Vendor Proposal, Essay Example

Question one Customer add-on vendor proposal

There are various factors that need to be put into consideration before accepting or denying the vendor proposal. The first one is the cost-benefit analysis. This should be considered in a way that if the proposed vendor will bring more gains than losses to the organizations, then it should be accepted. However, the management will be right to deny a vendor proposal if is has more associated costs than benefits. A decision to accept a proposed vendor should only be taken after an approval that the vendor will benefit the organization in the long run. Before accepting or denying a proposed vendor, the management should also consider the time duration taken to implement the vendor as well as the resources available. A proposed vendor can only be accepted of the organization has adequate resources and funds for implementation. The time taken for the project should also be considered since some projects may take longer durations than projected thus sabotaging the entire change process (Cardy, 2008).

The decision that I will take will affect the entire or overall project as follows. First, when I decide to deny the proposal, may be due to its failure to meet the above factors, then the entire project will suffer a big loss in terms of support. Additionally, denying the proposal at this point when the project is tracking along well as per he schedule will delay the project process or will make the project to move out of track. The other proposals of the project are likely to face resistance during the approval stage. Second, rejecting the proposal will also lower self esteem and morale of the project owners/those in charge, in a way that they may not be motivated to explore other remaining proposals within the project for fear of them being rejected as well. Despite the fact that rejecting the vendor proposal will slow down project implementation process, lead to low self esteem of the project owners and loss of support, this decision would save the organization a lot of problems presently and in the future incase the vendor proposal was very expensive i.e. out of budget and substandard. However, if I make the decision to accept the proposal, after considering it and found that it is standard and with the budget, then this will be a great boost to the entire project in terms of raising motivation, esteem and hard work among the runners of the project (Monahan, 2000). In accepting the proposal, it is essential to consider the budget, project schedule and the available resources. If the proposal is meets the project specifications then there is no need of rejecting it but if it does not meet the project plan then the project manger and the support team will be right to reject the proposal.

Considering the budget, the available schedule and the resources available, the following parties will need to be involved in this decision making process. First, the managers have to be involved since they are the key determinants of major decisions of organizations subject to approval by chief executive officer or board of directors. Managers are vital in this situation because they are the ones to facilitate the approval process by top most management (Bhagwati, 2005). There should also be experts who are fully aware about each and every detail of the project or vendor proposal in terms of its benefits, implementation process as well as associated costs. Experts are the most important since they help to determine whether the proposal will be accepted or rejected. They are the ones to carry out cost benefit analysis of the proposed vendor in both long run and short run. The project owners or those making the proposal are another party that should be involved in decision making. Project steering committee should also be involved in the decision making process whether too reject or accept the project proposal. The team is important since it has to agree on various factors such as payment terms and the duration given for implementation (Cardy, 2008).

As mentioned above, there are various factors that need to be discussed and agreed upon by the above named parties. These factors include the benefits associated with the project or proposal, the resources available, time frame, costs to be incurred, possible compensation, funds available and other social issues such as ethical considerations and culture. All these factors will contribute to a decision that is democratic, fair and just (Monahan, 2000).

The team of managers will consider the above mentioned factors one by one so that the right decision is made. To begin with they will discuss about factors related to the schedule of the project such as time frame remaining for the project to be completed. They will then analyze how acceptance or rejection of the proposal will impact on the project and what improvements if any should be made to the proposal before accepting it (Baily, 2008). Second, they will consider all the factors related with the budget such as costs to be incurred. If the proposal will cost the project more and is out of budget by a wide margin then the managers will discuss other possible options so as to remain within the budget. Finally, managers will discuss the factors related to the resources that are required for project implementation and completion (Bhagwati, 2005). Resources may include material and human labor. If the vendor proposal will impact negatively in any way the resources responsible for project completion then managers and project steering committee will discuss on what possible steps towards rejection or acceptance of the proposal they will follow.

References

Baily, P., (2008). Procurement principles & management. England: Prentice Hall Bhagwati, J. (2005). “A New Vocabulary for Trade”. Wall Street Journal (Aug. 4) A12.

Cardy, L. (2008). Management: People, Performance, Change, 3rd edition. New York, New York USA: McGraw-Hill.

Monahan, G. (2000). Management Decision Making. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.