I work for a company that outsource some of our work to an agency. This agency specialize in branding & design, but also sub-contract other work out to designers, developers, etc.
I am new in my role and have been given a monthly budget for external work. I asked the existing agency my company use for a quote for monthly projects that need doing.
The agency only ever give me back one-line figures, which they seem to just make up, i.e.
That'll cost 2,400 per month.
When I ask them for estimates on individual work items and a breakdown of the costs, they ignore me or don't provide the information.
I need a breakdown so I can figure out how to modify my requirements to fit within the budget.
Since this is a new role, I can't really suggest changing a long-standing relationshiop with an agency already, so my question is: How can I request the information I need (a thorough breakdown of costs) from an external agency, whilst maintaining good rapport with them?