Selecting vendors to provide hardware, software, or services is a common and important task for IT management. It is good practice to delegate qualified individuals to carry out the evaluation of potential vendors and make recommendations. However, IT management must ensure the criteria used to make a vendor choice align with organizational objectives and do not reflect the personal preferences of the evaluator.
Assigning the Selection Task
Contracts or purchase orders usually require the approval of senior IT management and, in some cases, senior enterprise management or the Board. For commodity-type purchases, vendor selection is often done by the purchasing department. However, the identification of a list of potential suppliers and the selection of the preferred vendor is typically carried out lower down in the enterprise.
The group that will be responsible for getting value from the vendor relationship should be significantly involved in vendor selection. The manager or supervisor of the group is the one most impacted by the quality of the choice. The technical staff is well positioned to ensure that the selected vendor and product can do the job. For example, the selection of a vendor to custom develop an application should involve the application team. The selection of a contractor to wire a new office should involve the group responsible for the Local Area Network and the telephone system, as well as facilities.
