Drawing up a price request for a supplier

Via the price request module you can make a price comparison for parts of the quotation that you want to subcontract.

The price request module is connected to the quotations module. This means that you can draw up a quotation at a customer's request and, from that quotation, submit a price request for particular lines to several suppliers. As soon as the prices of a supplier are approved, you can also send them through to the quotation, so that the quotation can be finalised with the correct prices.

Settings

Via settings > price requests you can set up the use of the price request completely.

The following things can be set up:

• Quick filters and overview screen
• Extra fields
• Standard texts
• PDF templates
• Statuses
• Templates
• Default documents
• General e-mail template
• Supplier e-mail template
• Price request for several items

The supplier e-mail template is a specific e-mail template that you use to send to the supplier. This e-mail template contains a link to the supplier portal on which the supplier can register their prices. You can add this link to the e-mail by using the replacement code ${portalLink} in the template.

Sending a price request to the supplier

As soon as the settings above have been made, you can use the price request module.
To send a price request to several suppliers, you go through the following steps:

1. In the quotation, select all lines for which you want to make a price request.
2. Right-click and choose 'create price request'.
3. You choose the template of the price request.
4. A price request opens for the selected quotation lines, in which you can continue working.

Once the price request is open, you have a 'supplier price requests' panel here. In this panel you add all suppliers for which you want to make the price request.
You can add a supplier either manually, or by working with 'supplier groups'.

You have several options for sending the price request to the supplier:

• You send to each supplier separately via the e-mail icon on the supplier's line. These are the supplier e-mail templates.
• You send via the e-mail action button at the top of the price request. Here you can choose the general e-mail template, or the e-mail template to the supplier. You can send the supplier e-mail template from here to each supplier separately or in bulk to all suppliers at once.

Supplier portal

By using the link in the e-mail, the supplier can open the supplier portal (see screenshot).

On the portal the supplier sees all details that are relevant for submitting a quotation. Via settings > price requests > settings > contact info you can decide for yourself which contact info the supplier can see. You determine this by using the replacement codes that refer to the assignee of the price request.

The portal shows the posts, with an extended description where applicable, so that the supplier clearly sees what you want a quotation for.
The supplier then has 2 options:

1. No, I am not going to calculate: in this case the supplier decides not to give a price for this project, and they are asked to send a remark along.
2. Yes, I am going to calculate: in this case the supplier decides to enter prices for this project. After filling in their prices, they can choose 'submit quotation'.

Once the supplier has submitted their quotation, they can no longer change it via the same portal.
If the supplier takes an action on the portal, you receive a notification in Robaws. This is the case when a quotation is submitted or the request is refused.

Making a price comparison

Once every supplier has sent their prices, you can make a price comparison in Robaws and then decide which subcontractor you want to work with for this project.

As soon as a supplier has submitted their quotation, the status on the line of this supplier changes to 'submitted' and you see a total amount here. By clicking on the amount or on the 3 dashes on the right, you see the specific prices per line for this supplier.

Once all suppliers have submitted their price, you can make a price comparison for all lines and for the total amount. You do this by clicking the 'compare prices' button. A pop-up window opens showing a price comparison for all suppliers that have submitted their prices, together with an 'item cost price' column. This way you can compare the suppliers' prices with each other and with your item library. That allows you to decide what happens next with the request.

Adding prices to the quotation

Once you have made the price comparison, you choose a specific supplier.
You can add these prices to the quotation straight away for the selected lines.
To do so, you go through the following steps:

1. Next to the supplier you want to work with, click the tick.
2. Fill in a custom margin if you wish. If you do not, the logic of the quotation is followed to determine the margin.
3. Click 'yes' to add the supplier's prices to the quotation.
4. The price of the selected supplier is now loaded into the quotation.

There are 3 possible cases in which the price is carried over:

• No line detail is known for the post on the quotation > a new line with a price is added to the line detail.
• An item with the same entity as the post is known in the line detail on the quotation > the price of this item is changed to the price of the supplier.
• No item with the same entity as the post is known in the line detail on the quotation > a new line with a price is added to the line detail.

If you want to inform the supplier that you want to work with them, you can do so via a supplier e-mail template that you then send specifically to this supplier.

Converting a price request into a supply order

As soon as the quotation is approved, the work can be carried out.
You inform the supplier of this via an e-mail that you can send to the supplier from the price request.
You can also convert your price request into a supply order.

To convert the price request into a supply order, you go through the following steps:

1. Make sure that the supplier you choose has the status 'approved'
2. Click the Make supply order action button at the top
3. The lines of the price request are carried over to a supply order with the prices the supplier filled in

Updated on: 04/09/2026