Move sourcing faster
Move sourcing faster. The agent prepares RFQs, evaluates bids and records the reasons for its recommendations.
Sourcing in facilities management is slow for ordinary reasons. Requests start in a storeroom or a work order, quotes arrive in different formats, suppliers need chasing, and the reason one was chosen over another rarely gets written down. The procurement and sourcing agent takes on that work: it prepares the RFQ, collects and compares the quotes, and recommends a supplier with its reasons on record.
It runs on your CMMS, using the items, suppliers, prices and order history already there, and it follows your approval rules. People still make the calls that matter: who wins the award and who signs off the spend. These five short videos follow one purchase at Acme Facilities, from a low stock alert to a received purchase order.
Turns a need into a ready RFQ
A purchase starts in many places: a storeroom running low, a technician who needs a part, a repair that needs a contractor. Turning that into a proper request for quotes means finding the spec, checking the last price paid, working out the quantity and picking the right suppliers. It usually waits until the buyer has time, and by then the stock has run out and a job is on hold. Requests that do get raised often arrive half complete, so the buyer goes back and forth before anything can be sent. The delay isn't in the decision, it's in the paperwork that comes before it.
In this demo
0:00 At the Acme Facilities central plant store, stock of 20 by 25 inch HVAC air filters has just dropped to six. The minimum is ten.
0:15 The agent picks this up from the storeroom record in the CMMS. It checks the target stock level, the planned maintenance due this month that will use filters, and what Acme paid last time: £8.50 a unit.
0:33 It raises purchase request PR-014 for 60 units, enough to bring stock back to 66, with the reason written on the request. It goes through Acme's normal approval step, and Sam, the stores supervisor, approves it.
0:54 Not every purchase needs quotes. Under Acme's rules, stock orders over £500 go out for quotes, so the agent converts this one into an RFQ.
1:12 The RFQ carries the exact spec from the item record, the quantity, the delivery address and a required-by date of 14 November. It also lists the suppliers approved for HVAC consumables.
1:31 Ana, the buyer, reviews the RFQ before it goes anywhere. She adds a note asking suppliers to confirm the filter grade.
1:49 From a low stock count to a ready RFQ, with a record of why it was raised. Next, it goes out to suppliers.
Low stock is spotted on a walk-round or when a technician can't find a part, and the request waits for the buyer to write it up.
The agent raises the request the moment stock drops, and the buyer starts from a complete RFQ.
Sends RFQs and collects every quote
Getting three quotes means three emails, three follow-ups and a spreadsheet to keep track of who has replied. Some suppliers use the portal, others only answer by email, and quotes come back as attachments, PDFs or a few lines in the body of a message. The slowest supplier sets the pace, and the buyer spends the week chasing instead of buying. Conditions buried in a reply, like a minimum order, are easy to miss and turn up later as a surprise. And when someone else picks the RFQ up, there's no single place to see what was asked and what came back.
In this demo
0:00 Ana publishes RFQ-009, and the agent sends it to the three suppliers approved for HVAC consumables: Kestrel Supply Co, Northfield Trade Parts and Brannock Industrial. Quotes are due by 4 November.
0:20 Kestrel and Northfield use the supplier portal, so the RFQ appears there. Brannock works by email, so the agent sends the RFQ as a document with a clear reply-by date.
0:44 Northfield submits through the portal the next morning. Kestrel replies by email with a PDF quote. The agent reads it, picks out the unit price, tax, delivery date and validity, and logs it against the RFQ in the same format as the portal quote.
1:05 Kestrel's quote also mentions a minimum order of 50 units. The agent records that as a condition, so it isn't lost when the quotes are compared.
1:27 Two days before the deadline, Brannock still hasn't replied. The agent sends a reminder with the original RFQ attached and the due date restated.
1:48 Ana can see the status of every supplier on the RFQ: two quotes submitted, one awaited. She hasn't written a single chaser.
2:06 Brannock's quote arrives the day before the deadline. With all three in, the agent marks the RFQ ready for comparison.
2:25 Every message, quote and reminder sits on the RFQ record, so anyone picking it up later can see exactly what was asked and what came back.
The buyer emails each supplier, keeps a tracker of who has replied and chases the stragglers one by one.
The agent sends the RFQ, logs every quote in one place and chases late replies, while the buyer watches the status.
Compares quotes like for like
Quotes rarely line up. One includes delivery, one is priced by the pack, one has a shorter validity or a condition tucked into the small print. Comparing them properly means retyping each into a spreadsheet, converting units and checking every line against the spec, which takes longer than anyone admits. Under time pressure, the comparison falls back to the bottom-line price, and an off-spec item or a late delivery date slips through. The cost turns up later as the wrong part on site, a missed deadline or a purchase that's hard to defend.
In this demo
0:00 Here are the three quotes for RFQ-009. One came through the portal, one from an emailed PDF, and one in the body of an email.
0:12 The agent lays them out in one comparison: unit price, tax, total, delivery date, validity and any conditions each supplier attached.
