Sourcing & RFx: how it works and what to require
Proconomy sourcing and RFx lets category teams build events from governed templates, invite suppliers that already meet qualification and risk criteria, and hand routine supplier coordination to agents. Responses are normalised for comparison, scenarios can be modelled, and the award is routed to an authorised person before any downstream workflow begins.
From a three-supplier RFQ. To a multi-round programme award.
Twenty-four event types on one governed workflow, configured by category.
Direct materials
- Component and sub-assembly RFQs against a drawing
- Raw material and commodity agreements
- Programme sourcing against launch milestones
- Re-sourcing after an engineering change
- Dual-source qualification events
- Tooling, NRE and capital equipment
Indirect and services
- Professional and consulting services
- IT hardware, software and renewals
- Facilities, cleaning and site services
- Logistics and freight lanes
- Contingent labour and rate cards
- Marketing, print and events
MRO and plant
- Spares and consumables framework agreements
- Calibration, inspection and maintenance contracts
- Local supplier panels per site
- Shutdown and turnaround packages
- Safety equipment and PPE
- Utilities and waste services
Complex and multi-round
- Multi-lot events with award scenarios
- Should-cost and cost-breakdown requests
- Events with technical and commercial scoring split
- Multi-entity events with different eligibility per site
- Negotiation rounds after an initial submission
- Events requiring supplier qualification in parallel
Ten mechanics of an event. None of them a spreadsheet.
What actually happens between opening a category and approving an award.
| Mechanism | What it has to do |
|---|---|
| Category templates | Question sets, scoring model, required documents, approval chain and timeline configured per category once, then reused. Event setup becomes selection rather than construction. |
| Eligibility-driven invitation | The supplier list is assembled from live qualification status, risk position, category fit and entity approval — so an ineligible supplier cannot be invited by habit. |
| RFI, RFQ and RFP formats | Single-round and multi-round, with staged gates and separate technical and commercial submission where the category requires it. |
| Structured supplier response | Suppliers respond in the format the comparison needs, through the portal, so pricing, lead time and capacity arrive comparable rather than as five different attachments. |
| Automatic normalisation | Responses are converted to a like-for-like basis — currency, unit, incoterm, delivery point — which is the spreadsheet work that consumes an event. |
| Weighted scoring | Price, quality, lead time, capacity, risk and supplier standing, weighted per category and per event, with the model visible to the approver. |
| Award scenario modelling | Split, single and multi-lot awards compared side by side against cost, lead time, capacity and concentration before anyone commits. |
| Governed award approval | The award stops at the authority your policy names, with the scoring, the scenarios and the supplier standing attached to the decision. |
| Agent-run follow-up | Invitations, reminders, clarification handling and deadline chasing run on schedule rather than when a category manager finds time. |
| Complete event record | Who was invited and why, who responded, how they scored, what was awarded, who approved it and what was overridden. |
A description of what the practice requires, not a feature list.
One sourcing engine. Five sector rulebooks.
What eligibility, evidence and award scenarios have to account for, by industry.
Automotive
Events run against programme milestones with PPAP and capacity requirements in the qualification gate, and tier concentration visible in the award scenario.
Aerospace and defence
Approved-supplier-list constraint applied before invitation, with every departure carrying a named authority and retained justification.
Medical devices
Supplier qualification evidence and quality-agreement position required as part of eligibility rather than confirmed after award.
Semiconductor and OSAT
Multi-stage qualification tracked alongside the commercial event, so capacity commitments and qualification status move together.
Building materials
Delivered cost by plant modelled in the award scenario, because the lowest ex-works price is frequently the wrong award.
Five questions. Run on your own category.
Set up a real event in the session and time it.
- Set up an event in one of your real categories during the session. How long does it take, and how much of it is retyping?
- Submit three deliberately inconsistent supplier responses — different currencies, units and incoterms. Watch the normalisation.
- Show what stops an unqualified supplier being invited. If that is a manual check, it will be skipped under time pressure.
- Ask to see award scenarios compared, not just a lowest-price ranking.
- Ask what the system did without a person, overnight, during a live event.
Definitions. Asked and answered.
Agents handle coordination: invitations, reminders, clarification routing and response normalisation. Negotiation strategy and the commercial award decision remain with your category managers and approvers.
Eligibility comes from current supplier data — qualification status, category fit, risk position and entity approval. A supplier that has not met the required controls cannot be invited without an authorised exception.
Yes. Question sets, weightings and scoring criteria are configured per category and entity. The platform applies the model you approved and records how each response scored against it.
The event is flagged as an exception and routed to an authorised person. The rule that identified it and the decision that followed are both retained on the event record.
The approved award opens the next governed workflow — a contract draft or a purchasing workflow. The ERP transaction is created once that workflow reaches its own approved outcome.
Direct sourcing carries engineering, quality and approved-source context into eligibility and evaluation. Indirect events lean more on catalogue, contract and policy routing. Both use the same event structure and governance.
Strategic sourcing is a structured approach to selecting suppliers on total value rather than price alone. It typically covers spend analysis, supply market assessment, strategy development, a competitive event, evaluation and negotiation, award, and ongoing supplier management. The intent is a repeatable process that produces a defensible award.
RFx is a collective term for the structured requests used to approach suppliers. An RFI gathers information and capability before a requirement is fixed, an RFQ requests pricing against a defined specification, and an RFP invites proposals where the approach itself is part of what is being evaluated.
An RFQ assumes the requirement is specified and asks suppliers to price it, so comparison is largely commercial. An RFP describes a problem or outcome and asks suppliers how they would meet it, so evaluation weighs method, capability and risk alongside price. Direct materials are usually RFQ; complex services are usually RFP.
An eAuction is a live competitive event in which invited suppliers submit against each other in real time. It suits categories with a clear specification, several genuinely qualified suppliers and price as the deciding variable. It is a poor fit where the specification is unstable or where switching cost outweighs the price movement.
Most of the elapsed time is not analysis. It is event construction, supplier chasing, converting inconsistent responses into a comparable format and routing the award for approval. Those four activities are coordination rather than judgement, which is why they can be governed and executed automatically.