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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.