 |
Most procurements should be expected to be a game of points, prices and creative answers. Truth is, that's just the way it is.
Having spent plenty of years around social housing IT procurement, I've developed a healthy scepticism about supplier tender responses. Not because suppliers are necessarily dishonest, but because they're rather jolly good at answering the question they wish you'd asked, rather than the one actually sitting in the ITT. Ask a straightforward question about whether their system supports a particular business requirement and you'll sometimes receive three paragraphs of impressive-sounding waffle and weasel-words that manages to avoid saying yes or no. If you need a grave diggers shovel to dig out the actual answer, there's probably something worth investigating.
Closed questions are particularly entertaining. Ask whether a specific feature is supported and, where the honest answer might be 'partially', you're sometimes treated to a lovingly recycled chunk of marketing material, presumably copied from another tender, another customer or possibly another decade. Then there's that old favourite: 'Further analysis required.' Which can mean anything from 'we need to understand your requirements better' to 'we haven't got a clue whether our software does this'. To be fair, some requirements genuinely do need clarification. But when the question is perfectly clear, 'more analysis required' isn't an answer. It's a polite way of kicking the problem down the road, ideally until after the contract has been signed and additional change control costs may be incurred.
We also need to recognise that, for suppliers, a tender is something of a puzzle to be solved or exam to pass. Their bid teams study the evaluation criteria, scoring weightings and response limits, then work out how to collect the maximum available marks. That's what they're paid to do. If the scoring rewards particular phrases, expect those phrases to appear with remarkable frequency. If a requirement is worth five points, somebody will be figuring out how to turn a rather questionable three into a convincing five. Meanwhile, buyers may be congratulating themselves on a rigorous evaluation process that's actually rewarding the supplier with the most polished bid-writing team rather than the most suitable software.
Indeed these days use of AI by bidders will faithfully echo back your requirements to you. Often clarification question answers are recycled by AI to give the answers. Its a pity AI will not be implementing the successful solution, as in some cases that might substantially speed the process up, or bring superior knowledge to the build.
Price scoring introduces another opportunity for a bit of creative thinking. Where the lowest tendered price attracts maximum marks, there's an obvious incentive to make that headline figure as attractive as possible. Of course different costing methodologies are available. Essential functionality can become an optional extra, implementation assumptions can be remarkably optimistic, and future configuration, integrations, data migration or additional consultancy may turn up elsewhere in the commercial arrangements. Not every supplier does this, of course, but the cheapest tender isn't necessarily the actual cheapest solution. A bargain HMS or CRM implementation that subsequently requires a small fortune in change requests isn't much of a bargain. Funny how those extras rarely feature prominently in the original sales presentation. A painfull experience in practice and leaves a bad taste in the mouth for the contracting body.
This is where buyers need to sharpen their pencils, have help from outside for their questioning. Don't just award marks because somebody has written a confident answer. Distinguish between functionality that exists today, functionality requiring configuration, functionality needing bespoke development and functionality that's currently little more than a twinkle in the product manager's eye. Challenge conditional answers, demand evidence, references, test claims through structured supplier demonstrations and examine the full cost of ownership. Above all, make sure your evaluation methodology rewards genuine capability and a deliverable solution, rather than beautifully constructed promises. Procurement rules and fairness still matter, so challenges and clarifications need to be consistent, properly recorded and within the published process.
And here's the important bit. Suppliers aren't inherently evil. They're trying to win a sale. They've got sales targets, shareholders, staff to pay and competitors breathing down their necks. Of course they're going to present their products and prices in the most favourable possible light. We'd be rather surprised if they didn't. But it's not their job to protect a housing provider from making a poor purchasing decision. That's our responsibility as buyers and educated/experienced consultants. We need to understand what's genuinely being offered, what's assumed, what's missing and what it'll really cost to deliver. Because the objective isn't to buy the tender response with the highest score. It's to buy the right system for you, from the right supplier, at a realistic price, that will actually work for our organisation.
