Glossary

Acknowledgment: A communication (written or electronic) used to inform the buyer that the supplier has accepted a purchase order. An acknowledgment creates a bilateral contact, as long as the terms of the acknowledgment are not substantively different from those on the purchase order.
Award: Purchasing acceptance of a bid or proposal from a vendor resulting in a purchase order or contract to the vendor.
Back Order: Items ordered but not shipped due to a stock-out or some other reason. The vendor will ship these items at a later date.
Bid: A legally binding offer to sell or to buy. This document includes pricing and delivery information that is submitted to Purchasing, usually in reply to a Request for Quotation (RFQ) or Request for Proposal (RFP).
Bidder: The vendor submitting the reply to an RFQ or RFP.
Bid Evaluation: An analysis of the responses to a RFQ to determine the vendor whose response meets the necessary criteria to be the successful supplier.
B2B: Business-to-Business commerce over the Internet.
B2C: Business-to-Consumer commerce over the Internet.
B2G: Business-to-Government commerce over the Internet.