RE: Vendor conflict of interest - Consultants, etc.

midrange-nontech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>   2. Re: Vendor conflict of interest - Consultants, etc.
>      (Steve Landess)
>
>> Granted, we ask for things to be answered in a certain way sometimes.  But
>> there are times we want that objective approach and want an independent
>> answer.  I'm just seeing us involving more and more consultants for a
>> recommendation on a decision who can (and most often do) derive a definite
>> benefit depending on one of the answers they provide.  It's kind of the
>> nature of the beast these days but I'm not sure I like it.......
>
>This sometimes happens when dealing with governmental or
>quasi-governmental entities like governmental corporations.
>
>Even though most governments require competitive bidding on the
>project or purchase, the user requirement is written in such a
>fashion (often with the help of the vendor) that ONLY a certain
>vendor or package can satisfy the requirements given, thus limiting
>the field of qualified applicants for bidding purposes.

I've done this myself. We needed a 9337 disk array, or competitor's equivalent, 
up in Juneau, AK. There was zero chance I was going to accept anything from 
anyone but IBM though. Fortunately, it was trivial to write the specs so that 
only IBM could meet the request -- I just specified a MTBF that far exceeded 
the competitors.

The true reason I wanted IBM was on-site service where all competitors could 
only guarantee service as close as Seattle. Ain't no way I'd agree to ship a 
disk array to Seattle for service, but Dept. of Admin. had its rules. Hence, 
locating an acceptable spec that got us what we needed.

You do what you gotta do.

Tom Liotta

-- 
Tom Liotta
The PowerTech Group, Inc.
19426 68th Avenue South
Kent, WA 98032
Phone  253-872-7788 x313
Fax    253-872-7904
http://www.powertech.com


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