First of all: It's not always easy! There are no standardised service specifications in web design as there are in the construction industry. The biggest mistake – which is indeed often made – is to compare only the large number at the bottom right, assuming that all service providers have understood the same thing and will offer the same thing.
If you do not want to compare apples with coconuts, you will have to bring all positions into line. You can save yourself a lot of work here if you make sure you provide all service providers with complete, comprehensive and equal information. If you have neglected to do this or the offers still seem hard to compare, these steps can help.
Source: revision6
- Set up a table. The horizontal axis is labelled with the providers.
- Write the services on the vertical axis. Derive from the offer  structured in the most understandable and detailed way.
- Fill in the expenses or figures of the other providers in their respective columns. Not all offers will contain all the positions, Â so the first gaps will already appear. Either the offer was not comprehensive or the service was included in a neighbouring position.
- For example, one provider may see testing as an independent position, while another already covers it as part of development. It is precisely these facts that need to be clarified so that you can divide up the positions accordingly for your comparison.
- Another finding will be that the positions of individual providers differ significantly downwards or upwards from those of competitors. Clarify this with the providers as well. It is very likely that different expenses are simply assumed.
- The result will be a clear table that gives you a good visualisation of where you stand with each provider.
Rule of thumb: The less the sums for the individual bid items of a provider stand out, the more realistic and accurate the calculations probably are.
