Why the quotes do not add up

Imagine a manufacturer asking for a weekly brief on inventory exceptions. One bidder prices a prototype that reads a supplied file. Another includes connections to stock and order systems, a review process and ongoing operation. The lower total tells you little when the purchases differ. Before comparing prices, give both suppliers the same brief: inputs, update frequency, acceptable outputs, reviews, working environments and the systems the service may change.

Attach approved sample records and an example of a brief you would accept. Use your own measured volumes to describe a normal week and a busy one. List access delays and data cleanup as work someone must handle. Ask each bidder to mark every requirement as included, separately priced, supplied by your team or unanswered. Leave an unanswered cost visibly open; a blank cell should not turn into a zero in the total.

Dualboot says its prices depend on scope, organizational complexity and the discovery needed. Mercury asks prospects to request a tailored estimate.^1,2

Ask what must be true for the quoted amount to hold. Then name who will check those assumptions before work begins.^1,2

Mercury's recorded AI-agent page lists discovery starting at $25,000, typical production builds of $80,000–$400,000 and monthly billing for ongoing operation and improvements.^3,4,5

Those figures identify stages to discuss, not the price of the manufacturer's brief. Ask for separate lines for discovery, the build, continuing service, usage, optional changes and leaving the service. Is discovery an extra charge or credited against the build? Put the answer next to the amount. Until you know how the stages are billed, adding a starting price to a production range creates a misleading total.^3,4,5

Nexus separately confirms that it charges per role automated, without billing consultant time.⁶

A role-based quote needs the role's limits: work volume, connections and support included. A quote for people's time needs the allocation, rate, minimum commitment and treatment of unused time. A project quote needs milestone amounts and the assumptions behind a fixed or estimated total. Ask for those details in the supplier's own charging model. Converting hours into roles, or roles into projects, is not meaningful until the included work is agreed.⁶

Before choosing a supplier, give each bidder the same changes to price. For the inventory brief, add a warehouse feed, a busy period with more exceptions, and another approval step. Ask what each change does to the fee, timing, your team's work and acceptance. Even if the amount needs discovery, the supplier should explain how it would charge: a revised milestone, a change estimate, more people's time or a newly defined role.

SOLTECH's LG Electronics case describes support work growing into a rebuild. Dualboot's Continental Tire case describes the goal changing when a new client project manager joined.^7,8

The accounts show that work can change; they do not prove overspending or poor control. Ask who may change the scope and where that decision is recorded. For each example you send a bidder, require approval before extra work starts. Keep a copy of the last agreed work and price so everyone can see exactly what the change adds.^7,8

Keep the revised estimate beside the original. A lower quote may lose its appeal once a required connection is added. A higher quote can still be wrong if your own team cannot provide the work it assumes. Compare proposals that cover the requirements, with the customer duties clearly shown. An unexplained low subtotal is not enough to make the choice.

Make the final cost sheet readable by the person approving the purchase. Give it columns for the requirement, supplier amount, charging basis, included work, your work, assumptions, evidence and decision owner. Add rows for access administration, business reviews, training, incidents and handover. Estimate internal effort using your own planning method. Keep it separate from the supplier invoices, and do not invent savings to make the total look better.

BlueLabel says it trains client staff during the build. Mercury describes monthly operation and improvements.^9,5

Who will attend the training and become able to run the result? What does the monthly service leave for the manufacturer's team to do? Ask the receiving managers to agree to those duties before treating them as staffed and funded.^9,5

The approval note should name the chosen proposal, the work covered, assumptions that could move the price and items still unpriced. If an important cost remains unknown, obtain another estimate or agree a smaller purchase; do not conceal it in an invented allowance. Price a separate scenario for stopping or changing suppliers. Finally, have the supplier reconfirm any dated public prices in the proposal you will sign.