two quotes both have open unknowns, your ranking is provisional, and it is worth saying so in writing when you circulate it internally.
Send the same request list to every supplier
Normalization is faster if you remove the differences at the source instead of correcting for them later. Send each supplier the same short written request, asking them to restate the quote against your own basis: your specification, your quantity, the Incoterms rule and named place you want quoted, the packing you require, the validity period you need, and an explicit list stating which costs are included and which are excluded.
Ask them to write the excluded costs down rather than leave them silent. A supplier who tells you carriage is excluded has given you a usable quote; a supplier who does not mention carriage has given you a quote you cannot place yet. Keep the answers attached to the worksheet row, so the restated line can always be traced back to something a supplier actually said.
Documents are information, not certification
Quotes often arrive with certificates, test reports or audit documents attached, or with a reference to a screening or verification result. Treat all of these as claims to check, not as certification of the supplier. A document tells you what was submitted; whether it covers your product, your order and the current period is a separate question to confirm in writing. The same caution applies to any claim a supplier makes about its own capability: record it in the worksheet as a supplier claim pending confirmation, in the same column family as the costs you have not confirmed yet.
How to rank once the basis is common
Rank on the restated line, not on the quoted unit price. Read down the unknown column before you read across the totals, because a ranking built on different numbers of open unknowns is not a like-for-like ranking. Where the restated costs are close, let the non-price fields decide: validity, lead time, minimum quantity, packing quality, inspection basis and payment terms are all part of what you are buying, and they are often the real difference once price has been normalized.
Keep the sheet versioned. When a supplier revises a quote, add a new column rather than overwriting, because the comparison you circulate should always point at a specific written quote.
Keep the comparison reviewable
Keep the adjusted comparison and original quotes together, with buyer-side costs marked unknown until confirmed. The on-site Sourcing Desk worksheet prepares a local draft only; it does not send the comparison or certify any supplier. Use the record to ask each party to confirm the costs, documents and terms that determine the final basis.
Your next action on this topic
Take the quotes you are holding right now and create one worksheet row per quote, filling only the cells a supplier has actually stated in writing. Mark every cost on your own side as unknown until confirmed, then send the same request list to each supplier asking them to restate against your specification, quantity, rule and named place. When the restated rows are complete and the unknowns are closed or flagged, the ranking you produce is one you can defend to whoever signs off on the order.