The present invention provides a system and method for optimizing a
purchase order. While generating a purchase order, a purchasing agent may
aggregate a company's purchasing requirements into a single purchase
order, receive notification of a supplier's offers for discounts to
determine whether it would be advantageous to modify a purchase request,
or view evaluations of a supplier's past performance. Upon receipt of a
purchase request, potential suppliers are identified to fulfill the
request. A purchasing agent may then see whether a purchase request may
be aggregated with other purchase requests or whether conditions are
present that may trigger other opportunities to optimize the purchase
order. As a result, a purchase order is generated that has been optimized
to reduce costs as well as take advantage of other benefits that the
purchaser may be interested in.