As a buyer, sourcing in Fairmarkit gives you more control over your events, making your purchasing decisions more efficient and cost-effective. When you need to purchase an item or service, simply create an event, add line items, and then select from a list of recommended suppliers. Once submitted, suppliers will respond with pricing for your line items. When the event ends, you can view a side-by-side view of responses and award your event.

Fairmarkit integrates directly with your existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) and procure-to-pay (P2P) platforms to effectively source while maintaining a seamless buying experience. Choose which events you want to source through our platform and seamlessly send the data to Fairmarkit.

With the Sourcing intake tools, you can quickly ask procurement questions or describe the goods and services you need to purchase, and we'll guide you through the process, ensuring that your requests comply with your company's policies and procedures and that all relevant information is included in your request. Once submitted, your requests are automatically routed it to the appropriate buyer team.

You can use Fairmarkit with the latest version of any supported browser:

• Chrome

• Safari

• Firefox

Analytics users

To access Analytics, you will need to use a Google Chrome browser that is not in incognito mode.

Intake understands your company's procurement policies and procedures, so you can ask for help with your general sourcing questions, and we'll help guide you to real-time sourcing feedback.

Access Intake: From the menu, click Create and then select Ask AI Assistant.

Fairmarkit defines distinct roles for each user in the sourcing process, catering to their specific needs. Whether you're a requester, buyer, or supplier, Fairmarkit simplifies your sourcing tasks and communication.

Requesters

Request the goods or services you need. Fairmarkit’s Intake tools ensure that your requests comply with company policies and are automatically routed to the appropriate buyer team.

Buyers

Manage the sourcing process: create events from various pathways, including reviewing requests, invite suppliers to submit responses, and after evaluating these submissions, award the event, ensuring efficient and cost-effective purchasing decisions. , which are a subset of permission sets such as Buyer, Observer, Requester, Team Lead, Supervisor, Admin, and Collaborator, allow you to customize permissions and responsibilities based on your team's needs.

Suppliers

Respond to buyer events by providing pricing for goods and services and accessing new sales opportunities. Supplier roles, which are a subset of permission sets such as Admin and Sales Rep, allow you to customize permissions and responsibilities based on your team's needs.

Fairmarkit is the intelligent sourcing platform that empowers organizations to more efficiently purchase the goods and services they need. By equipping procurement and supply-chain teams with automation and data, Fairmarkit promotes competitive bidding while reducing manual work within existing processes.

Jump right in

If you've forgotten your password, you can easily reset it:

1. Go to the Fairmarkit login page.
2. Click Forgot Password?.
3. Enter your Email, and then click Reset password. You'll receive an email with instructions on how to reset your password.

With approvals, your intake requests are automatically routed to approvers based on request data, such as location, budget, or role. By automating this process, you ensure that each request is reviewed and approved according to predefined rules, maintaining compliance and efficient workflow management.

From the Notifications settings screen, you can select the type of emails or notifications that you want to receive from Fairmarkit. Select the toggle switch for each option to turn it on or off.

Price books are lists of preapproved items and prices your company has set up with suppliers. These can come from hosted catalogs or punchouts. When you submit a request, KIT can suggest matching items from these catalogs based on the item’s description, manufacturer, or category. If all items in your request are matched, the request may be routed directly for purchase, skipping extra steps.

Why use Price Books or punchouts?

• Faster requests: You can select items that are already approved—no extra review needed.

• Fewer errors: Use the right items with the right prices, every time.

• Less back-and-forth: Get what you need more quickly, without extra questions or delays.

Request an item

When you submit a request, include key details like the item description, manufacturer, or category. KIT uses semantic search, so it understands what you mean, not just the exact words, to find matching items in your company’s price books. If matches are found, you’ll be able to review and select from a list of suggested items.

With language and localization support, you can select your preferred language to display Fairmarkit fields. Your selection is saved for each time your log in to Fairmarkit.

Supported languages

Fairmarkit is available in the following languages:

• Arabic

When requesting goods or services, including key details in your description helps to us guide you to create the best request.

General tips

Provide clear, descriptive details of what you need. This will help you to receive the best results and guidance. Keep the following in mind:

Be specific

Clearly define what you need. Include details like product specifications, quantities, or service requirements. Specificity helps us to categorize and match your request.

Provide context

Explain any constraints or preferences. Include information like dates needed, delivery or service location, or other special considerations. This information can help to route your request to best match suppliers.

Include details

For the goods or services, provide details of what you need. For , you could include specific features, quantities, and any optional requirements. For , outline the tasks, skills, or expertise required.

Goods

When requesting goods, you can include one or more items you need to purchase. Including the following information can be helpful:

• Product description

  • Specific details about the product (e.g., "M2 Pro 13″ MacBook")

  • Manufacturer or brand name

  • Model or version

Services

When requesting services, including the following information can be helpful:

• Location (e.g., "Someone local to the Boston area is preferred")

• Timeline (e.g., "2 days" or "September 1 - 5, 2023")

  • Start and end dates

  • Any specific milestones or deadlines

From the Requests screen, you can track all of your intake requests. If buyers have questions while reviewing your request, they can message you any questions or clarifications.

