4 ms·

>RFP or not, these contracts are spoken for long before anything is put on paper. Can you please provide some examples of this occurring?

levi-turner 2y ago
For background, RFPs are not value neutral. It is not uncommon for customers who have a preferred vendor to shape the RFP to fit in a more natural way to the preferred vendor. To use a simplified example: you want a web server vendor and only IIS and Apache exist. If you have a RFP requirement that the service runs on Linux, then you have a RFP but your requirements have pre-selected the vendor which can achieve the objectives. This is hard to catch from the outside, but focus on ultra specific requirements which seem relatively arbitrary (Linux vs. Windows isn't arbitrary, but the example is super simplified for illustrative purposes). I am also curious about examples, but as someone from the vendor side, I'll be the first to admit that if the purchasing group has any semblance of intelligence, you can easily hide these biases. The bias only is obvious if you are in the industry and grok the subtle nuances of the capabilities.
engineer_22 2y ago
When you want to buy something but you don't know how to get what you want you call around to the vendors. They tell you about the products they're representing, and you figure out what you like best. When you put out your solicitation you confine it to products that narrowly match the description of the actual product you want (without naming it, that would be sole source which is different). This is achieved by naming features that are patented or otherwise IP protected, therefore excluding competing products. Sometimes if you're sloppy you can get stuck with a competing product and then you've got a problem on your hands. If you're not worried about price this is a great way to get what you want. But it can mean a 20%+ cost premium, depending on the niche and how aggressive the salesman is.

levi-turner 2y ago

For background, RFPs are not value neutral. It is not uncommon for customers who have a preferred vendor to shape the RFP to fit in a more natural way to the preferred vendor. To use a simplified example: you want a web server vendor and only IIS and Apache exist. If you have a RFP requirement that the service runs on Linux, then you have a RFP but your requirements have pre-selected the vendor which can achieve the objectives. This is hard to catch from the outside, but focus on ultra specific requirements which seem relatively arbitrary (Linux vs. Windows isn't arbitrary, but the example is super simplified for illustrative purposes). I am also curious about examples, but as someone from the vendor side, I'll be the first to admit that if the purchasing group has any semblance of intelligence, you can easily hide these biases. The bias only is obvious if you are in the industry and grok the subtle nuances of the capabilities.

engineer_22 2y ago

When you want to buy something but you don't know how to get what you want you call around to the vendors. They tell you about the products they're representing, and you figure out what you like best. When you put out your solicitation you confine it to products that narrowly match the description of the actual product you want (without naming it, that would be sole source which is different). This is achieved by naming features that are patented or otherwise IP protected, therefore excluding competing products. Sometimes if you're sloppy you can get stuck with a competing product and then you've got a problem on your hands. If you're not worried about price this is a great way to get what you want. But it can mean a 20%+ cost premium, depending on the niche and how aggressive the salesman is.