Procurement or the department analyzes and decides whether Stanford would benefit by awarding the contract to the supplier with the lowest total bid, or make a split award to each item's low bidder. Approval by Department Approval from the department or others, such as senior management depending on the size of the pending award should be obtained. The package is forwarded to the appropriate official for signature on the contract. Whether to split an order among several suppliers may be an issue. Comparison of line item quotations may reveal that an individual supplier does not have the lowest price for every line item.
Procurement can calculate which supplier offers the lowest quotation for the entire order.
The calculation can be compared with the initial savings from ordering each item from the supplier with the lowest quotation for that item. A split order could result. The disadvantages may cause Procurement and the department to decide that the supplier with the lowest overall quotation should receive the award.