Access requests

• From the menu, select Requests.

Filter requests

The left side of the screen includes a tab for all available request statuses. Select a tab to filter the list by the request status.

Available statuses include:

• Draft: Requests awaiting approval before being submitted for review. A request moves to this status if your company has set up request approvals and the request meets an automation rule. See .

• In review: Requests submitted for review, typically before being converted into an event.

• In progress: Requests that have been converted into a request for quote (RFQ) or request for proposal (RFP) events and are currently in the sourcing phase.

Open request

Click a request line to open the details view. From this view, you can review the assignees, request status, the details you entered, and any messages from the buyer.

View request status

From details view, you can monitor your request's progress and review important dates, including an estimate of when your request will be completed.

Statuses:

• In review: Your request is being reviewed. Includes the date and time the request was submitted.

• Sourcing: Your request is being sourced. Includes the sourcing start date and time.

• Completed: Your requested was successfully sourced. Includes date and time when the sourcing is completed.

  Note: As your event moves through each step, you can review an estimated completion date. When a request is in review, the estimate includes 1 day to review and 8 days for sourcing. When the event is being sourced, the estimate depends on when the sourcing is scheduled to close and 3 days to review supplier responses.

Cancel a request

From the details view, click Cancel request to cancel your request and move it to a Canceled status. If needed in the future, you will need to enter a new request.

Internal comments

With a request opened in details view, you can add to the request, which are shared with the assigned buyer. If the comments area isn't displayed, click the comments/approvals button to switch to the Internal comments view.

Add a comment

• In Write a comment, enter the text you want to send. You can also:

  • Mention other users to them about the comment.

  • Attach files with additional information.

• Click Send to add your comment to the request.

Subscribe / Unsubscribe from notifications

To toggle on or off message notifications, click the Subscribe / Unsubscribe from notifications button.

Approvals

When you submit your request, if your company requires an approval based on the included information in the request, it will be automatically routed to the approver. From the request screen, you can track where your request is in the approvals process.

If the approvals area isn't displayed, your request might not require an approval or you may need to click the comments/approvals button to switch to the Approvals view

When working with requests or events, you and other users can add internal comments. When commenting, users may mention you directly, and you will receive a notification about the comment. When you have a notification, you will see a icon next to the Notifications option in the menu.

When will I receive notifications?

For your requests and events, you will receive a notification when:

• A teammate comments

• A supplier sends a message (on events)

• You are @mentioned on a comment or message

View notifications

On the Fairmarkit menu, click Notifications. You can preview the comment and click the notification to view the comment in the request. Once clicked, the notification is removed from this list.

View all notifications

To view all notifications, click Notifications and then select Show All. This screen displays all available notifications. Additionally, you can search, filter, and sort your notifications.

Search notifications

You can search notifications by entering message text in the Search bar. To clear the search, click Cancel .

When you click the search field, you can also search event data. From there, filter the results to show matching or selected events.

Filter notifications

With filters, you can narrow down the list of displayed notifications. Depending on the type of filter, you may be able to select one or more values to include in the filter (e.g., Suppliers). You can combine multiple filters to adjust the list view to the notifications you need to see.

Apply a filter

• Click the filter, and select one or more values. The Notifications list is filtered based on your selection.

Edit a filter

• To edit an applied filter, click the down arrow button on the filter, and edit the filter values as needed.

Remove a filter

• To remove an applied filter, click remove button on the filtered value.

Clear all filters

• To remove all filters, click Clear filters.

Sort notifications

Click the sort field to switch the sort between ordering the notifications from Newest to Oldest or Oldest to Newest.

Subscribe / Unsubscribe from notifications for an event

To toggle on or off emails and notifications for an event, open the event comments and then click the Subscribe / Unsubscribe from notifications button.

Change notification settings

From the screen, you can control if you want to receive emails for supplier comments and internal comments.

• From the Fairmarkit menu, click your name and select Notification Settings.

For submitted intake requests, you can assign the request to one or more buyers in your organization.

For submitted intake requests, you can edit the details while it is still in Draft status.

After reviewing an intake request, you can create an request for quote or request for proposal event.

Create an event

As organizations have multiple different Scope of Work templates, you can manage these directly within the admin area of Fairmarkit for your users to use when creating their requests.

For each request for proposal or request or information event, you will need to add sections for your questions. Each event needs to have at least one section with at least one question in each section.

AI-generated suggested sections: For information on how to use AI to generate a list of suggested sections to add to your event, see .

Add a section

In Fairmarkit, you create sourcing events like a request for quote (RFQ) or request for proposal (RFP) to gather information or purchase required goods and services. Fairmarkit will help you invite suppliers to participate in these events, where they submit their responses within a set time frame. After the event closes, you review and award the event or specific line items to the winning supplier, streamlining your procurement process effectively.

Event types

On your events, you can add Fairmarkit and customer categories. Categories are not required, but they are used to improve your supplier recommendations and standardize reports.

Fairmarkit categories

In the Fairmarkit categories area, you can generate and select from a list of recommended categories to add to your event. Fairmarkit categories are used to improve recommendation quality and standardize reporting.

