RFPs

A Request for Proposal (RFP) asks suppliers to propose how they would deliver your scope, not just at what price. You define the structure of the proposal and the criteria you’ll score it against; suppliers respond through the portal with written proposals and an overall price. Only buyers, PMs, and admins can create, issue, and award RFPs.

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Creating an RFP

1. Click New Request and choose the RFP card — Seloria creates a silent draft and opens the editor — or start from the RFP tracker and click Save as draft after filling in the basics.
2. On the Basics tab, set the Title, Description, response Deadline, and Requester.
3. After the first save, the Sections, Criteria, and Suppliers tabs unlock.

If the RFP was promoted from an RFI, the scope fields and supplier shortlist arrive pre-filled.

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Proposal sections

Sections define the chapters of the proposal you expect back — for example “Technical approach,” “Project team,” “HSE plan,” “Commercial terms.” On the Sections tab:

• Click Add section, then type the section title and an optional description of what suppliers should cover. Edits save automatically.
• Mark a section Required if suppliers must answer it.
• Delete sections with the trash icon.

Suppliers see your sections in the portal and write one response per section.

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Evaluation criteria

Criteria are how you’ll score proposals. On the Criteria tab:

• Click Add criterion and name it (for example “Technical capability,” “Price competitiveness,” “Delivery schedule”), with an optional description.
• Set a Weight — its relative importance. The running total weight is shown and turns green at exactly 100, which is the convention to aim for (the math normalizes weights either way).
• Set a Scale — the maximum score for that criterion (for example 0–5 or 0–10).

Define criteria before proposals arrive so every evaluator scores against the same yardstick.

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Inviting suppliers and publishing

The Suppliers tab works exactly like the RFI version: pick suppliers from your directory (already-invited suppliers can’t be added twice), click Add to list, then send invitations per-supplier or with Send invitations. From the detail page, a draft RFP’s primary button is Publish, which emails everyone on the shortlist. Suppliers respond through a personal portal link — no Seloria account needed.

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Evaluating proposals

Open the RFP’s detail page and go to the Evaluation tab. Once suppliers submit:

• A score matrix shows one row per supplier and one column per criterion (with its weight and scale). Enter your score in each cell — scores save automatically and are tracked per evaluator.
• The Total column computes the weighted score out of 100, and rows re-rank live as you type, with the supplier’s submitted price shown under its name.
• Below the matrix, each proposal expands to show the supplier’s written response per section, plus any notes — so you can read the narrative while you score.

If no criteria exist yet, the tab prompts you to define them first.

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Awarding

When you’ve picked a winner, click Award on that supplier’s row in the matrix (the primary Award & generate PO button in the header also brings you here). In the confirmation dialog:

1. Verify or adjust the awarded total (pre-filled from the supplier’s bid).
2. Add optional award notes.
3. Confirm. The winning quotation is marked awarded and the others rejected.

Approval gate: if the awarded amount exceeds your organization’s award-approval threshold (Settings → approvals), the award goes to a PM or admin for approval and PO generation is blocked until it’s resolved. Below the threshold, the RFP moves straight to Awarded.

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RFP → PO direct path

After the award (and approval, if required), a confirmation banner appears in the Evaluation tab with a Generate PO button. Clicking it creates a draft purchase order for the awarded supplier — carrying the awarded amount and payment terms — and takes you straight to it. No RFQ step needed. The PO then appears at the end of the RFP’s Lineage breadcrumb.

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Or promote to an RFQ

If you want a priced, line-item competition after the proposal round, use the 3-dot menu (detail page or Requests tracker) and choose Promote to RFQ. The new RFQ inherits the scope fields and supplier shortlist — typically you’d keep only the top-ranked proposers — and starts as a draft with a fresh 14-day deadline. You then build the line items on the RFQ. The History tab keeps the complete audit trail of the RFP: creation, edits, publishes, and award decisions, with timestamps and users.