Tender comparison software that shows its working.
QuantDoc reads tender submissions, matches line items across them, normalises units and GST, and separates what is genuinely comparable from what isn’t. Where a submission is incomplete, it says so, and shows the break-even cost instead of guessing.
Aggregates package, three tenders
Incomplete- Ridgeline Quarries Pty LtdAs quoted $2,934.00Full scope priced
- Coastal Landscape SuppliesAs quoted $2,740.00delivery unknown
- Metro Aggregates & HireAs quoted $2,575.00Scope to confirm
As quoted, ex GST.
INCOMPLETE — Ridgeline Quarries Pty Ltd is the lowest fully-priced quote, but Coastal Landscape Supplies has unknown costs, and Metro Aggregates & Hire quotes a specification not confirmed as equivalent. No overall winner can be declared yet.
What a tender comparison tool needs to get right
A tender comparison is only as good as its weakest assumption. If a tool silently converts cubic metres to tonnes, treats a blank freight line as nil, or matches “drainage gravel” to “crushed aggregate” because the words look similar, the resulting ranking can look precise and still be wrong.
QuantDoc was built around a few rules that follow from that. Every extracted figure keeps a reference to the page and line, or the sheet and row, it came from. Money is calculated with decimal arithmetic, not floating point. Units are converted within a dimension, such as kg to t or mm to m, and across dimensions only when you state the assumption, such as a density for m³ to tonnes or the number of working days in a week. GST is only removed or added when a submission states its treatment or its totals prove it. Unknown costs are never treated as zero.
Live example: three submissions, three different units
This is the same synthetic tender set used on the live example page: three aggregate quotes priced per tonne, per kilogram and per cubic metre, rendered as PDFs and read by the same ingestion pipeline as uploaded documents.
Example data · calculated by the QuantDoc engine
Three aggregate quotes: tonnes, kilograms and cubic metres
What was quoted
- Ridgeline Quarries Pty Ltd: 40 t 20mm crushed aggregate + 12 t washed sand, priced per tonne ex GST, delivery $370 (2 tipper loads).
- Coastal Landscape Supplies: 40,000 kg "drainage gravel 20mm" + 12,000 kg sand, priced per kg inc GST, freight "TBA".
- Metro Aggregates & Hire: 25 m³ "screened stone" + 8 m³ sand, priced per m³ ex GST, delivery included, $35 environmental levy.
INCOMPLETE — Ridgeline Quarries Pty Ltd is the lowest fully-priced quote, but Coastal Landscape Supplies has unknown costs, and Metro Aggregates & Hire quotes a specification not confirmed as equivalent. No overall winner can be declared yet.
Line-by-line matching (4 items)
| Item | Supplier | Match | Normalised rate (ex GST) | Amount (ex GST) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20mm crushed aggregate | Ridgeline Quarries Pty Ltd | Exact equivalent | $48.50 / tonne | $1,940.00 |
| Coastal Landscape Supplies | Conditional match | $52.00 / tonne | $2,080.00 | |
| Metro Aggregates & Hire | Conditional match | — | $1,950.00 | |
| Washed bedding sand | Ridgeline Quarries Pty Ltd | Exact equivalent | $52.00 / tonne | $624.00 |
| Coastal Landscape Supplies | Comparable with adjustment | $55.00 / tonne | $660.00 | |
| Metro Aggregates & Hire | Conditional match | — | $590.00 | |
| Delivery - tipper loads | Ridgeline Quarries Pty Ltd | Exact equivalent | $185.00 / each | $370.00 |
| Coastal Landscape Supplies | Uncertain | — | Unknown | |
| Metro Aggregates & Hire | Uncertain | $0.00 / each | $0.00 | |
| Environmental levy | Ridgeline Quarries Pty Ltd | Missing item | — | Unknown |
| Coastal Landscape Supplies | Missing item | — | Unknown | |
| Metro Aggregates & Hire | Exact equivalent | $35.00 / each | $35.00 |
| Supplier | As quoted (ex GST) | Like-for-like | Complete scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ridgeline Quarries Pty Ltd | $2,934.00 | — | $2,934.00 |
| Coastal Landscape Supplies | $2,740.00 | — | Incomplete (delivery unknown) |
| Metro Aggregates & Hire | $2,575.00 | — | Incomplete |
Adjustments recorded
- Coastal Landscape Supplies: Drainage gravel 20mm: 40000 kilogram(s) = 40 tonne(s)
- Coastal Landscape Supplies: Drainage gravel 20mm: GST removed from 2288.00 inc GST → 2080.00 ex GST
- Coastal Landscape Supplies: Bedding sand (washed): 12000 kilogram(s) = 12 tonne(s)
- Coastal Landscape Supplies: Bedding sand (washed): GST removed from 726.00 inc GST → 660.00 ex GST
12 flags raised · 10 clarification questions drafted
- Coastal Landscape Supplies: delivery price to be advised
- Coastal Landscape Supplies: unpriced item
- Metro Aggregates & Hire: possible calculation issue
- Coastal Landscape Supplies: no matching item for "Environmental levy"
- Ridgeline Quarries Pty Ltd: no matching item for "Environmental levy"
- Metro Aggregates & Hire: match needs confirmation
- +6 more
The lowest as-quoted figure belongs to the submission priced in cubic metres. Without a density, cubic metres can’t be converted to tonnes, so that match is conditional and no overall winner is declared. The most complete submission is identified, the missing items are listed, and clarification questions are drafted for each supplier.
