Selecting or Pre-Qualifying Suppliers
From the acquirer's perspective, it is always a good idea to seek more than one proposal
because there are several benefits:
- Serious proposers will invest more effort into understanding your requirements and produce
a better response.
- It is a useful way of collecting alternative ideas for solving the particular
software problem (although this is frowned upon by the supplier community, which views it as
"free" consulting).
- Competition sharpens both the mind and the pencil.
The criteria for selecting suppliers typically include:
- Technical capability relative to the required product.
- Management capability.
- Corporate
financial strength.
- Previous positive experience with the supplier.
You should carefully avoid and strongly discourage less desirable selection criteria, especially
biases based on proximity, nationality, ethnicity, or political persuasion.
Under certain conditions, you may decide to seek bids from one supplier only:
- There are few qualified suppliers for the work contemplated.
- Time pressures preclude a competitive proposal process.
- Quality rather than lowest cost is the overriding consideration.
- Your company has a long-standing and comfortable relationship with the chosen supplier.
- The work is highly confidential and can be assigned only to a trusted or legally bound supplier.
|
Specifying
the Work