Winning the procurement game is one thing. Living with the result for the next ten years is quite another.
Related Post: Make the most of demos, ask the right questions and understand the answers
I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message
me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this
blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.
Beck - Hell Yes!
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009
Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here , what projects do we get involved in? Access them here
Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.
File
Under:
#HomesForBritain,#HousingDAY,#InternetOfTenants,#Shout,#UKHousing,
07854655009, 1st Touch,1stTouch,360,365Agile,3squared,4Js,
ACL,ALMO,AMS,AX,Aareon,Abritas,Academy,Accuserv,Accuserve,Active
Housing,ActiveH,ActiveF,ActiveFinance,ActiveHousing,Acutence,Advanced,Affinity,Aidenn,Agile,Agile365,AHB,AirWatch,Alscient,Alfresco,Alignment,Allpay,Amazon
Web Services,Anite,Apex,App,ArchHouse,Archouse,Asprey e-state pro,Asset
Management,Associates,Aurora,Average IT Costs,AWI SX Integration
Toolkit,AWS,
BI,BO,BPR,BancTec,BigChange,Blockwise,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,BrikHousing,Browser
Applications,BC, Business Central, Business Objects,Business
Planning,Business Process Review,Business social networking, CACI,Capita
One Housing,CBL,CCS IT Keystone
CCSIT,CEDRM,CHICS,CHR,CIH,CMS,COA,CORE,CPL,CRM,CRM2013,CRS,CTI,CTX,Cadcorp,Capita,CapitaOne,Capita
One,Capital Management,Cashflow,Castle,Castleton,Castleton
Technology,Cedar Open Accounts,Cerrus,Change,Charges,Chartered Institute
Of Housing,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, Citrix,Civica,Civica CTX,Civica
Cx,Civica Genero,Civica Saffron,Clearview,Clik,Cx Assets, Cloud
Dialogs,CloudDialogs,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Commontime,Community Reward
Services,Company,Competitive Dialogue process,Component
Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation,
Consultancy,Consultant,Consultants,Contact Manager,Context,Contractor
Systems,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,Crystal Reports,Customer
Relationship Management,Cx,CxFeedback, DRS,Deeplake,Datatank,Designer
Software,Development
Systems,Director,Document,Documotive,Docuware,Dynamic
AI,DynamicAI,Dynamics 365,D365,Dynamics365,Dynaway
ECMK,EDM,EDRMS,ERP,ESRI,Elmhurst,Enghouse
Interactive,England,English,EnterpriseBI,Estatecraft,Esuasive,Esynergy,Etive,Exhibition,Exponential-e,
F&O, Facebook,Factorwise,Fast Lean Smart, Field Service
management,Finance,Financial
Systems,Financials,FLS,Footprint,Forms,Freezes,Fusion,Fuzzlab Gas
Tag,G-Cloud,GCloud,GDPR,GGP,GIS,GasTag,Genero,GeoSolveIT,Getting best
from,GoTonySmith,Grasp,Grip,Group Apex, HCL,HFI (Housing Financials
interface),HG,HRA,Hardware,Hitachi
Systems,Hitex,HomeMaster,Hometeam,HouSys,House,Housemark,Housemark
survey,Housing,Housing Contact,Housing Group,Housing Insight,Housing
Management,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Partners,Housing
Portfolio Management System,Hub Asset Management,Homeswapper,Housing
jigsaw,HousingOne,Housing-One, Housing Support
Pro,HousingIT,HousingSupportPro,HyperOptic, IMS,IPC,iProperty
Cloud,IT,IT Budget,IT Training,ITIL,Impact Response,In,In4,In4Systems
