Reverse Auction Rules & Guidelines

RFPs may be subject to a real time bidding event or reverse auction, in which you will be able to see in real-time where your firm ranks vis-a-vis other firms who are also participating in the reverse auction. We will hold firms to their lowest submitted price and we will not accept price increases during the auction.

The clients have the option to, during the auction, show firms one of the following:

• Rank only;
• Rank and prices of other firms;
• Rank and the lowest priced proposal (Total Price and phase level pricing).

The auction is completely anonymous. No identifying information of any firm will be shown. 

If the client has chosen to show price, this will include at both the total price level and the service line item level. This will not only be a price ranking but you will see the specific fee amounts so as to be able to revise them to be more competitive. The rate card with specific timekeeper names will not be visible but the fixed fees and blended rates will be visible.

For any auction:

• Firm names, individual names, and answers to qualitative questions are always hidden from view.
• Firms can revise the phase level or activity level fees by clicking "view details" on their proposal and then clicking "revise proposal." Firms that make changes to their total price throughout the auction as a quick revision tool are encouraged to true up their phases prior to the auction's conclusion. If firms fail to make revisions at the phase level because they run out of time, the client has the ability to reopen the request for them after the auction for final revisions.
• Firms cannot see price ranking or other firms' proposed pricing until the moment the auction begins.
• Any change in ranking as a result of firms revising their pricing will be shown to all firms in real-time. 
• Time extensions
  • If there are any revisions submitted by a firm in the last 5 minutes of the auction, the clock will reset to 5 minutes to allow other firms to also make final changes. This will continue until there are no further changes for a 5 minute period.
  • If a firm needs more time revising their proposal, they can extend the auction another 5 minutes by clicking "Revise Proposal". Firms can only extend if they're revising their proposal. They cannot extend if they are only looking to revise price.
• Please see FAQ and/or reach out to support@persuit.com for additional questions pertaining to this section.

Click here for more information on how to bid during a Reverse Auction.