Note: If you want to add categories manually, click the Add/Edit Fairmarkit Category button to select from the list of Fairmarkit categories.

With approvals, intake requests are automatically routed to approvers based on request data, such as location, budget,or role. By automating this process, you ensure that each request is reviewed and approved according to predefined rules, maintaining compliance and efficient workflow management.

How do approvals work?

First, for your company, you will set up one or more automation rules that define when requests need to be routed to approvers (e.g., before submitting). Each rule is also based on request data, such as location, budget, or role.

After setting up the rules, any new requests that match the rule criteria will be routed to first defined approver. The request will continue through the list of approvers, ensuring all necessary approvals are obtained before the request goes to the next step in the process.

Once you've created and sent your event to suppliers, you can manage your open event in the following ways:

For draft events that you no longer need, you can move them to an Archived status. Archived events are not common and are not tracked for Fairmarkit usage.

Archive an event

Sometimes, you may need to reassign an event from one buyer to another. If you have access to this option, you can use this option to reassign events quickly. Users in an Observer role cannot reassign events.

Reassign an event

To reassign an event from one buyer to another in your organization, do the following:

While sourcing in Fairmarkit, you can create and manage your events directly from the events list. This list includes any events, such as requests for quotes, requests for proposals, requests for information, and reverse auctions, that were generated via integration from your purchasing application or manually created in Fairmarkit. You can review, sort, search, and filter your events from the list for easier review and management.

Cancel an event

If you have opened an event and no longer need it, or you need to create a replacement event, you can cancel an event. Suppliers invited to the event will be notified that the event was canceled, but they will not see why it was canceled.

Cancel an event

When you're adding line items to a request for quote events, you can click the Add Item by Internal Part Number button to add one or more line items based on your company's internal part number. To use this option, you will need to work with Fairmarkit to create and configure the line items for each of your internal part numbers you want to use.

As your events move through Fairmarkit, you'll receive emails to update you when you receive responses or message from suppliers or your team members interact with your events.

Summary of emails

The following provides a summary of some of the available email notifications from Fairmarkit. Click the email name to view a more detailed description and screen shots of sample emails.

Request for quote (RFQ) event emails

With approvals, your intake requests are automatically routed to approvers based on request data, such as location, budget, or role. By automating this process, you ensure that each request is reviewed and approved according to predefined rules, maintaining compliance and efficient workflow management.

Send a request for approval

The Approval process automatically sends requests to approvers when the request is at a certain stage of the process (e.g., before submitting) meets certain criteria such as an location, budget, or role. This is based on rules defined for your company. You'll need to work with your company's Fairmarkit Admin to define these rules.

Withdraw an approval

If you need to edit your request, you will need to remove it from the approvals process and then resubmit it for review.

Track approvals

Through out the approval process, you can use the Approvals area to track where the request is in the approval process.

Rejected requests

If an approver rejects a request, you will be notified with the comment from the approver. You will be able to edit the request, as needed, and then resubmit it, allowing it to go through the approval process again.

Approved requests

Once a request is approved, it will either move to the next approver or will automatically assigned to the correct buyer for review

Once an event is opened, it typically is opened until the specified Close date and Close time, but when circumstances change, you may need to change an event duration. This may include closing an event early, changing the event duration, or reopening a closed event or event round.

Change event dates

If your needs change, you can change the dates on an event. The available fields depend on the event type.

Close an event early

If you need to close an event earlier than planned, you can manually close it.

• From the Events list or the event Details screen, select Actions > Close. The event is moved to a Closed status.

Reopen an event

If you have a closed event that you want to update, you can reopen the event.

Once you open an event, you can send a clarification to all of the suppliers on an event. The clarification can be a message or attachment with clarifying details about the opened events. This is an easy way to contact all suppliers invited to an event.

Send a supplier clarification

View supplier clarification history

From Supplier Clarifications area , you can view a history of past clarifications you've sent for the event. Each clarification is date and time-stamped with the user.

With price books you can create lists of preapproved prices for your suppliers. As you work on your request for quote events, you can review and select price book item suggestions. Additionally, you can award matched items and only need to send invitations for unmatched items.

Why use Price Books?

• Efficient process: By leveraging preapproved items and prices, you can simplify your purchasing process.

• Consistent pricing: Ensure accuracy and pricing consistency by selecting from curated lists.

How do I set it up?

To use price books, you will need to:

• Enable price books: To enable price books, contact your Fairmarkit Customer Success Manager.

• Upload price books lists: Using a Fairmarkit template, you will need to create a list of preapproved prices for each supplier you want enabled. This list must formatted into a Fairmarkit template, and then uploaded to .

Add an item

When you're working on a request for quote event, you can add a price books item using the following steps:

Award your items

If all items on your event match price books items, you can click the Proceed to award option to move to directly awarding your event. Additionally, you can still send the event to suppliers for additional responses

With approvals, request for proposal (RFP) and request for information (RFI) events are automatically routed to approvers based on specific event data, such as event value, business unit, or category. By automating this process, you ensure that each event is reviewed and approved according to predefined rules, maintaining compliance and efficient workflow management.

How do approvals work?

