Procurement glossary
Procurement and sourcing terms, in plain language
Clear definitions of the RFx, tendering, and sourcing terms you will meet on VEXORS and across procurement.
- Procurement
- The end-to-end process of sourcing and acquiring the goods and services a business needs, from identifying a requirement and finding suppliers to comparing offers and awarding the work.
- Sourcing
- The part of procurement focused on finding, evaluating, and selecting suppliers for a specific need. VEXORS covers sourcing through award; raising the purchase order and paying the supplier stays in your ERP or accounting system.
- RFQ (Request for Quotation)
- A structured request asking suppliers to price a clearly defined list of items or services. Because every supplier quotes the same line items, the responses come back comparable side by side.
- RFP (Request for Proposal)
- A request inviting suppliers to propose how they would meet a need, covering approach, scope, and price. Used when the solution is not fully defined and you want to compare methods, not just unit prices.
- RFI (Request for Information)
- An early-stage request used to gather information about suppliers and their capabilities before running a formal RFQ or RFP. It shortlists the market rather than awarding work.
- RFx
- A collective term for the family of structured procurement requests: RFQ, RFP, and RFI. Which RFx you choose depends on how well the requirement is defined and what you need to compare.
- Tendering (e-tendering)
- Running a competitive request where multiple suppliers respond to the same brief against a shared deadline. E-tendering does this through a platform instead of email, so bids arrive in one comparable structure with a clean record.
- E-sourcing
- Running sourcing, RFQs, RFPs, and RFIs, through one structured online platform rather than email and spreadsheets, so offers are comparable and every decision is recorded.
- Bill of Quantities (BoQ)
- An itemized list of the goods or work required, broken into line items each with a description, unit of measure, and quantity, so every supplier prices exactly the same thing and bids line up for comparison.
- Bid
- A supplier's structured response to a buyer's request, pricing the requested line items and addressing the stated terms. On VEXORS, bids are submitted against the buyer's exact specification.
- Bid scoring (bid evaluation)
- Ranking competing bids against defined criteria such as price, delivery, and terms, so the strongest offer is clear. VEXORS offers AI-assisted scoring that applies the same criteria to every bid consistently.
- Award
- The point at which a buyer selects the winning bid and commits the work to a supplier. It is the final step VEXORS covers in the sourcing workflow.
- Supplier discovery
- Finding suppliers that can meet a requirement by category and capability, not only the few you already know. VEXORS matches on what suppliers actually offer rather than the label they use.
- Supplier catalog
- A supplier's published list of the products or services they offer, with descriptions and reference pricing, so buyers can find them and add items straight to a request.
- Trust score
- A reputation signal built from completed contracts and the ratings buyers and suppliers give each other after real work. It travels with a company, so a new partner can see a track record instead of guessing.
- Procurement network
- A platform where many buyers and suppliers connect, run structured requests, and build portable reputation, as opposed to a one-off marketplace listing or a closed supplier list inside one company's ERP.
- Purchase order (PO)
- A document a buyer issues to confirm an agreed purchase from a chosen supplier. VEXORS stops at award and does not raise POs or process payments; those stay in your ERP or accounting system.
- Prequalification
- Screening suppliers before they are allowed to bid: capturing references, certifications, and capability up front so only credible bidders reach the pricing stage. On VEXORS, buyers prequalify with structured onboarding forms and supplier trust scores.
- Bill of materials (BOM)
- The list of raw materials, components, and quantities needed to manufacture a product. Manufacturing buyers often source directly from a BOM by turning its line items into a structured RFQ.
- MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations)
- Purchases that keep a business running (spare parts, consumables, tools, and services) as opposed to direct materials that go into the product itself. MRO is a common category for recurring RFQs.
- Landed cost
- The full cost of getting an item to your door: unit price plus freight, duties, insurance, and handling. Comparing supplier quotes on landed cost rather than list price is how distributors protect margin.
- Total cost of ownership (TCO)
- The complete cost of a purchase over its life: price plus delivery, operation, maintenance, and switching costs. Bid evaluation that weighs lead time, terms, and quality alongside price is a practical step toward TCO-based buying.
- Three-bid rule
- The common policy of collecting at least three comparable quotes before awarding a purchase. Structured RFQs make the rule cheap to follow: one request, many comparable bids, one documented decision.
- Spend analysis
- Reviewing what a company buys, from whom, and at what price to find savings and risk. A documented sourcing trail (requests, bids, and awards in one place) is the raw material spend analysis needs.
- Maverick spend
- Purchases made outside the agreed process or preferred suppliers, usually invisible until the invoice arrives. Routing purchases through structured requests is the standard way to reduce it.