0:24 Northfield quotes £8.40 a unit, Kestrel £8.90 and Brannock £9.20. With tax, that's £529.20, £560.70 and £579.60 for 60 filters.
0:42 Brannock priced in packs of twelve, so the agent works out the unit price before comparing. Kestrel's minimum order of 50 is shown against its line.
0:59 One thing doesn't match. Brannock's quote lists a lower filter grade than the spec on the RFQ. The agent flags it rather than quietly treating it as equal.
1:14 It also checks the dates. All three can deliver before the 14 November required-by date, and Northfield is the earliest.
1:30 Ana now has a comparison she can rely on without retyping anything. The next step is a recommendation.
The buyer retypes each quote into a spreadsheet and hopes the pack sizes and conditions were read correctly.
The agent puts every quote on the same basis and points out what doesn't match the RFQ.
Recommends a supplier and records why
When a buyer picks a supplier, the reason often lives in their head or in an email thread nobody will find again. Months later, when finance or an auditor asks why the cheapest quote was or wasn't chosen, the answer depends on who is still around to remember. Past performance belongs in every good decision, yet it's hard to check by hand, so it gets judged on impressions rather than the order history. Without written reasons, decisions are hard to defend and hard to repeat. Suppliers who weren't chosen are often left waiting, too, because telling them is one more task.
In this demo
0:00 With the comparison done, the agent marks RFQ-009 ready to award and puts its recommendation at the top: Northfield Trade Parts.
0:18 The reasons are written out in plain language. Lowest total at £529.20. Meets the spec. Delivers before the required-by date. Delivered on time on its last six orders with Acme.
0:39 That last point comes from the purchase order history in the CMMS. The agent checked how each supplier performed on past orders, not just what they quoted this time.
1:00 It also explains why the others weren't recommended. Kestrel is £31.50 more for the same filter. Brannock quoted a lower grade than the spec.
1:20 The award is Ana's decision. She reads the reasons, agrees, and awards the RFQ to Northfield. If she'd chosen differently, she'd add her own reason, and that would be recorded too.
1:41 Northfield is told it has won the order. Kestrel and Brannock are told their quotes weren't selected this time.
2:02 The recommendation, the reasons and the decision all sit on the RFQ, so the answer to 'why this supplier' is always one click away.
Suppliers are chosen on the buyer's judgement, and the reasoning is rarely written down anywhere it can be found later.
Every award carries the agent's recommendation, its reasons and the buyer's decision on the same record.
Raises the purchase order for approval
After the award, the purchase order still has to be raised, approved, sent and followed up. The winning quote gets retyped, which is where prices and quantities go wrong, and the order waits on a signature from whoever is out of the office that day. Once it's sent, nobody can easily see where it is or when the goods will arrive, so the store chases the buyer and the buyer chases the supplier. Late or short deliveries are handled in the moment and rarely recorded against the supplier. The trail from request to receipt ends up spread across emails, spreadsheets and the storeroom.
In this demo
0:00 Ana's award on RFQ-009 is the starting point. The agent creates purchase order PO-031 for Northfield Trade Parts: 60 air filters at £8.40, £529.20 including tax, delivered to the central plant store by 14 November.
0:21 Nothing is retyped. The line items, prices and conditions come straight from the awarded quote, and the purchase order links back to the RFQ and the original purchase request.
0:42 Acme's rules say stock orders under £1,000 need the stores manager's approval, so the agent sends it to Leon. A larger order would go to the regional finance lead instead.
1:03 Leon sees the purchase order with the recommendation and the reasons behind it. He approves it from his phone.
1:23 The approved order goes to Northfield, and its status moves to yet to receive. The agent keeps an eye on the expected delivery date.
1:43 On 12 November the filters arrive. Sam receives them against the purchase order in the storeroom, stock goes back up to 66, and the order is marked received.
2:04 If the delivery had been late or short, the agent would have flagged it to Ana and noted it on Northfield's record, which counts towards the next recommendation.
2:24 Open the storeroom item and the whole trail is there: PR-014, RFQ-009 and PO-031, with every quote, reason and approval along the way.
2:41 Ana's time went on the decisions, not on chasing and retyping. The agent did the rest.
Someone retypes the winning quote into a purchase order, walks it round for signatures and chases the supplier for a delivery date.
The agent raises the purchase order from the award, routes it to the right approver and follows it through to receipt.
How the procurement & sourcing agent goes live with your team
Our FM Ops Engineers build the procurement and sourcing agent around your suppliers, spending limits and approval rules, then run it with you, so your team needs no training. Sourcing moves faster, and your buyers spend their time on decisions rather than chasing and paperwork.
- 01 We learn your operation Our FM Ops Engineers sit with your team and map how work is assigned today.
- 02 We build the agent Your rules, sites and vendors, built into the agent with you.
- 03 We run it Deployed, maintained and fine-tuned by our team. Your team gets the outcome.
