---
title: "4.4 Open Bids"
space: "Vuna Sourcing"
url: "https://docs.navari.co.ke/vuna-sourcing/4-request-for-quotation/44-open-bids"
updated: "2026-10-28"
---

An open bid is a **reverse auction**. Every invited supplier competes on price until the closing time, and can lower their price as often as they like.



## How It Works for Suppliers

1. **First bid**: A supplier must place a bid before they can see anyone else's prices. They price every item on the request and click **Place bid**.
2. **Bid room**: After that first bid, the request opens in the bid room, with a countdown, the supplier's rank, their own total and the lowest total so far.
3. **Item by item**: Each line shows the lowest price offered for that item next to the supplier's own price. **Take Lead** fills in the lowest price on every line in one click.
4. **Bid again**: Each new bid replaces the supplier's previous one, until bidding closes.
5. **Leaderboard**: Bidders are ranked by total price, and the board updates live. Other suppliers appear only as *Bidder A*, *Bidder B* and so on, never by name. When two totals are equal, the earlier bid ranks higher.
6. **Live bid panel**: While an auction is running, a small panel in the corner of every portal page shows the time left and the supplier's position. It can be minimised or dragged.



![The bid room](/files/supplier-bid-room.webp)



:::note
A supplier can't bid a total that another bidder already holds. They must place a different price.
:::

The bid room works on phones too:



![The bid room on a phone](/files/phone-bid-room.webp)



## The Bid Log

Every bid is saved in an **RFQ Bid Log** entry with the supplier, revision number, time, user, totals and item prices. Bid log entries **can't be edited or deleted**, so you have a full audit trail of each supplier's prices over time.



Find them under **RFQ Bid Log** in Desk.



![RFQ Bid Log](/files/desk-bid-log.webp)



## When Bidding Closes

- Each supplier's **Supplier Quotation** holds their latest bid.
- Staff review and submit the quotations, then make the award. See [Awarding Suppliers](page:awarding-suppliers).



:::caution
The lowest price doesn't win automatically. Staff decide the award, and must give a justification when they choose a supplier who isn't the lowest.
:::