Request for Proposal (RFP)

Leveraging Behavioral Data in Negotiations

Posted: 03/30/2020 - 22:35
Author: Christian Ries
Behavioral Data in Negotiations

Knowing the behavioral history of a supplier prior to negotiations is essential to understand the reasons why a supplier is likely to offer optimal prices and service level agreements (SLA).

In the past, siloed and in-person negotiations often revealed insights about supplier behavior, but these insights were usually ignored because there was no empirical way for a sourcing professional to capture, share, and leverage this behavioral data cross-functionally.

Information Technology Procurement as a Service – Added Value to Internal Procurement Teams

Posted: 12/20/2019 - 04:30
Author: Rob Johnson
The Procurement as a Service (PaaS) model, which utilizes outsourced human talent, technology, and industry-specific knowledge to enhance or –  in some cases for SMB companies –  replace the buying process for companies is expected to grow from $5.4 billion in 2019 to $7.8 billion by 2024, according to new market research by MarketsandMarkets™.

What IT Procurement Professionals Must Know about Data Center Hardware Maintenance RFPs

Posted: 07/16/2019 - 03:59
Author: Mark Havens
“We all want this to be a success,” is a pretty common sentiment at the outset of a major RFP. When considering hardware for data center maintenance services, in many cases, the outcome can mean significant cost containment for the IT group and accolades all around for a job very well done. And let’s face it, it is not only a fiduciary duty to avoid over-paying a vendor (even the original equipment manufacturer) it can be flat-out galling to think that your company has been over-paying for YEARS. So, damn straight, you want this to be a success!

Why wait to start your tech implementation?

Posted: 12/27/2018 - 03:37
Author: Benjamin Duffy
Though slight variations are inevitable, most procurement organizations follow a familiar process for selecting and implementing their tools. Generally, it looks something like this.  
 
  • They decide they need a new procurement solution.
  • They conduct research and begin to engage with appealing providers.
  • They create and distribute an RFP.
  • They score the RFP responses to narrow things down.  

The Essential RFx Bidding Methods

Posted: 12/26/2018 - 01:20
Author: Kate Vitasek
Most companies use well-known and standard competitive bidding methods to pick suppliers. The most common is the Request for Proposal (RFP). However, in many cases, a conventional RFP falls short of finding the right supplier. Why? Conventional RFPs don’t always ask the right sourcing questions and as a result generate wrong (or less than ideal) answers from suppliers.   
 

How to Keep Bad Weather from Killing Your Logistics

Posted: 12/11/2018 - 04:15
Author: Brian Seipel
Supply lines never look as vulnerable as they do when inclement weather strikes. At best, trucks face major delays as accidents and poor conditions make roads treacherous and, at worst, they suffer accidents of their own. Routinely, air carriers remain grounded while affected areas hunker down and airports close. Don’t think you’re safe even if you fall outside a storm’s high-impact area.

Re-engineering a Corporate Real Estate Service Organization: Strategic Sourcing

Posted: 10/06/2018 - 00:38
Author: Ingrid M. Fenn
In Part I: Operational Review, the team identified what needed to be done and determined the optimal delivery model. In Part II: Strategic Sourcing, we will examine the strategic sourcing process, including: 
 
  1. Supplier Pre-Qualification
  2. Bid Strategy
  3. Request for Proposal/Solution/Partner Development

Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 – The Happiest Days of our Lives

Posted: 05/04/2018 - 04:10
Author: Mathew Daniel
For procurement, sourcing construction projects can represent a significant challenge.

For procurement, sourcing construction projects can represent a significant challenge. Given that there are a variety of delivery methods that can be deployed, variability in benchmark cost data, and that owners are more likely to purchase a concept than a commodity, buyers have to navigate a complicated ecosystem in order to bring tangible value.

Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1: The Show Must Go On

Posted: 03/02/2018 - 01:27
Author: Mathew Daniel

Alignment to business needs during the Request for Proposal (RFP) phase of any sourcing event is critical, but perhaps more so when it comes to capital building projects given some of the changes procurement professionals face within their stakeholder community. In most companies, the plant facility's engineering teams are composed of lifelong veterans within the industry who have executed numerous projects – some successful and others, well, not so much. This inconsistency of results tends to make these individuals rather risk adverse and fixed in a traditional way of thinking.

Bridging the Strategy-to-Execution Gap

Posted: 01/27/2018 - 01:01
Author: Tracy Currie

Outsourcing decisions often come down to a relatively simple cost-driven Return on Investment (ROI) calculation: how much will the cost change in each scenario and how quickly can that investment be recovered? 

On the surface, this purely economic approach seems appropriate enough. After all, economics are certainly important. But over-reliance on purely financial-driven outsourcing decisions is one of the biggest causes of the “strategy-to-execution gap,” namely the distance between a company’s business strategies and its ability to execute on them. 

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