The purpose of the vendor selection is to provide a sound basis for selecting as well as to select vendors that can enable the envisioned TO-BE solution.

The vendor selection consists of five elements:

• Creation of detailed requirements based on the TO-BE
• RFI process
• RFP process
• Business Case
• Decision

These will now be described.

Requirements

In the requirements phase, the desired TO-BE financial solution is detailed in such a manner that it can form the basis of a questionnaire that can be forwarded to relevant vendors. All requirements are prioritised in order to evaluate, score and document the answers of the questionnaire. 

It is essential that the client is involved in this process. During this phase:

• We verify and decide on suggested TO-BE scenarios
• We focus on the requirements and on where the client wants to be
• We prioritise requirements
• We decide on scoring of requirements together with the client
• We document the results

The delivery of this phase is a questionnaire including relevant descriptions of the TO-BE scenarios; system diagrams, process diagrams, organisational maps and areas of competence.

RFI Process

In the RFI process a long list of potential vendors is produced. These are contacted and informed that they will receive an RFI package.

The purpose of the RFI package is to receive enough information from the vendors to be able to evaluate if they can fulfil the more detailed requirements in terms of capabilities of their products and services and in terms of timing and capacity.

The delivery of the RFI process is a shortened list of vendors that have a high probability of being able to deliver.

RFP process

In the RFP process the detailed RFP material is produced and sent out to the vendors on the shortened list, together with the questionnaire on the requirements.

The vendors will typically have 2-3 weeks to answer. Upon receipt, these answers are scored and a list of 3-5 selected vendors is made. Following this, workshops are held with the 3-5 selected vendors.  After the workshops, the vendors are scored again.

The delivery of the RFP process is a short list of 2 vendors with the highest scoring. These represent the two vendors who can best meet the specified requirements.

Business case

In the business case phase, the business case from the analysis is updated and refined with specific information obtained from the RFP process.

The delivery of the business case phase is a more detailed documentation of the costs and benefits of a selection of proposed scenarios, calculated over 5 years and discounted with the relevant discount factors. This document serves as a decision document to management.

Decision

In the decision phase it is decided which of the two vendors that have scored best in the RFP process. This vendor is then selected as the preferred vendor. Negotiations on licenses, services, and maintenance are now undertaken.

The delivery from the decision phase is the selection of the vendor with the best possible mix of product and services at the best possible price and condition.