QuoteVitalsHow to build a bid tab for capital equipment quotes
A bid tab is the table a value analysis committee reads instead of the quotes: one row per item, one column per vendor, and a total at the bottom that means the same thing in every column. Building one by hand is slow, because the quotes do not line up. Each vendor names, bundles and prices things its own way. This guide is the method, step by step.
1. Start from your specification, not from the first quote
Make the rows from what you asked for: the device and quantity, accessories and modules, software and licenses, interfaces, installation and training, warranty and service, consumables, freight and tax. If you build the rows from the first quote you open, that vendor's structure becomes the standard and everything it left out disappears from the table.
2. Put each quote line under the row it belongs to
Vendors bundle differently. One includes the wireless module in the pump price; another lists it as its own line; a third quotes it on a separate document. Split bundles where the quote gives you the figures, and mark the cell "included" where it does not, so nobody counts the item twice or reads a blank as free. Keep a note of the page each figure came from. You will be asked.
3. Mark every gap as a gap
An empty cell is the most important thing on a bid tab. Use three different marks and never mix them up:
- Included: the quote says the item is in the price.
- Not quoted: the item is on your specification and the quote does not mention it.
- Separate: the quote says it is priced elsewhere, for example "software license on a separate quotation".
Each "not quoted" and "separate" cell is a question for that vendor before the comparison goes to committee.
4. Normalize quantities and units
Check that every vendor quoted the quantity you asked for, in the same unit. Per-pump against per-site licenses, cases against eaches, and "1 lot" against an itemized list are the usual traps. Where a vendor quoted a different quantity, either recalculate at your quantity from their unit price or flag it; do not let it ride into the total.
5. Recheck the arithmetic
Multiply quantity by unit price on every line and add the lines yourself. A transposed digit in an extended price changes the total, and the quote's own total is the number most people copy.
6. Only then compare totals
Here is what that looks like for three invented infusion pump quotes for 100 pumps.
| Item | Vendor A | Vendor B | Vendor C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pumps, 100 | $360,000 | $330,000 | $345,000 |
| Drug library software | $28,000 | Separate | $36,000 |
| Installation and training | $6,500 | $4,800 | $7,200 |
| Freight | Included | Not quoted | $2,400 |
| Warranty | 12 months, parts only | 12 months, parts and labor | 24 months, parts and labor |
| Quote total | $394,500 | $334,800 | $390,600 |
On the totals, Vendor B is $55,800 below Vendor C. On the bid tab, Vendor B has not priced its software or its freight, and Vendor A's warranty covers parts but not labor. Those three cells are the questions to send back before anyone calls Vendor B the low bid. The five-year cost guide carries this same example forward.
7. Record what you asked and what came back
When a vendor answers a question, put the answer and its date on the bid tab, and replace the "not quoted" mark with the figure. The finished bid tab should let someone who never saw the quotes see why the numbers are what they are.
In QuoteVitals. QuoteVitals builds the bid tab from the quotes you upload: rows from your specification, bundled items matched, gaps marked, arithmetic rechecked, and every figure linked to the page it came from. Your team checks it and makes the call. See it on the worked example (no sign-up), or start a free trial: 30 days, a worked sample plus one capital request of your own, no card.