First, for your company, you will set up one or more automation rules that define when events need to be routed to approvers (e.g., before sending to suppliers or before awarding). Each rule is also based on specific event data, such as event value, business unit, or category.

After setting up the rules, any new events that match the rule criteria will be routed to first defined approver. The event will continue through the list of approvers, ensuring all necessary approvals are obtained before the event goes to the next step in the process (e.g., event sent to supplier or awarded).

Learn more

As an Admin for your company, you will need to do the following to start using the approvals process:

RFP/RFI users

Event owners will need to be a user of request for proposal (RFP) or request for information (RFI) events.

Create rules

Create automation rules, which determine how events are routed for approval based on event value, business unit, and/or category. For each rule, you will define one or more approvals needed before an event can be opened and sent to suppliers. Only Admin users can set up and maintain rules.

With Response QuickView you can automatically receive an email with AI-generated summaries of supplier responses when your request for proposal and request for information events close. Additionally, you can easily generate and download these summaries in PDF format directly from your event page.

How does it work?

Response QuickView uses AI to automatically generate a summary of supplier responses for an event. Based on the structure of your event, the process provides a summary of each supplier's response to each section of your event. Additionally, if the supplier provides any text-based attachments, they will be included in the section summary.

How can I optimize my event?

To ensure the best summary of supplier responses, use the following best practices:

Use Fairmarkit Structure

Build your event using the event sections, questions, and sub-questions in Fairmarkit. The process uses your event structure to build and generate the summary of supplier responses. Information added via attachments and outside of this framework will likely not be included in the summary.

Organize your questions

Arrange your questions so that each section can stand alone. Avoid referencing questions or information in other sections.

Write detailed questions

Make questions specific and descriptive, preferably in the form of questions that suppliers can easily respond to.

Text-based attachments

Recommend suppliers to only attach text-based file formats (e.g., .txt, .pdf, .docx, etc.). Non-text-based files will not be included in the summary.

When will I receive my summary?

When a request for information or request for proposal event with supplier responses closes, Response QuickView is automatically generated and emailed to the event owner.

Can I manually run Response QuickView?

Yes, from the Events list or the event Details screen, you can generate Response QuickView (if it wasn't automatically generated) or you can download a copy of the PDF file.

Generate summary

• From the Events list or the event Details screen, select Actions > Generate Summary. A message displays, letting you know that the file will be emailed after it is generated.

Download summary

• From the Events list or the event Details screen, select Actions > Download Summary.

With Internal Notes, you can enter notes about an event and add attachments and then share them with your team. These notes are for internal use only and will not be shared with suppliers. This is helpful for compliance purposes to track information shared outside of Fairmarkit, such as through phone calls or meetings.

Open internal notes

Note: From a draft event, click the Internal Notes button to add notes to the event.

1. Open an event.

2. Select actions > Add note/View notes. The Internal Notes dialog box displays.

Add an internal note

1. In Add note, enter your note. Click the attach 📎 button to select and attach a file to the note.

2. Click the Add Note button. The note is added, and an indicator will display on the Comments button.

View internal notes history

From Internal Notes, you can view a history of past notes you've saved for the event. Each note is date and time-stamped with the user.

From the Notifications settings screen, you can select the type of emails or notifications that you want to receive from Fairmarkit. Select the toggle switch for each option to turn it on or off.

Daily

Daily email options include:

New requests daily report

You will receive an email with a list of the request for quote events that have been created and assigned to you within the last 24 hours.

General

General email options include:

RFQ has closed with bids

You will receive an email when a request for quote event closes and you've received supplier responses. The email will include a summary of the responses and a link to the event.

RFQ has closed without bids

You will receive an email when a request for quote event closes and you haven't received any supplier responses. The email will include a link to the event.

Buyer Shipment Tracking Notification Email

You will receive an email if an awarded supplier enters shipment tracking information for a request for quote event. Suppliers are only prompted to enter tracking information when it is enabled by your organization.

High Urgency RFQ Bid Email

If you select Rush or Emergency urgency on an event, you will receive an email for each supplier response you receive.

Enable own events chat notification

You'll get notified when you receive a message related to one of your events.

Enable shared events chat notification

You'll get notified when you receive a message related to an event shared with you.

Legacy messages

You'll receive an email when you receive a legacy message on one of your events (My events) or on Team or shared events.

Comments & messages

Internal comments

You'll receive an email when coworkers add an on one of your events (My events) or on Team or shared events.

Supplier messages

You'll receive an email when you receive a on one of your events (My events) or on Team or shared events.

As an Admin for your company, you will need to do the following to start using the request approvals process:

Intake users

Users will need to have access to create intake requests.

Create rules

For your company, you will create automation rules that define when requests should be routed to approvers. Only Admin users can set up and maintain rules.

For each rule for intake, you'll set the following:

Select a Trigger

Select Requests and Before submitting to create a rule for intake requests. This means the rules will run when you submit a request.

Set an If Statement

• Set one or more conditions and/or condition groups that will trigger the rule. You can set a condition for the following request data:

• Location country

• Budget (must add a line for Budget minimum, Budget maximum, and Currency to set the budget)

• Single role

For example, you may run a rule for approval when the request Location country is France.

