Vendor Management - RFP Scoring

As noted in the legal services RFP post, running an RFP is similar to running  a fellowship program albeit on a much smaller scale.  The scoring sheet in Ops in a Box, Legal Edition also originates from fellowship management.

In addition to using this template for RFP candidates, I have used a similar format for vetting job/position candidates for several decades, which helps to ensure a consistent and more objective evaluation standard.

There are three common approaches to scoring:

1. Force rank each candidate.  In this scenario the top score in any category corresponds to the number of candidates.  If there are five candidates, the top score is a 5.
2. For each category assign one point per desired attribute.  For example, if you would like a product that has both an Android and Apple app, you would assign each option one point; total 2 points.
3. Weight attributes by value.  Give more points to "must have" and least to "nice to haves."  I often do this as a second round calculation by weighting more to a particular theme or cluster of attributes in combination with approach 1 or 2.