4 ms·

Writing the requirements of a tender so that it can be won by a specific vendor is called “single sourcing” and it’s extremely common if you’ve ever sold to the

by i386 6y ago

Writing the requirements of a tender so that it can be won by a specific vendor is called “single sourcing” and it’s extremely common if you’ve ever sold to the government

Bedon292 6y ago
Sole sourcing requires very strict guidelines though. You have to justify why that specific vendor is the exclusive one that can meet your needs and that the end result of the bid process would end up leading to them. A sole source contract for JEDI would never have been acceptable. Its way too large, you have to compete it.
- nsajko 6y ago
  I think there is some misunderstanding here in your comment and parent: I think that the parent wasn't referring to "official" sole sourcing, but rather to the (common?) phenomenon of government issuing a RFP or similar with unnecessary requirements/specifications that purposefully exclude certain possible suppliers, or are even tailored specifically to a certain product, while ostensibly allowing for a bidding process. An example from my country in the EU: the government decided to provide schools with prototyping boards for electronics for kids to play with and maybe learn something, with a formally open procurement process. Turns out the procurement requirements were written quite tightly around the specifications of the BBC Micro Bit board, so as to disqualify other possible products (down to board width and length). To be honest, this specific example wouldn't cause me to worry one bit, except that after learning about it I suspect that the same procurement fixing method is used for other, more important projects.
  - i386 6y ago
    > but rather to the (common?) phenomenon of government issuing a RFP or similar with unnecessary requirements/specifications that purposefully exclude certain possible suppliers, or are even tailored specifically to a certain product, while ostensibly allowing for a bidding process. Correct. Also incredibly common. By the time they are discovered the money is already spent and the system is implemented. Not much can be done then.

by i386 6y ago

Writing the requirements of a tender so that it can be won by a specific vendor is called “single sourcing” and it’s extremely common if you’ve ever sold to the government

Bedon292 6y ago

Sole sourcing requires very strict guidelines though. You have to justify why that specific vendor is the exclusive one that can meet your needs and that the end result of the bid process would end up leading to them. A sole source contract for JEDI would never have been acceptable. Its way too large, you have to compete it.

nsajko 6y ago
I think there is some misunderstanding here in your comment and parent: I think that the parent wasn't referring to "official" sole sourcing, but rather to the (common?) phenomenon of government issuing a RFP or similar with unnecessary requirements/specifications that purposefully exclude certain possible suppliers, or are even tailored specifically to a certain product, while ostensibly allowing for a bidding process. An example from my country in the EU: the government decided to provide schools with prototyping boards for electronics for kids to play with and maybe learn something, with a formally open procurement process. Turns out the procurement requirements were written quite tightly around the specifications of the BBC Micro Bit board, so as to disqualify other possible products (down to board width and length). To be honest, this specific example wouldn't cause me to worry one bit, except that after learning about it I suspect that the same procurement fixing method is used for other, more important projects.
- i386 6y ago
  > but rather to the (common?) phenomenon of government issuing a RFP or similar with unnecessary requirements/specifications that purposefully exclude certain possible suppliers, or are even tailored specifically to a certain product, while ostensibly allowing for a bidding process. Correct. Also incredibly common. By the time they are discovered the money is already spent and the system is implemented. Not much can be done then.