What are the different auction types? What do firms see during auctions?

The Reverse Auction process is an optional function of the PERSUIT platform. For most matters, this is the best way to find true market pricing for the work you're looking to engage.

PERSUIT has three main reverse auction types to choose from, if you decide to enable the reverse auction function. An auction type determines the viewing access for the firms. For all three auction types, firms will be blind to their overall ranking as a firm, ranking at the phase-based level, and price until the official start of the reverse auction. 

1. Rank Only - Once the auction commences, firms are provided their "Price Ranking". They will only be able to see their current position and will be blind to their competition's ranking and pricing.
   
   
   
2. Rank + Lowest Bid - This auction type shows the participating firms their current "Price Ranking" AND the anonymous fee amounts and bids placed of the lowest priced firm only. It does not show the firms with pricing bids that fall in between, or fall over, your ranking and the lowest priced firm.
   
   
   
3. Rank + All Bids - This final auction type has the fullest visibility for firms. They are able to see their own price ranking as well as the anonymous fee amounts, bids placed and price rankings of every firm participating in the reverse auction.
   

You can find more information on what phase-based ranking looks like for firms in this article.

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.
• Please see FAQ and/or reach out to our Support team support@persuit.com for additional questions pertaining to this section.

Total Price and Comparison Value
An auction is run on the basis of either a Total Price or Comparison Value number to drive the rankings.

Total Price is a figure that is defined by the client. Often this is defined as the sum of particular phases or a different calculation that gives the client a good benchmark to compare firms at a high level. This is helpful when the client wants to utilize a specific reference in assessing the proposals. Instructions and assumptions on how to calculate the Total Price are typically outlined in the pricing section. If pricing items are revised at the phase level, firms and vendors should ensure that those adjustments are reflected in the calculation for the Total Price. This is particularly important during the auction and should be completed before the auction ends.

The Comparison Value is a figure that is automatically calculated based on the sum of all the pricing items. The comparison value does not sum hourly rates, rate cards, or discount %s. This simplifies the high-level comparison figure to a simple sum across the items and does not need to be recalculated or updated by the firms or vendors. The advantage of this figure is to allow firms and vendors to focus on the individual pricings items that make up the new Comparison Value.