Classifications, not guesses
Each row across the submissions receives one of six classes. Only exact and adjusted matches feed the like-for-like price.
- Exact equivalent
- Same item, same specification, same unit basis.
- Comparable with adjustment
- Same item after an exact, recorded adjustment, such as kg→t, inc→ex GST or a different quantity.
- Conditional match
- Probably the same, but something must be confirmed first, such as a density for m³→t or a product description that differs.
- Not equivalent
- A different specification, grade, size or rating. Not compared on price.
- Missing item
- Quoted by one supplier and not by another. It is flagged, not assumed to be free.
- Uncertain
- There isn’t enough evidence to decide. Shown for your review.
What you get from each tender comparison
Four views
As quoted, like-for-like, complete scope (only when every required component is priced or included), and risk & uncertainty.Risk register
Exclusions, TBA prices, provisional sums, conditional matches, possible calculation issues, short validity and conflicting GST information.Break-even thresholds
For each unknown component, the price at which the ranking would change, calculated from the extracted figures.Clarification drafts
Specific questions and a draft email per tenderer. Nothing is sent automatically.Labelled scenarios
Try a different quantity, a supplier discount or your own estimate for a gap. Scenario results are labelled hypothetical.Exportable record
PDF, Excel and CSV exports with the source reference for every figure and every adjustment that was made.
What it doesn’t do
Being clear about limits matters in tender work. QuantDoc doesn’t check whether a tendered rate is reasonable for the market, and it doesn’t consult external pricing sources. It doesn’t assess a tenderer’s capacity, insurance or track record. It doesn’t read drawings or specifications to work out quantities. Contractual qualifications are surfaced as issues for professional review, not interpreted.
What it does is take the submissions you have and make the comparison between them honest, consistent and checkable, so the time you spend goes on judgement rather than on transcription.
For larger packages, the Professional and Business plans let you import your own scope or bill of quantities as the baseline and level every submission against it, grouped by trade. Team features on the Business plan, such as shared projects and reviewer approvals, are still coming and are marked as such on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
What file formats can tender submissions be in?
PDFs with a text layer, Excel workbooks (.xlsx) and CSV files. Scanned PDFs have limited support: they are read by OCR on QuantDoc’s own servers, every figure read that way is flagged for checking against the original, and photographed or handwritten quotes are often only partly read.
Does the software use AI to compare tenders?
The arithmetic, unit conversion, GST handling and matching rules are deterministic, so the same documents always give the same result. AI (Anthropic Claude models) is used only to read documents the standard reader can't, on paid plans and the trial, and its figures are flagged for review.
Can it compare tenders against our own scope or bill of quantities?
Yes. Importing a scope or BOQ as the levelling baseline is included in the Professional and Business plans.
Can it show what changed in a revised tender?
Yes. Revision and variation delta analysis is included in the Professional and Business plans. It lists added and removed items, changed quantities and rates, changed exclusions, and how much of the price change is explained by line items.
Does it recommend which tenderer to award?
No. It shows the as-quoted, like-for-like and complete-scope prices, the risks, and what is still unknown. Award decisions, and any contractual interpretation, remain a matter for your professional judgement.
Related
- Tender levellingLevel submissions against your own scope or BOQ.
- Choosing tender comparison softwareA neutral checklist of what to look for.
- BOQ comparisonQuantity differences and unpriced lines against your BOQ.
- How it worksUpload, review, compare, decide.
- SecurityHow your tender documents are stored and protected.
- PricingPlans in US dollars, billed monthly.
Make the next quote comparison clearer.
Upload competing quotes, check the evidence and see what each option really costs.
Free preview, no card required. Paid plans: 60-day trial, card required.