4.4Conducting procurements & supplier management

Once the contract type is decided, the PM faces the concrete work of "which vendor to select" and the ongoing management that follows contract signing. Selecting on price alone risks choosing a vendor with weak technical capability or track record, while selecting on technical capability alone risks a budget overrun. This section covers the full flow from information-gathering through the request for proposals, weighted-evaluation selection, and post-contract change and claims handling, from the standpoint of judgment that does not lean on a single evaluation axis.

4.4.1Information-gathering and proposal solicitation via RFI and RFP

• RFI (Request for Information) is an information-gathering document issued before ordering, used to understand what suppliers, technologies, and products exist in the market. It does not ask for pricing or a concrete proposal—it is a preliminary information-gathering step used to narrow candidates and sharpen requirement definition. RFP (Request for Proposal) is a formal document, issued once requirements are firm, requesting submission of a concrete proposal (technical approach, staffing, pricing, and so on); RFP responses become the basis for actual selection and contract negotiation.
• Issuing an RFP suddenly while requirements are still vague forces suppliers to submit only low-precision proposals, making comparative evaluation difficult. The standard practice is a staged approach: RFI at an early stage when market options and technology trends are still unclear, and RFP once requirements are firm. An RFQ (Request for Quotation) is used for pricing on standard, off-the-shelf items and differs in nature from an RFP for a complex custom-development engagement.