Explanation
Prospective suppliers have a restricted level of access. They can participate in supplier qualification initiatives, and they can view and respond to negotiations. Prospective suppliers are identified within the application by an icon that indicates their prospective status.
If the category manager decides to award business to a prospective supplier who responded to a negotiation, that supplier will need to be authorized in the application to conduct spend transactions with the buying organization before a purchase document can be created for that supplier. Spend authorization requires a more complete level of information about the supplier and is subject to approval by the supplier manager. Once the supplier is approved for spend operations, they have access to all the normal capabilities of the application.
References: Oracle Procurement Cloud Using Procurement (Release 9), page 239