Get More from Operational Sourcing with Basware “Framework Agreements”

Take Basware Marketplace further and expand your operational sourcing strengths through our latest functional enhancement—Framework Agreements. Read our blog to learn more about what Framework Agreements are and how they help your business.

You may have faced this situation before. You keep multiple suppliers on reserve for services such as repairs, consulting, auditing, or cleaning. These requests aren’t infrequent enough to qualify for a quick quote process, involving “one-off” suppliers, but they do occur at a frequency that allows for fluctuation in prices. And we’ve noticed that in the market, suppliers’ prices and availability for certain services can fluctuate tremendously. So, in order to get you the best price and availability possible, we’ve introduced a new feature within Basware Marketplace—Framework Agreements.​

Framework Agreements – When it Makes Sense

For instance, you regularly require cleaning services, but you have not entered into a recurring contract with any supplier in particular for these services. When you decide your building needs a good cleaning, you can avoid the manual process, ridden with back and forth email communications between multiple suppliers, trying to keep all their quotes organised. Instead, you can use Framework Agreements within Basware Marketplace to define the services you need, reach out to the suppliers you’ve already contracted with, and create a mini competition each time you require the service – so that you get the best price and terms.

How to use Framework Agreements

Creating a Framework Agreement is simple. You give your Framework Agreement a title such as “Cleaning Services for Building A.” Then, you can set an expiry date for suppliers to submit their quotes, your maximum accepted price, currency type, and additional product details as needed. You’ll then enter your contact information and expected delivery instructions.

From there, you can decide which suppliers to include in the bid— from your pre-configured list of suppliers which your procurement team has already registered. Suppliers will receive a notification to login to the system and submit their bid. Each time a supplier responds to the quote request, you’ll be alerted with an email and provided a direct link back into the system for easy reviews.

At any time before the expiry date, you can login to the system and view which suppliers have submitted quotes, along with any attachments. As soon as you review the quotes and award a supplier with the job, the item can be added to the shopping cart and then follows the normal requisition process. It goes through the requisition process to be reviewed, approved, and eventually ordered with that supplier.

Other Options for Operational Sourcing in Basware Marketplace

Basware Marketplace offers other options for sourcing aside from our latest release of Framework Agreements: Price on Request and Quick Quote.

Price on request. Price on request can be used when looking to procure goods or services from a single contracted supplier but there is no price specified. The price can be established through a short negotiation process. First, business users reach out to the supplier through the Basware system with the parameters of what they need. For instance, when sourcing an industrial pump, users may want to specify its capacity, size, color—all of which may affect the price. They can also attach a statement of work or any other document that could be relevant for the supplier to provide pricing. Once an expiration date is established and the request sent, the supplier can decide on a price, which will then become present in the “quote” section. From there, it’s as simple as adding the item to the shopping cart and proceeding as usual with the purchase.  

Quick quote. Quick quote functionality is similar to the price on request, but with quick quotes business users can reach out to both existing and new suppliers for a price in the same transaction. In a similar fashion as the Framework Agreements or price on request process, users set the parameters and requirements of their request, and submit it to potential suppliers. Suppliers will be alerted either through the system or via email, after which point, they can submit their quotes and the users can review them and select and the most appropriate bid.

Learn more.

See what else the Basware Marketplace is capable of and download our free factsheet.