Free quotation comparison template for Excel

What is in the template

• A Comparison sheet with your reference items (item number, description, unit and quantity) on the left.
• Three supplier columns, each with quantity, rate and amount. Amounts calculate from quantity and rate.
• Automatic checks for every supplier: item not priced, zero or text rate, quantity different from the reference, and a rate far from the other suppliers.
• A Summary sheet with each supplier's total, the number of flags of each kind, and a rank by total.
• An Instructions sheet you can keep with the file.

The template works in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice. It has 200 item rows ready, and three example rows show how the checks behave.

How to use it

1. Paste your reference items into the first four columns. Use your BOQ, schedule or your own item list, and keep one line per priced item.
2. For each supplier, enter the quantity and rate they quoted against the matching reference line. Leave the rate empty when the supplier did not price the item.
3. Read the Check column for each supplier. Resolve every flag before you look at the totals.
4. Note the supplier's exclusions, validity, delivery time and payment terms in the Notes column, then compare totals.

Suppliers rarely follow your BOQ line for line. Matching their items back to your reference is the slow part of this job, so take care with renamed, split and merged items.

Check these before you choose the lowest total

• Quantities: a lower total often means a lower quantity, not a better rate.
• Unpriced items: an empty rate, a zero and the word "included" mean different things. Ask which one the supplier intends.
• Units: m against lm, nos against set, or kg against ton changes every amount on the line.
• Specifications: brand changes, "or equivalent" and changed sizes or ratings.
• Exclusions and assumptions: delivery, installation, testing, access equipment and site conditions.
• Tax: whether rates include or exclude VAT, so every supplier is compared on the same basis.
• Validity, lead time and payment terms, which can outweigh a small price difference.

When a spreadsheet stops being enough

A template works well for a short, tidy quotation. It gets slow when a supplier renames, reorders, splits or merges your items, when the quotation runs to hundreds of lines, or when it arrives as a PDF that has to be retyped first.

QuoteRecon reads the reference and the supplier quotation, pairs the items for you and lists every difference, missing item and extra item with the source line beside it. You compare one supplier quotation against your reference in each comparison.