RFP responses and supplier evaluation

This sixth blog in the series of nine blogs on the sourcing lifecycle discusses the criteria for supplier evaluation that should be used to down-select preferred suppliers.

Upon receipt of the suppliers’ RFP responses an appropriate methodology should be used to compare the proposals and identify the most compelling commercial offer with the highest level of capability to meet the service and technology requirements.

Prior to receipt of responses the evaluation team should agree the weightings applied to each section of the RFP and each requirement within the individual sections should be classified as to its relative importance.

A detailed supplier evaluation should focus on innovation, commercials, service delivery, technical quality, assurance of supply and risk. It is not enough for suppliers to simply offer an attractive total cost of ownership (TCO) savings profile, it is equally important that the suppliers are sufficiently capable of delivering against the customer’s business requirements. This should ideally result in a down-selection to two preferred suppliers to maintain competitive tension and to secure an optimal deal.

The supplier evaluation should include:

• Quantitative evaluation (scoring)
• Qualitative evaluation (strengths, weaknesses and risks)
• Commercial analysis
• Reference feedback from existing customers
• External market views