Our sensor-box packing estimate has a firm arm price but no agreed presentation fixture, so I need a way to compare complete offers without turning the blank fixture line into an accidental zero.
Ask each supplier what they need to price that fixture and who supplies it. A bounded design stage may be priceable before the production fixture is, but it needs its own deliverable.
Both can price a design-and-trial stage against our box samples, with production tooling priced afterwards; I've put that stage and our staff time into the comparison, leaving the final fixture cost explicitly open, thanks Farah.