Promaster,InfinityGroup,InfoBoss,Infoshare+,InHouse,InMotion,InMotion2015,InMotion2016,InfoBoss,Infoflow,Information,Information
Technology,Information@Work components,Informix,Innovation,
Informetis,Inphase,Inside Housing,Insight,Internet
Portal,Internetalia,Invu,Ireland,Irish,itLab,InclineIT,
Keyfax,Keylogic,Keypera,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keynamics,
Landlord,Ledgers,Linkedin,Liquid,Locality,Localz,Looking Local,
M3,MadeTech,Manifest Software
Solutions,MAVIS,MD,MDM,MI,MIS,MIS-AMS,MISCS,MRI,MS Dynamics,MRI,MS
Dynamics CRM2011,Microsoft365,microsoft 365,MWL,Management,Management
Server,Manifest,Measuring,Mebus,More IQ,MoreIQ,Microsoft Dynamics
365,Microsoft dynamics GP 2013,Miracle,MobileIron,Mobysoft,Monopoly
board images and pictures,Montal,Mr Void,MriEngage,MrVoid,MoreIQ,
MRI,MRI/Capita,MRI Housing One, NDL,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,NPS,NPS
ASSIST,NPS
Housing,NPS Job Manager Mobile,NROSH,Natural,Neighbourhoods and
Communities,Nintexworkflow,Northgate,Northgate Codeman,Northgate Public
Services,Notice, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,OJEU
Limits,ORS,Ohms,OmFax,Omni,Omniledger,One,OneAdvanced,OneServe,Open
source,OpenContractor,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Options,Optitime,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource
and outsourcing,OutSystems, PIMMS,PIMSS
Data,PM,PRINCE2,Paloma,Pamwin,PanConnect,People
Value,Peoplevalue,PfH,Pick,PlanForm,Planned
maintenance,Plentific,Plus,Portfolio Management
System,PowerObjects,Pro,Pro-Points,Prodo,Progress,Promaster,Propeller,Propoints,Proval,Providers,Pyramid,
QL,QLX, QLF, QL Yuneo,QuantSpark,Qube,QLX,Qlikview,QueryView,Queryview
reporting,Quiss, RM865,ROCC,ROCC Orchestrator , ROCC Tracker, RPs,RSL,Rave,ReAct,Reality,RedkiteCRM,ROCC Attend,Red
Olive,Registered,Registered Social,Rent
Increase,RentSense,RentSenseLite,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,RobotAutomation,Rubix,ROCC,
Rocket,Rubixx,
Salesforce,Salesforce.Org,SAP,SASSHA,Sava,SDM,SHBVN,SM,SOTI,SP,SQL,SQL
Open
Housing,SQL Reporting,SQL
Server,Saffron,Safron,Saturn,Scenario,Scotland,Scots,Scottish,Scout,Sequoa,Serengeti,Serros,Server,Service,Services,Servitor,Sharepoint,Sim,SimPro,
Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Housing ICT,Social Housing
Software Applications,Social Media,Software,Software solutions,
Solvares, Spotlight
Service,Spotlightservice,Star rating,Stores and
Stock,Strategic,SunAccounts,Sunguard,Surveys,Streetwise,
Swordfish,Sx3,Symatrix Human,System alignment,Systems,Systemwise,
T-Files,TEAMS,TED,TFiles,TP Tracker,TSG,Tagish
Casework,Tagra,Task,TAIM,Techlabs,Technologies (India) PVT
Limited,Telecetera,Template,Terminal Services,That,Three
Star,Tilt,TiltAffinity,Today,Tony Smith,Tony Smith That Housing IT
Guy,TonySmith that housing IT,TonySmithHou,TonySmithHousing,
,TonySmithHousingITguy,Total,Total
Mobile,Totalmobile,Trace,Tribal,Twitter, U2,UC,UK,UK
Housing,Ukhousing,UniClass,Unidata,United
Kingdom,Universal,Universalcredit,Universe,Unrest, Valueworks,Van
Stock,Vantage,Vantage
Sentinel,Version,Virtualisation,Visitour,Visualmetrics,Voice,Voice and
data,Voicescape,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Wheatley,Windows Server,Workflow
and,Work Hub,Works Connect, XML,Xen App,XenApp,Xmbrace, Yuneo,TS
Acutance Consulting, ...
