US 2016/0110788 A1 - Systems And Methods For Facilitating The Procurement Of Items - The Lens

Systems And Methods For Facilitating The Procurement Of Items

Published: Apr 21, 2016
Earliest Priority: Oct 20 2014
Family: 4
Cited Works: 0
Cited by: 2
Cites: 0
Additional Info: Full text

Abstract

Various embodiments are directed to systems and methods for requesting commodities/items from a plurality of competing vendors. In various embodiments, vendor information/data indicative of commodities/items offered by each vendor is received and stored, request information/data is received from a consumer indicative of the commodities/items desired, as well as any additional request parameters. The system filters the vendor information/data to identify those vendors who satisfy the request parameters, and displays a graphical user interface identifying these vendors to the consumer. The consumer may then select one or more of the identified vendors, and the system enables access to a bidding tool for each of the selected vendors to submit a detailed bid/response to provide the goods or services to the consumer. The consumer may then select one or more of the bids/responses and confirm the commodities/items requested.

Claims

An item procurement system comprising one or more memory storage areas and one or more computer processors, the item procurement system configured to:
receive vendor data indicative of items available from a plurality of vendors, wherein the vendor data is associated with one or more vendor profiles each corresponding to an individual vendor;

receive request data from a consumer that indicates one or more procurement parameters for procuring items;

filter the vendor data by comparing the request data and the vendor data to identify one or more vendors providing items satisfying the procurement parameters;

provide an interface indicating one or more vendors identified as satisfying the procurement parameters, wherein the interface is configured to permit selection of one or more of the identified vendors; and

upon selection of one or more of the identified vendors, update vendor data associated with one or more vendor profiles corresponding to the selected identified vendors to enable access to a response tool for the selected identified vendors, wherein the response tool is configured to receive data indicative of a response to provide items to the consumer.
The item procurement system of claim 1, wherein the procurement parameters comprise at least one of: a maximum distance away from a consumer location; a time period; a type of item; or a quantity of item.
The item procurement system of claim 1, wherein the interface is configured to indicate the locations of the one or more vendors via a graphically displayed map.
The item procurement system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to provide a notification for each of the selected identified vendors.
The item procurement system of claim 1, wherein the response tool is configured to receive user input indicative of a response from the vendor and to provide the response to the consumer for review.
The item procurement system of claim 6, further configured to:
receive user input selecting one or more responses provided to the consumer; and

upon selection of one or more responses, provide a notification to each vendor which submitted a response indicating the status of the respective responses.
The item procurement system of claim 6, wherein the notifications comprise acceptance notifications to be sent to those vendors associated with the accepted responses and rejection notifications to be sent to those vendors associated with the unselected responses.
The item procurement system of claim 7, further configured to receive one or more reference identifiers associated with items associated with the one or more selected responses.
The item procurement system of claim 1, further configured to:
monitor one or more performance attributes of one or more of the vendors, and

determine a performance score indicative of the one or more performance attributes and store the performance score in association with the corresponding vendor profile.
A computer-implemented method for procuring one or more items, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving, via one or more processors, vendor data indicative of items available from a plurality of vendors, and wherein the vendor data is associated with one or more vendor profiles each corresponding to an individual vendor;

receiving, via the one or more processors, request data from a consumer that indicates one or more procurement parameters for procuring items;

filtering, via the one or more processors, the vendor data by comparing the request data and the vendor data to identify one or more vendors providing items satisfying the procurement parameters;

providing, via the one or more processors, an interface indicating one or more vendors identified as satisfying the procurement parameters, wherein the interface is configured to permit selection of one or more of the identified vendors; and

upon selection of one or more of the identified vendors, updating, via the one or more processors, vendor data associated with one or more vendor profiles corresponding to the selected identified vendors to enable access to a response tool for the selected identified vendors, wherein the response tool is configured to receive data indicative of a response to provide items to the consumer.
The method of claim 10, wherein the procurement parameters comprise at least one of: a maximum distance away from a consumer location; a time period, a type of item; or a quantity of item.
The method of claim 10, further comprising steps for providing a notification to each of the selected identified vendors.
The method of claim 10, wherein the response tool is configured to receive user input indicative of a response from the vendor and to provide the response to the consumer for review.
The method of claim 13, further comprising steps for:
receiving user input selecting one or more responses provided to the consumer; and

upon selection of one or more responses, providing a notification to each vendor which submitted a response indicating the status of the respective responses.
The method of claim 10, further comprising steps for:
monitoring one or more performance attributes of one or more of the vendors, and

determining a performance score indicative of the one or more performance attributes and storing the performance score in association with the corresponding vendor profile.
A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:
an executable portion for receiving vendor data indicative of items available from a plurality of vendors, and wherein the vendor data is associated with one or more vendor profiles each corresponding to an individual vendor;

an executable portion for request data from a consumer that indicates one or more procurement parameters for procuring items;

an executable portion for filtering the vendor data by comparing the request data and the vendor data to identify one or more vendors providing items satisfying the procurement parameters;

an executable portion for providing an interface indicating one or more vendors identified as satisfying the procurement parameters, wherein the interface is configured to permit selection of one or more of the identified vendors; and

an executable portion for, upon selection of one or more of the identified vendors, updating vendor data associated with one or more vendor profiles corresponding to the selected identified vendors to enable access to a response tool for the selected identified vendors, wherein the response tool is configured to receive data indicative of a response to provide items to the consumer.
The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the procurement parameters comprise at least one of: a maximum distance away from a consumer location; a time period, a type of item; or a quantity of item.
The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising an executable portion for providing a notification to each of the selected identified vendors.
The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the response tool is configured to receive user input indicative of a response from the vendor and to provide the response to the consumer for review.
The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:
an executable portion for receiving user input selecting one or more responses provided to the consumer; and

an executable portion for, upon selection of one or more responses, providing a notification to each vendor which submitted a response indicating the status of the respective responses.
The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:
an executable portion for monitoring one or more performance attributes of one or more of the vendors, and

an executable portion for determining a performance score indicative of the one or more performance attributes and storing the performance score in association with the corresponding vendor profile.