You’re at the point in the project where all the hard work and planning pays off.
You have all the information you need to choose the winner.
The next steps:
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- Review the contracts for terms and conditions
- Verify vendor references and information
- Award the contract
Review the contracts
Your legal advisors will review the contracts of the vendors on your shortlist.
Then they’ll tell you:
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- If the terms and conditions of the contracts are acceptable
- If they match the data you gave in the requests for proposals
Contract negotiations
After the contracts have been given the thumbs up, you’re ready to meet with the company leadership to choose a vendor for final negotiations.
It’s ok to choose more than one vendor. Making vendors compete for your business can get you better prices and terms.
When negotiating with the vendor(s), keep in mind:
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- Quality and fit of their software
- Pricing structure
- Ease and length of implementation
- Their reputation and references
Recommend a vendor
When the contract(s) negotiations are finished, the software selection team can evaluate all the criteria and present its recommendation to the leadership team.
Do exactly what you did when presenting the front runners. Summarize everything you received from the vendors and how the proposals were scored. Make it clear how the team chose the winning vendor.
Business acceptance
Once the leadership team has approved your decision, the company representative signs the negotiated contract.
Award the contract
With the contract signed, notify the winner and give them a copy.
Send an email to all other vendors who sent you quotes, and thank them for their time and information.
At Roghnu, we’ve mastered this process and can assist you with finding the best software solution for your company. Contact us for our help.
In the final entry of this series, discover how to identify and document the lessons learned in the project and close it out.
Here are the other entries in our Software Selection Series:
Step 1: Choose Your Consultant
Step 2: Start the Project
Step 3: Define Requirements
Step 4: Source Your Proposal