• Additionally, you can work with Fairmarkit to set up rules for your custom fields. For example, if you have a project that involved customer data, you could trigger a rule that requires approval from a cybersecurity team.

Select approvers

Select one or more approvers and the number of days they have to approve the request.

With collaboration tools, you can work with other people to build and review your event.

Collaborators

When working on an event, you can invite collaborators to help you build and review your event. For your collaborators, you can manage their permissions, controlling if they are able to view or edit the event. The types of permissions are event type dependent. On request for quote and reverse auction events, collaborators can edit everything in the event. On request for information and request for proposal events with Can Edit permissions, collaborators can edit everything in the event except for the header, appendix, or list of invited suppliers. Additionally, collaborators can view or send (with Edit permission) messages for their events.

See Manage collaborators.

While working on an event or a request, internal comments allow you to communicate about the event and clarify details with your team. Comments can include attachments. You'll receive a when comments are added to your events.

See .

With Internal Notes, you can enter notes about an event and add attachments and then share them with your team. These notes are for internal use only and will not be shared with suppliers. This is helpful for compliance purposes to track information shared outside of Fairmarkit, such as through phone calls or meetings.

See .

If you have an opened event and need to make major changes, such as adding line items, changing quantities, etc., you can withdraw the event within 2 days of opening it. Withdrawn events are moved back to Draft status and can be edited like a new event. When you withdraw an event, any supplier responses are removed and the suppliers are notified that you've withdrawn the event. After you've edited the event, you will need to open the event again. Once you withdraw an event, it cannot be undone. If you event only needs minor changes, you may be able to edit your event.

Withdraw event

When managing supplier invitations, you can click on a supplier line to learn more about them and their history with your company and within Fairmarkit. The information displayed is dependent on the available data in Fairmarkit, so the screen may look different between suppliers.

View supplier information

• When reviewing a list of supplier invitations, click the supplier's line. The Supplier info card for the supplier will display.

Supplier overview

In the overview area, depending on what the supplier has provided, you can review the following information:

• Supplier's name and logo

• Company website

• Company description

• Registration

Recommended based on matches

In the Recommended based on matches area, you can see details on why the supplier was recommended. For information on how suppliers are recommended, see . This could include the following information:

• Item descriptions

• Category

• Manufacturers

• Countries of Operation

Event engagement

Provides a summary of the supplier's event invitations, response rate to events, and number of awarded events with your companies and other companies in Fairmarkit.

With your company (last 12 months)

Provides a summary of your company's interactions with the supplier's company in the last 12 months.

• Event invitations

• Response rate

• Awarded events

With other companies (last 12 months)

Provides a summary of other Fairmarkit customers' interactions with the supplier's company in the last 12 months. This is limited to companies who choose to share their data.

• Event invitations

• Response rate

• Awarded events

If an intake request is no longer needed and shouldn't be made into an event, you can cancel it. Once a request is canceled, it cannot be reopened, but you can still view the request details.

The Buyer request for quote overview is a quick, step-by-step video to help you, as a buyer, create a request for quote (RFQ) in Fairmarkit. It walks you through the essential steps of the process, making it easier for you to create, submit, and award your event. \

Fairmarkit offers a variety of user roles designed to manage feature access and security within your organization. Roles such as Buyer, Observer, Requester, Team Lead, Supervisor, Admin, and Collaborator allow you to customize permissions and responsibilities based on your team's needs.

Observers

As an Observer, you can:

• View all events (read-only access).

From the Requests list, you can manage your intake requests. If you're a requester, you will only see your requests, but as a buyer, you can manage all requests for your company.

Filter requests

The left side of the screen includes a tab for all available request statuses. Select a tab to filter the list by the event status.

Available statues include:

Fairmarkit's Scope of Work (SOW) functionality helps teams collaboratively define and align on detailed project or service requirements—directly within the Request creation flow. With templates, real-time editing, AI writing assistance, and version tracking, it ensures your stakeholders stay on the same page from intake to award. You can create Scope of Work's directly in the Intake flow or directly on the request (this works great for integrated use cases).

When to Use the Scope of Work

Use the SOW when:

• The purchase requires

While working on an event, supplier messages allow you to communicate about the event and clarify details with invited suppliers. Messages can include attachments. You'll receive a notification when messages are added to your events.

Send a message to a supplier

With approvals, your request for proposal (RFP) and request for information (RFI) events are automatically routed to approvers based on specific event data, such as event value, business unit, or category. By automating this process, you ensure that each event is reviewed and approved according to predefined rules, maintaining compliance and efficient workflow management.

As an Approver, intake requests will be routed to you for approval when the request meets specific request data, such as location, budget, or role. You'll be able to either approve or reject the request and add a comment.

View approval status

You can view an request's approval progress on the approvals area in your request.

• View approvals area

If you need to review, download, or print a history of an event, there are a few options.

View activity log

During an event, an audit trail of actions on the event is tracked. This includes the action, message, user, and date and time.

• From the Events list or the event Details screen, select Actions > View activity.

For request for information and request for proposal events and templates, you can create drop-down questions. With drop-down questions, you can control the available answers, making it easier for you to analyze responses and for suppliers to respond to your events. For each question, you must define at least two answer options and can add up to 50 answers. When adding and sorting your responses for questions, keep in mind that suppliers will see the first five responses and then will scroll to view additional options.

