Patent ID: 7412412

Claim:
A method of updating a database of commodity information, comprising: providing an online reverse auction environment accessible via a computer network; providing a database of commodity information comprising predefined commodity designations representing predefined commodities, and an estimated market price stored in association with one or more of the predefined commodity designations, wherein the estimated market price is formed as a function of historical pricing information not obtained via the online reverse auction environment, and wherein the estimated market price is not known to a vendor of the online reverse auction environment; receiving a request for proposals (RFP) accessible via a computer network from a customer at the online reverse auction environment, the RFP including a request for bids on at least one specified commodity of the predefined commodities; soliciting multiple potential vendors accessible via a computer network to submit proposals responsive to the RFP in the online reverse auction environment; receiving one or more vendor proposals in the online reverse auction environment, at least one or more of the vendor proposals being responsive to the RFP and including a proposed price for the at least one specified commodity; extracting the proposed price for the at least one specified commodity from each of the responsive vendor proposals; comparing the proposed price for the at least one specified commodity to the estimated market price of the at least one specified commodity; and updating the database, after closing the online reverse auction environment, with the proposed price for the at least one specified commodity if the proposed price is less than the estimated market price so the estimated market price more accurately approximates an actual market price.