SpendLogic works with government primes and subs to unlock organizational savings and fix procurement compliance issues. Our software solves the top three CPSR findings: Price Analysis, Commercial Item Determinations, and Source Justifications.

In this video, we will show you how to use SpendLogic to create a price analysis based on a published competitive price list that will pass audit every time.

Transcript:

Hi, I’m Patrick Mathern, founder of SpendLogic. We work with government primes and subs to unlock organizational savings and fixed procurement compliance issues. In this short video tutorial, I’m going to show you how to use SpendLogic to create a FAR-compliant price analysis report based on published price lists. Let’s get started.

♪ [music] ♪ To start a new price analysis, from any screen in SpendLogic, click the New Report button at the top of the screen and click Price Analysis. You’ll see that you have two tabs on this screen. You won’t be able to advance to the Parts tab until the Procurement tab has been completed. Work through each of the elements on this screen, making sure to answer each question, and when you’ve reached the bottom, click Next.

You’ve now arrived at the Parts screen. At this point, you can choose to either add parts or service. In this tutorial, we’ll cover parts. For services, also known as rates and factors, check out the services tutorial at spendlogic.com/help. Click the Add Part button to add your first part. Start entering the part number you’re analyzing.

You’ll notice that a list of matching part numbers appears. You can either choose from this list or scroll to the bottom and add a new part. Once you choose a part, the description is filled in for you. Enter the quantity of parts that you’re analyzing and click Add. Your Parts page now shows a line item for the part that you just added. At this point, you have two actions available, edit and delete. When you complete this line item, you’ll also have the ability to download and copy this report.

If you need to add additional parts, follow the same process by clicking Add Parts again. Do this for each part you intend to include in this PO. You can always return to this tab and add additional parts later. Click the edit pencil on the line that you just created. This brings you to the next tab, which has been renamed to match the part you’re currently editing. When you’re working on a PO with multiple parts, this is an easy way to keep track of which part it is that you’re working on.

SpendLogic first checks to see if there are reports in the system available for you to repurpose. This screen shows all the available reports. Review the list and if you see one that can be updated and repurposed, copy it by choosing the Select button. Doing this can save a lot of time since it reuses data that has already been entered. In this case, we’re going to create a new report from scratch, so click Create a New Report. ♪

[music] ♪ For the first time, we’re now able to see the full analysis screen for this part. In the upper left, you can see the analysis and proposed values. This will update as you work through the analysis screens. Below, you can see the steps that will be required to complete the analysis. Your current step is highlighted with a blue banner.

We’re currently on Part # & Qty. The steps below this may change based on the inputs on later screens. If you need to get to a prior step, you can click it in this left-hand navigation menu. Go ahead and click Next on this page. The purpose of the Proposed Price Details screen is to enter details related to the proposed price. Clicking the input box for Current Delivery Date allows you to type in a date using the month, day, and year format.

The date you enter in this box should refer to the midpoint of deliveries. This is used for escalation purposes in a later step. Proposed Price Per Unit refers to the price proposed by the supplier. Be sure to enter only the recurring price per unit. Non-recurring is handled on the next line. When you’re done with this page, click Next. The Published Price List Details screen is where we upload the price list provided in support of the proposed price.

To do so, simply click the Add files button here and follow the instructions on the screen. The published price list will now be included in the final report as a downloaded file. The next question relates to terms and conditions. The point of this question is to ensure that there are no material differences in terms and conditions between the current procurement and the supporting documentation that you’re providing showing prices that others have paid.

When you’ve answered the questions on this screen, click Next. In order to use published price lists as a basis for reasonableness, it’s required that we show that the published price list itself represents prices others have paid. There’s several ways to do this. The first is to provide an invoice showing the price that others have actually paid. The second is to show that this item is purchased directly from a catalog or website at the price shown.

If you have other methods by which you’ve determined the published price was reasonable, you can choose Other. Regardless of which of these you choose, SpendLogic will require that you input the customer or source name, invoice or catalog number, invoice or catalog date, and a scanned copy of their supporting documentation.

Scrolling further down, you’re required to input the quantity of either the invoice or catalog, price per unit, and the delivery date. Each of these items is used in later steps to correct for escalation, quantity, and complexity. Scrolling down, you’ll see a question regarding whether or not it’s customary to receive rebates on this item. Think of the question as if you’re buying a car.

The published price list shows the price of the car as $20,000, but nearly everyone that purchases this car expects to pay something less than the listed price. Applying this to the item you’re buying, answer the questions on this screen. When you’re done with this page, click Next. If you indicated that the current delivery date does not match the date indicated in the published price list, the next screen that you’ll see is escalation.

Choose an index that suits the items or services being purchased. These indixes are based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces pricing indixes by NAICS Code. SpendLogic uses the information entered in previous screens to calculate an escalation factor. This is automatically applied in the analysis value in the upper left portion of the screen. Click Next.

The next screen will help you adjust price for that difference. This screen is covered in greater detail in the Historical Price Analysis tutorial video. ♪ [music] ♪ This screen allows you to make adjustments to price based on differences in complexity or market conditions.

If the item you’re purchasing is the same as the item purchased previously, choose Identical and click Next. Additional information on similar to purchases can be found in the Historical Analysis tutorial video. Now we get to our Risk Check screen. As with all methods, if you see a lot of red flags in the screen, it means that your report is likely to be scrutinized. Try to minimize the number of risk checks.

For those that can’t be removed, make sure your explanation is complete. Clicking Next takes us to the final summary. We can either finalize or download our report. Remember, until a report is finalized, it is subject to change when the BLS indixes are updated on a monthly basis, so a best practice is to finalize as soon as possible. This concludes our video.

Thanks for watching. If you have questions on this or any other feature in SpendLogic, you can visit spendlogic.com/help or email us at [email protected]