Add a drop-down question

For a or a event or a , complete the following:

While working on a request for proposal or request for information event, you can generate a list of questions for your event section. We use your event data to generate relevant questions customized for your event.

This option is only available when your company has enabled AI suggestions for your events.

1. Select a section

For a request for proposal or request for information event, or select an existing section. You can generate questions for a blank section or append existing questions. Add a title and description to the section to improve your question suggestions.

What can users access?

Fairmarkit have individual-level access to Sourcing. They can access the Intake form to request goods and services and review their requests from the Requests list. To invite a new business user, see Invite a user.

All other Fairmarkit users () have company-level access. This means they can access the Intake form to request goods and services and review all company requests on the Requests list.

Price books let you create and manage preapproved item lists with set pricing from your suppliers. As users submit requests, KIT automatically suggests matching items from these catalogs based on the item’s description, manufacturer, or category. If all items in the request are matched, the request can be routed directly for purchase.

Why use price books?

• Faster requests: Matched items can skip manual review and move straight to purchase.

With Fairmarkit, you no longer need to keep track of communications with suppliers in your inbox. Throughout the sourcing process, you can track all event communication within Fairmarkit for ease and convenience. While creating an event, you can add notes and files to communicate your requirements better. Then, once an event is opened, you can send a clarification to all of the suppliers invited to the event or send a message to answer questions for an individual supplier.

Note: If a supplier responds directly to or sends an out-of-office reply to a Fairmarkit email about your event, their response will be forwarded to your messages with the supplier in Fairmarkit.

Notes and files

While creating an event, you can add comments, attachments, notes, and files to communicate your requirements better.

After suppliers respond to your event, you can review their responses on the Details screen.

View an event

• From the Events list, click an event to view its details.

While working on an event or a request, internal comments allow you to communicate about the event and clarify details with your team. Comments can include attachments. You'll receive a when comments are added to your events.

The AI Bid Analysis Agent helps you analyze supplier responses after an event closes. It provides a clear, structured analysis of key details like pricing, delivery timelines, vendor capabilities, and risk assessments included in the bid submissions. You can also chat with the AI agent to ask questions and get more insights.

Where can I access the agent?

From your Requests list, open your original intake request and select the AI Analysis tab. The analysis will automatically generate when you select the tab.

When working on an event, from the area, you can invite trusted suppliers from your master supplier list within Fairmarkit. As part of this area, you can search for existing suppliers by title, email, external ID, group, business classification, and tag.

Access search

• From the Supplier invitation area on an event, click Add suppliers, then select Search existing suppliers. The search screen displays.

For request for information and request for proposal events and templates, you can create conditional questions, allowing you to gather additional details for review. With conditional questions, you can ask suppliers to answer additional questions based on their answers to a question. For example, if you define a yes/no question, you can require suppliers to include a reason why when responding No. You can add one condition to each parent question.

What types of questions can be conditional?

To create a conditional question, you will need to create a line item where the supplier will respond (UOM) with one of the following types of values:

Requests for quote are at the core of Fairmarkit and are built to help you be more efficient and effective in your sourcing process. On a request for quote, you will enter a list of items or services that you need to purchase and then invite suppliers to send quotes for your sourcing process.

Basic workflow

This outlines the basic workflow to create, submit, and award a request for quote. However, there are many variations to this workflow.

Bundle events

If request for quote events contain line items in the same category, it may be beneficial to bundle the events into a single event before you send them to suppliers. Bundling events can result in greater savings on larger quantities of items or services and create attractive and efficient events for suppliers. You can bundle up to 150 line items into a single event and can include any events you have access to in your organization, regardless of assignment. A blue Bundled label is added to the bundled events, and if you hover over the label you can view the original RFQ IDs that were bundled into the new event; you can also use the to view a list of events included in a bundle.

When working on an event, you can invite collaborators to help you build and review your event. For your collaborators, you can manage their permissions, controlling if they are able to view or edit the event. The types of permissions are event type dependent. On request for quote and reverse auction events, collaborators can edit everything in the event. On request for information and request for proposal events with Can Edit permissions, collaborators can edit everything in the event except for the header, appendix, or list of invited suppliers. Additionally, collaborators can view or send (with Edit persmission) messages for their events.

When working on an event, you can add a requester to the event so they can view the event in their events list, add internal notes, and participate in conversations with suppliers.

After the evaluation period ends, you can evaluate a summary of responses from all invited evaluators to help you award your event. If an evaluator did not complete their scores, they are not included in the final score calculation.

Access scorecard

1. Open your event, and select the Details page.

When you add a line item to a request for quote (RFQ) event, the Benchmark value can be automatically generated based on your historical data. This feature simplifies request for quote event creation by automatically populating the Benchmark field, saving time and reducing errors. Leveraging historical data also helps you make informed decisions and quickly assess quote reasonableness, improving procurement efficiency.

