The guide 3. Evaluate and award

Evaluate suppliers using clear and objective criteria and select a winner

Overview

Once you have received a number of bids from interested suppliers you should:

  • shortlist suppliers
  • evaluate and assess each supplier
  • award the contract

The evaluation process needs to be fair, open and transparent. Suppliers should be assessed using a clear scoring scheme and the winning supplier announced publicly.

Make sure that you:

  • evaluate suppliers as a team, composed of all stakeholders who will be involved in the use of the product/service.
  • balance the level of evaluation to the value or complexity of the work
  • avoid any bias affecting the evaluation
  • keep a record of every stage of the evaluation and award process