Vendor Procurement from a Big Org Perspective

https://youtu.be/hWEymTuguSU[twitter-follow screen_name='RiveterTools' show_screen_name='yes']Business operations positions can be demanding as these professionals are asked to deliver on mission-critical activities in the most cost and time effective manner possible. This is especially true in government as every penny belongs to the taxpayer, increasing the visibility of and scrutiny on every decision. Drop in as Karen Burkes - Director of Business Operations at the U.S. Department of Treasury - tells us about her experience in vendor procurement and the general process in larger companies and government agencies.Recommended Timeline:

Phase	Task	Time	Resources
Prepare for Bids	Get requirements. Meet with stakeholders to identify what they really need and their use case scenarios. Jumpstart the conversation by preparing a list of suggested requirements or outlining how the current solution works.	Week 1-2 @ 1-4 hours / stakeholder
	Write RFP (request for proposal). Let potential vendors know the business requirements as well as other key information, such as budget, timeframe and submission requirement ( due date and format)	Week 2 @ 4-12 hours	RFP templates
Solicitation & Submission Period	Solicit Bids. You or your procurement office should publicly and/or directly request companies to submit bids. The outlets you use will depend on your publicity / privacy requirements. For instance, if you’re at a government agency or certain, large corporations, you may be required to advertise to the public and thus use certain public-facing newspapers and websites. On the other hand, if you’re a small company working on a sensitive project, you may want to send it the RFP to a few vendors in each tier (high-end, medium-end, boutique, etc.). If you want to get to a wide cross section of vendors, consider industry websites.	Week 3 up to Month 6(depends on agency requirements)
	Collect bids. As bids come in according to the process laid out in the RFP, bids should be reviewed for completeness and follow-up on preliminary, deal breaker questions.
Considerations & Contracting	Review Bids. Distribute the proposals for review among stakeholders and then host a meeting during which stakeholders can discuss their views and select a stakeholder	Week 5-6 (or later) @ 1-2 hrs proposal
	Award Bid. Let the awardees and other bidders know their status. To mediate the danger that the contract may fall through, let 1 or 2 of the other bidders that they are alternates.	Week 7 @ 2 hrs
	Contracting.	Week 8-9 (or later) @ 1-12 hours (depending on contract complexity)