With a test event, you can run a simulated event without sending emails to suppliers or impacting usage reports. You can only create a test event from a manually created event in Draft status. Once the test event is open, you can generate randomized supplier responses, and then close, award, or cancel the event as needed. By default, all test events, independent of their status, are archived 3 days after they are created. Suppliers will not see or receive emails about test events.

With Evaluation and Scoring, you and your team of evaluators can now enter scores on your request for proposal and request for information events, allowing you to make informed awarding decisions and keep a historical record of your decisions. Evaluators can only view the sections they are assigned and cannot view other evaluators' scores. Only you, the event owner, admins, supervisors, and team leads can see the evaluators' responses. You can add evaluators until the evaluation period ends.

Invite an evaluator

If you're an evaluator on an event, you can view or edit the event, allowing you to review all of the invited suppliers' responses and then score the event on the Scoring page. You can only score your assigned sections, and you cannot view other evaluators' scores. You cannot submit scores after the event is awarded, and incomplete scores are not included in the final scoring. Once you submit your scores, you cannot edit them. The evaluation start and end dates display at the top of the Scoring page. You will receive an email reminder if you still need to score your event 24 hours before the event closes.

Score a section

Fairmarkit helps you identify suppliers most likely to respond to your events. By analyzing your event details, sourcing history, and our supplier database, we generate targeted supplier recommendations for each event.

You can review a summary of why we recommended a supplier and their likelihood to respond. As you continue to use Fairmarkit, the recommendation accuracy will improve. For each event, you can manually add or remove supplier invitations to best match your specific needs.

How are suppliers recommended?

Suppliers are recommended based on an analysis of your event details, sourcing history, and data from our supplier database.

Request for quote (RFQ) and reverse auction events

For request for quote and reverse auction events, recommendations are more focused on the specific line items being requested. This approach involves analyzing similar past requests and suppliers’ historical responses, focusing on item details (e.g., description and manufacturer).

Fairmarkit considers the following information from your event to recommend suppliers:

Request for proposal (RFP) and request for information (RFI) events

For request for proposal or request for information events, recommendations are based more on event-level details, assessing the overall capabilities of suppliers in specific categories rather than on specific items. This considers the overall scope of your request and the supplier's ability to meet those needs.

Fairmarkit considers the following information from your event to recommend suppliers:

• Event title

• Event description

• Event justification

• Location/facility

How many recommendations will I receive?

The number of recommended suppliers may vary based on your organization's max number of recommended suppliers (company setting) and the quality of available recommendations.

Why was a supplier recommended?

For each recommendation, you can select the supplier to learn more about the supplier and see a list of reasons why they were recommended.

How likely is the supplier to respond?

For each recommendation, you can review the following information:

• Score: Predicts how likely a recommended supplier will respond if invited to the event (low, medium, or high). The score is calculated based on how the supplier company, including all of the supplier's individual contacts, responded to similar events and their current activity level in Fairmarkit. This is not calculated for manually added suppliers.

• Response rate: Provides insight into the supplier’s responsiveness to Fairmarkit events and whether they’ve been invited to events before.

How can I improve recommendations?

When entering your event details, consider best practices for using a search engine to improve your supplier recommendations.

• Provide details: When creating your events, include all relevant context. Detailed events work best.

• Get specific: If you want a specific item, include the manufacturer's information.

• Describe generic items: Describe your item or service the same way your supplier would. A complete description also helps suppliers understand exactly what you need.

• Avoid unnecessary details

You can choose to seal supplier responses (bids) until after an event closes. You may want to use this option for compliance or ethics reasons. Sealed bids are available for request for quote (RFQ), request for proposal (RFP), and request for information (RFI) events.

Want to use sealed bids?: To turn on this feature, contact [email protected].

Types of sealed bids

1-envelope

With 1-envelope sealed bids, all supplier responses are hidden. After the event closes, you can unseal responses.

This type of sealed bid is available for request for quote (RFQ), request for proposal (RFP), and request for information (RFI) events.

2-envelopes

With 2-envelope sealed bids, all supplier responses are hidden. There are two rounds of review before the responses are unsealed. First, evaluators review responses (without seeing the pricing) and select the responses to move forward. Then, you can review the selected responses and award.

This type of sealed bid is available for request for quote events and must be enabled for your company (see: ).

Create a sealed bid event

When you create your event, you will need to select the Sealed bid option before sending your event. For RFQ events, select either 1 envelope or 2 envelopes. If using 2-envelope bidding, make sure to add at least one evaluator before sending the event (see: ).

Once sent, a banner will display at the top of the event, reminding you that you cannot view responses until the event is closed.

Review sealed responses

The review process depends on the type of sealed bid you selected.

1-envelope

Once your event closes, a banner displays the number of responses received. Click Unseal Bid to view responses. Once unsealed, responses cannot be resealed.

2-envelope (RFQ only)

After your event closes, there are two steps to unseal bids.

Evaluator review

Evaluators will review the event responses and select any responses they want to advance to the next round.

Buyer review

After evaluators finish reviewing and selecting responses, pricing is automatically revealed to buyers. Only selected responses that evaluators selected are visible for awarding.

With Evaluation and Scoring, you and your team of evaluators can now enter scores on your request for proposal events, allowing you to make informed awarding decisions and keep a historical record of your decisions.

