This article shows you how to negotiate prices with suppliers inside a sourcing event in the Strategic Sourcing module: start a negotiation on selected line items with target prices, follow the negotiation lifecycle, review counter-offers, record per-item decisions, and know which emails go out at each step.
Where do negotiations live?
Negotiations are managed on the event's Negotiations page at /buyer/sourcing-project/<event-id>/negotiations, which has three tabs: Overview (statistics: Awaiting Review, Pending Response, Completed, and Avg. Savings, plus a table of all negotiations), Negotiations (the working list grouped into Awaiting Your Review, Pending Response, and Completed), and Rules. A negotiation rule automatically flags prices that meet a condition (for example, price greater than Average Bid minus 10%) and can suggest a target calculated from a reference (Best Bid, Average Bid, Median Bid, or Original Bid). Flagged prices show up in the pricing heatmap and pre-filter the creation flow; you can also flag prices manually from the heatmap.
How do I start a negotiation?
On the Negotiations page, click Create Negotiation ("Select materials and set target prices for negotiation with suppliers."; line items are labeled Materials here). The flow has two steps: Material Selection and Configure & Send.
In Material Selection, filter the candidate prices by Flag, by Rule, or by Pricing Column, then select the line items per supplier. Rule-based targets are pre-filled; click any target price cell to edit it. Leaving a target empty sends the item as "open to offers": the supplier is asked to improve without seeing a number.
Prices that already have an active negotiation, or that already meet the target, are excluded automatically; the flow tells you, for example, "4 matching price(s) already have active negotiations".
In Configure & Send, set the Response Deadline and an optional Note To Supplier ("Add an optional note to explain the negotiation request..."). The Supplier Breakdown summarizes, per supplier, the item count, Current Total, Target Total, and Potential Savings.
Click Send Negotiations. One negotiation is created per supplier.
What are the negotiation statuses?
The following table lists the lifecycle of a negotiation as shown on the buyer side.
Status | Meaning |
Draft | The negotiation is being prepared and has not been sent. |
Sent | The negotiation is with the supplier, who must respond by the deadline. Expired deadlines are marked "Expired". |
Awaiting Review | The supplier has responded; their answers await your per-item decisions. |
Completed | You confirmed all decisions; the negotiation is closed and its savings are counted. |
Within a response, the supplier answers each line item and pricing column separately: Accepted Target (they agree to your target price), Counter Offer (they propose a value between your target and their original price), or Rejected (they keep their original price). Until they submit, items are Pending.
How do I review a supplier's response?
Open the negotiation from the "Awaiting Your Review" section (button Review). The Review Negotiation Response dialog shows one row per line item and pricing column with: Original, Target, Offered, Supplier Response, Final Value, Savings, and Action.
Decide per item: Accept takes the offered value as the final price; Reject (Keep Original) keeps the supplier's original price. Use Accept All or Reject All for bulk decisions, and Reset to start over.
Click Confirm Decisions. You see "Confirmed <n> decisions", the negotiation moves to Completed, and each item's buyer decision is recorded as Accepted or Keep Original (undecided items stay Pending).
Which emails are sent during a negotiation?
Negotiation emails cover all three handovers. When you send a negotiation, each supplier receives an email announcing the negotiation request and how many line items it covers, with a link to respond. When a supplier submits their response, you receive an email with the subject "<event title> - <supplier name> responded" plus an in-app Negotiation Response notification. When you confirm your decisions, the supplier receives a decision email stating "<x> of <y> item(s) were accepted". Suppliers also receive a reminder email when the negotiation deadline approaches, stating the hours remaining.
Can I negotiate the same items again?
Follow-up negotiation is done by creating a new negotiation on the same line items after the previous one is Completed, for example to push a counter-offer further. The creation flow blocks items only while they are in an active negotiation, so completed items are selectable again, with negotiated values reflected in the pricing analysis. Accepted final prices also become available as the negotiated price source when you allocate awards.