Note: This feature is still in BETA & not available to all customers yet.
Do you still receive bids as PDF documents or even with handwritten prices? Manually typing these into Cosuno to make them comparable in your Price Comparison Tool (PCT) is time-consuming. In Cosuno, you can digitize these "un-digital" bids with a single click. Our AI parses the PDF, extracts the prices, and maps them directly to your digital Bill of Quantities.
How it Works
You can access the PDF import feature whenever you are creating or updating a bid manually:
Click on a bidder in the bidder list. In the sidebar, navigate to the "Add bid manually" or "Revise bid" page for a specific subcontractor.
Click on import prices and select the subcontractor’s bid PDF.
Our AI will analyze the document. This usually takes up to 1 Minute.
A summary modal will appear showing how many prices were successfully filled. Click review prices to verify the data before saving.
Key Requirements for a Successful Import
The AI matches the PDF content to your digital BoQ based on position numbers. This means the position numbers in the PDF must match the position numbers in the currently viewed BoQ in Cosuno to ensure the prices are mapped correctly.
Current Limitations
We are constantly improving our AI models, but please be aware of the following current limitations:
Bidder comments (including placeholders) are currently not imported.
Total bid details, such as discounts, surcharges, and cash discounts are not supported and must be added manually.
Prices for Unit Price Components (UPCs) are currently not imported.
If a bidder manually changes e.g. the quantity on the bid PDF, the AI will still import the unit price based on the original BoQ quantity.
The maximum file size for importing prices from PDF is 15 MB.
Material tenders often use different item formats. If the bidder’s position numbers don't match your digital BoQ, the import may not be successful.
Troubleshooting & Accuracy
AI might make mistakes. Please review the prices after the import, especially for positions with only unit prices.
What should I do if prices have not been imported or the totals do not match?
Compare the items for which the price import failed with the PDF prices:
Do the item numbers in the PDF match the LV?
Are the prices in the PDF clearly legible?
Does the sum of the unit price and quantity result in the correct total price?
In these cases, the price import may fail for certain items.
Why is the Net Total different?
The AI only imports unit prices on position level (& not group totals). Our system then calculates the group totals mathematically. If the totals don’t match, either the AI imported the wrong price for a specific position or the bidder made an calculation error in their bid.
Please note, that positions with “only unit prices” (e.g. optional positions) are not counted in the total sum or in group totals. Please double check these positions after the PDF import.
Your Feedback Counts
Are you seeing unexpected results or have ideas on how to make this tool better? Please let us know via our Feedback Form or email us at product@cosuno.de.