Add evaluation criteria

On the Evaluation criteria page in your request for proposal or request for information event, you can set up the criteria to use when scoring and evaluating your event. For your event, you'll want to set an evaluation period and then set an evaluation weight for each section, skipping any unnecessary sections. You can add or edit evaluation criteria from the Evaluation criteria page while the event is in draft, open, or closed status.

With Evaluation and Scoring, you and your team of evaluators can now enter scores on your request for proposal and request for information events, allowing you to make informed awarding decisions and keep a historical record of your decisions. Evaluators can only view the sections they are assigned and cannot view other evaluators' scores. Only you, the event owner, admins, supervisors, and team leads can see the evaluators' responses. You can add evaluators until the evaluation period ends.

Evaluators will have access to either view or edit the event, allowing them to review all of the invited suppliers' responses and then score the event on the Scoring page. Evaluators can only score the assigned sections and not view other evaluators' scores.

At the end of the evaluation period, you can review the consolidated scorecard, which ranks supplier responses by score and highlights the highest-ranking supplier response in each section.

To ensure that you're getting the best price on your items, you can request pricing on additional quantities of items for tiered or volume pricing.

Add additional quantities

From a draft event, you can add additional quantities to a line item:

Review additional quantities quotes

Once a supplier submits a quote, you can review and award any additional scale pricing your suppliers were able to offer.

Once you send your event to suppliers, it moves to . To ensure suppliers have accurate information for submitting their response, you can only edit fields that do not impact the response process. However, you can invite additional suppliers, change the closing date, or send clarifications. If an event is in Draft status, you can edit it as though it were a new event.

Edit an event

Invite additional suppliers

For Opened events, you can send invitations to additional suppliers.

1. From the events list or the event Details screen, select Actions > Edit. The event is opened on the create screen.

2. Add additional supplier invitations. See .

3. Save your changes. The event is saved with the updates. If selected, new supplier invitations are sent.

Change the event dates

For Opened events, you can change the Close Date and Close time; select Actions > Change close date. See:

Send a supplier clarification

To send a note or attachment to all invited suppliers, go to the Supplier Clarifications area and select Add new. See:

Fairmarkit provides a list of predefined categories that you can add to your events. While working on a draft request for quote event, Fairmarkit can recommend categories for your event. You can also manually add categories. By adding Fairmarkit categories, you can help to improve the quality of your supplier recommendations and help to standardize reporting for your events.

Fairmarkit categories list

You can view the categories added and recommended for your event in the Fairmarkit categories area on the screen. For each category, you can review the following information:

• Selected: Selected categories are highlighed blue with a selected check box.

• Category: Displays the full category path (e.g., Facilities Maintenance & Services > Facilities Maintenance Goods > Office Supplies)

• Label: Displays a label indicating if the category was Recommended or manually added (Manual).

Category recommendations

Using the information you've entered for your event, Fairmarkit can predict and recommend categories for your event. If your event was created via integration or created at an earlier date and reopened, suggested categories will be automatically displayed in the Fairmarkit categories area. If you cloned an event, only categories that were manually added to the original event are cloned.

Refresh recommendations

If you're creating a new event or have updated your event title or line items, you will need to click Refresh to update your category recommendations. This option isn't available until you've entered a Title or a line item. Once refreshed, the top four recommended categories are displayed ordered from highest to lowest confidence of a match.

Add recommended categories

To add a recommended category to your event, select the check box. Once selected, the category is highlighted blue.

Manually add categories

If you want to manually select and add Fairmarkit categories, complete the following:

Add additional categories

Once you have added Fairmarkit categories to an event, you can add additional manual categories.

Remove a category

After you've added a category (recommended or manual), you can deselect the check box on the Fairmarkit categories list to remove it from your event.

Create an event

When working in Fairmarkit, you can manually create an event, create an event from a request, or clone a previously created event. If your purchasing application is integrated with Fairmarkit, your events are automatically imported and available from the Events list.

As an Approver, request for proposal (RFP) and request for information (RFI) events will be routed to you for approval when the event meets specific event data, such as event value, business unit, or category. You'll be able to either approve or reject the event and add a comment.

View approval status

You can view an event's approval progress on the approvals area in your event.

If you’ll be away, you can set your out of office status and designate another user to oversee your events. Your assigned delegate will have the same level of access to your events and can send, review, and award them as needed.

How does out of office work?

When you set out of office for a specific time period, all your open, closed, pending, and scheduled events are automatically reassigned to another buyer, supervisor, or admin. If you’re part of a Fairmarkit team, your delegate must be a team member.

Once the set time period ends, your events are reassigned back to you.

On the Evaluation criteria page in your request for proposal or request for information event, you can set up the criteria to use when scoring and evaluating your event. For your event, you'll want to set an evaluation period and then set an evaluation weight for each section, skipping any unnecessary sections. You can add or edit evaluation criteria from the Evaluation criteria page while the event is in draft, open, or closed status.

To get started with Intake, you'll just need to ask KIT a question or describe what you need to purchase, goods or services. We'll help you add all the essential details and then route your request to your buyer team when it's complete.

Access Intake: From the menu, click Create and then select Ask AI Assistant.