Patent ID: 8209227

Claim:
A method for facilitating a buyer's selection of a vendor via automated comparison of records and bidding by vendors for customized goods or services via a computer system, comprising steps of: prior to processing job information from a buyer pertaining to a job for which the buyer seeks a vendor, receiving and processing electronic communications from a plurality of vendors, the electronic communications being used in establishing a plurality of vendor records which are stored in an electronic memory associated with the computer system, the vendor records corresponding to each of a plurality of vendors and having vendor capability data identifying a plurality of capabilities for said vendor to provide a customized good or service; receiving from, or on behalf of, any buyer using the computer system, an electronic communication that provides vendor pool identification information identifying a plurality of vendors for inclusion in a vendor pool associated with the buyer to potentially receive a job solicitation, and storing electronic data sufficient to identify an association of each vendor with a corresponding buyer based upon the received electronic communication from the buyer providing the vendor pool identification information, the vendor pool identification information being processed prior to analysis of job information pertaining to a job for which bids are sought by, or on behalf of, the buyer; receiving an electronic communication defining a job information from, or on behalf of, at least one buyer after the vendor pool associated with the buyer is determined, said job information including a job descriptor data which specifies a plurality of characteristics of said customized good or service for which the buyer wishes a bid; automatically comparing, via a computer processor, vendor records of vendors in the vendor pool associated with the buyer to the job information wherein at least one of the plurality of characteristics specified by the job descriptor data for the customized good or service is designated as a selection criterion and compared with a corresponding vendor capability from the plurality of capabilities specified by the vendor capability data for vendors in the vendor pool associated with the buyer; automatically identifying, via a computer processor, at least one subset from the vendor pool associated with the buyer as qualified for receiving the job solicitation, based on said comparison; thereafter transmitting the job solicitation to one or more selected members from the identified subset of the vendor pool associated with the buyer; receiving bid response data from at least one of said vendors which received the job solicitation, said bid response data identifying a bid price for a corresponding vendor; and outputting, to the buyer or agent of the buyer, at least one electronic communication providing at least one of said bid response data.