Rate suppliers after an award
The rating cycle runs in two stages: a Process rating unlocks at award, and a Performance rating unlocks once you mark the contract complete, and both feed the supplier's Trust Score.
What you'll learn
- Understand the two-stage rating cycle: Process at award, Performance at completion
- Navigate to the Ratings tab and leave a multi-dimensional rating at each stage
- See how your ratings feed the supplier's Trust Score
- Understand the bidirectional nature of ratings: the supplier rates you too
The rating cycle runs in two stages, not one. The Process rating covers the procurement experience itself and unlocks as soon as the award is issued: you do not have to wait for delivery to rate how the sourcing process went. The Performance rating covers actual contract delivery and is the one that waits for completion: it unlocks only once you mark the contract complete, not on the expected completion date. Both ratings feed the supplier's Trust Score.
The full cycle runs through five stages: Award Issued, Process Rated, Contract Complete, Performance Rated, and Cycle Closed. Trust Score is only as reliable as the ratings behind it. Every honest rating you leave at each stage helps the next buyer make a better decision about that supplier. Every rating the supplier leaves about you helps the next supplier decide whether your requests are worth bidding on.
Why this matters
Trust Score is not a vanity number. When a buyer sees a Trust Score of 88 versus 52 on two otherwise comparable bids, that difference is built from the experiences of real buyers who ran real transactions. Your rating after this contract contributes to that signal. The more buyers rate accurately and promptly, at both stages, the more useful the network's signals become for everyone.
How the rating cycle works
The Process rating opens the moment the award is issued, since the procurement experience (how the request was run, how clearly requirements were communicated) is already complete at that point and does not need to wait for delivery. The Performance rating is different: it is not triggered automatically at the expected completion date. That stage starts only when you mark the contract complete. This design is intentional: delivery sometimes runs slightly late, or you need a few days to inspect what was delivered before you can rate it fairly. You control when the Performance rating window opens.
| Who does what | When |
|---|---|
| Award is issued | The Process rating unlocks for both sides immediately, no waiting on delivery. |
| Buyer and supplier rate each other on Process | Any time after award, from the Ratings tab on the request. |
| Buyer marks contract complete | After delivery is received and accepted. This opens the Performance rating window for both sides. |
| Buyer and supplier rate each other on Performance | After marking complete, from the Ratings tab. The supplier rates your company, not an individual. |
| Scores update | Trust Scores update once both sides submit each stage's rating, or after that stage's rating window closes. |
Leaving a rating, step by step
Go to the Ratings tab on your awarded request
Open the request and select the Ratings tab. As soon as the award is issued, you can leave the Process rating: it does not wait on delivery. The Performance rating is locked until you mark the contract complete; before that, the tab shows the contract status with the expected completion date and a hint that the performance rating becomes available once the contract is marked complete, not on the expected date itself.
If the contract was fulfilled before the expected date, you do not need to wait; you can mark it complete at any point after the award is confirmed.
Rate the Process stage at award
The rating form is multi-dimensional, not a single overall star. For the Process stage as a buyer rating a supplier, you rate four separate dimensions: bidding-phase communication, bid responsiveness, bid completeness, and commercial professionalism. Each dimension gets its own star rating.
Alongside the dimension ratings, there is a Would work again toggle and an optional free-text comment. Select Submit Rating once you have rated every dimension.
Neither you nor the supplier can see each other's rating for a stage until both sides have submitted that stage (or until the rating window for it closes). This prevents the first rating from influencing the second.
Rate the Performance stage at completion
Select Mark as Completed. A confirmation dialog asks you to confirm that the contract has been fulfilled. Once confirmed, the Performance rating window opens for both you and the supplier.
The Performance rating has its own dimension set, separate from Process, covering the actual delivery: things like delivery timeliness, quality, delivery communication, and value adherence rather than how the bidding phase went. Rate each dimension, add the optional comment and Would work again toggle, and submit.
The supplier's rating of you
At each stage, the supplier receives a matching prompt on their side to rate your company as a buyer, with their own dimension set for that stage (for Process: RFQ clarity, award transparency, evaluation fairness, process communication). They rate your company, not you personally.
Their rating of you contributes to your company's Trust Score, just as your rating of them contributes to theirs. Buyers with high Trust Scores attract stronger bids because suppliers are more confident in the transaction experience.
The rating they leave for a stage is not shown to you until both sides have submitted that stage or its window closes.
Ratings are final, and the window expires
The rating window for each stage has an expiry date; once it passes, the cycle for that stage closes. Once you submit a rating, it is final: there is no edit or delete from either side. Take the extra minute to get the dimensions and comment right before you submit, since there is no second attempt.
What ratings affect
Your rating of the supplier affects their Trust Score directly. The more transactions a supplier has been rated in, and the more consistently positive those ratings are, the higher their Trust Score climbs.
Trust Score appears in three places you will recognise from your own sourcing:
- On supplier profiles in Discover, next to their company name.
- On each bid in the Bids tab, as a badge beside the supplier's name.
- In AI Scoring results, as an input to how suppliers are evaluated.
A supplier with a Trust Score of 88 earned it through positive buyer experiences across the network. A score of 52 is a signal that something went wrong with enough frequency to pull the average down. Your accurate rating moves both of those numbers in the right direction.
Using Chat to coordinate after the award
There is no separate Chat tab on the request. The Chat button on the request page opens your thread with the winning supplier, and it stays available through the whole lifecycle of the request, not only after the award. After the award is confirmed, use it to confirm next steps, share delivery instructions, or agree on a start date. The full chat history stays tied to the request, alongside the bid and the award record.
Honest ratings benefit your future sourcing too
The more accurately buyers rate suppliers across the network, the more reliable Trust Score becomes as a signal. When you next review bids and see a Trust Score difference between two otherwise comparable suppliers, that difference is built on ratings like the one you just submitted.
What good looks like
- Rate based on actual performance: delivery on time, quality of goods or services, responsiveness to issues. Do not adjust your rating based on price; you already evaluated that before the award.
- Rate promptly after marking complete. Delayed ratings give a less accurate picture of the supplier's current performance.
- A 3-star rating with a specific, factual comment is more useful than a 5-star rating with no comment. The comment tells the next buyer what the star count cannot.
- If delivery was late or quality was below expectations, say so in the comment. Protecting a supplier from accurate negative feedback does not serve the network or the next buyer who considers them.
- Mark the contract complete even if the transaction was imperfect. An unrated transaction is invisible to the Trust Score network.
- Remember ratings are final once submitted, at both stages. Rate carefully rather than quickly.
Next steps
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