Vendor Evaluation

vendor-evaluation

Anchor: A vendor is a commitment with a price tag. Score both.

When to use

Use this skill when the user needs a structured read on a commercial provider. Works for:

• A SaaS purchase with a non-trivial contract.
• A services engagement being chosen between two or more firms.
• A renewal decision for an incumbent vendor.
• An acquisition or integration partner evaluation.
• A "why we chose X over Y" memo after a competitive process.

Do not use when:

• The user is responding to a vendor questionnaire sent to them. Use security-questionnaire or rfp-response.
• The user is evaluating a candidate for hire. Use candidate-evaluation.
• The user is scoping an engagement with a vendor that has already been chosen. Use proposal-scoping.

Voice rules (apply to all outputs)

• No buzzwords: leverage, empower, synergy, resonate, tapestry, delve, elevate, captivate, explore, dynamic, testament.
• No em dashes.
• No filler openings.
• Decision-oriented over descriptive.
• High-context, no overexplaining.
• Standard sentence case for formal outputs.
• ES outputs match the register of the handbook: direct, self-aware, no reverence for process, comfortable naming failure.
• EN outputs use direct US business register. Do not soften bluntness into corporate-speak.
• Language switches based on audience, not author.

Bilingual handling

• ES. Rioplatense register. Vos over tú. Keep standard terms in English: SLA, MSA, DPA, NDA, uptime, roadmap, auto-renew, termination for convenience, switching cost, incumbent, POC, TCO, payment terms, carve-out, escalation.
• EN. Direct US business register. Avoid "partnership" as a descriptor of a commercial relationship. Do not soften concerns.
• Vendor names and product names stay as-is.

Method

Step 1. Define what is being bought

A vague purchase produces a vague evaluation. Write:

• Category. Tool, services, platform, marketplace, infra.
• Scope. Specific features, seats, regions, data classes.
• Criticality. What fails if the vendor fails. Revenue, uptime, data, compliance.
• Duration. Contract length and renewal shape.
• Incumbent, if any. Current vendor. What moving away from them costs.

Step 2. Pick the rubric

Default rubric has nine dimensions:

1. Delivery risk. Can the vendor actually deliver what they claim.
2. Pricing fairness. Price against market and against value returned.
3. Technical stack fit. Compatibility with existing systems, data, and security posture.
4. Commercial terms. Contract, liability, IP, termination, auto-renew.
5. Reference quality. Same-sector, same-scale, contactable references.
6. Incumbent switching cost. The real cost of moving, including hidden ones.
7. Support and escalation. Speed, channels, accountability, SLA enforceability.
8. Roadmap alignment. Their roadmap vs. your needs over the contract life.
9. Team and culture. Who you will actually work with. How they operate when pressured.

For each purchase, remove what does not apply, upweight what does. A one-time tool purchase downweights dimensions 8 and 9. A deep integration upweights them. Keep the rubric under 10 dimensions.

Step 3. Score each dimension against anchors

Scoring scale: 1 to 5. Anchors below, one short paragraph per dimension.

Delivery risk.

• 1: Cannot produce evidence they have delivered the claimed capability at comparable scale.
• 3: Can show delivered work at comparable scale. Honest about limits.
• 5: Track record is both deep and recent. Demonstrated behavior under stress that matches what you are buying.

Pricing fairness.

• 1: Price is out of line with market or with value, or list is a negotiating fiction.
• 3: Price aligns with market. Negotiation was possible and produced reasonable terms.
• 5: Price is clearly favorable. The vendor is not trading long-term lock-in for short-term discount, or is transparent that they are.

Technical stack fit.

• 1: Integration requires rewriting your surfaces or weakening your security posture.
• 3: Integration fits existing patterns. Known workarounds are acceptable.
• 5: Integration is clean, documented, tested, and does not create new key-person risk.

Commercial terms.

• 1: Terms concentrate risk on you. Unlimited auto-renew, no exit, IP carve-outs favoring them, liability caps that are nominal.
• 3: Terms are balanced. Exit is possible with notice. Liability is meaningful.
• 5: Terms are client-friendly. Termination for convenience, clear IP treatment, meaningful liability, data return and destruction specified.

Reference quality.

• 1: References are not contactable, not same-sector, or obviously curated.
• 3: Two or more same-sector references, contactable, with consistent signal.
• 5: References volunteer specific failure modes the vendor handled well. Willing to be contacted again.

Incumbent switching cost.

• 1: Switching cost was not measured, or was measured optimistically.
• 3: Switching cost is measured in dollars, weeks, and disruption. The new vendor's value clears it.
• 5: Switching cost is small, or the new vendor helps absorb the switch explicitly.

Support and escalation.

• 1: Support is an email address. SLAs exist on paper only.
• 3: Clear channels, named escalation path, SLAs you believe.
• 5: Named humans, time-boxed escalation, support that understands your specific setup, SLAs tied to real credits.

Roadmap alignment.

• 1: Vendor roadmap conflicts with your needs or is opaque.
• 3: Roadmap aligns over the contract life. Vendor is transparent about priorities.
• 5: Roadmap is directly relevant. Vendor is willing to share pre-release access or influence on priority.

Team and culture.

• 1: Sales team disappears after signing. Post-sale team is a different company in behavior.
• 3: Consistent team across sales and post-sale. Professional under pressure.
• 5: Team operates as collaborators who name their own limits. They flag their risks without being asked.

Every score carries evidence, as with candidate evaluation. A score without evidence is a vibe.

Step 4. Compare against at least one real alternative

A single-vendor evaluation is not an evaluation. Name:

• Alternative A. The other serious option considered.
• Alternative B. The build-in-house or stay-with-incumbent option, with its real cost.
• Do nothing. The consequences of not buying anything.

For each alternative, run a condensed version of the scorecard (top three dimensions that differ from the primary candidate).

Step 5. Run the "what if they fail" check

Ask explicitly:

• What happens if the vendor is acquired and the acquirer shuts down the product.
• What happens if the vendor goes bankrupt mid-contract.
• What happens if the vendor raises prices 2x at renewal.
• What happens if the vendor has a security incident involving your data.
• What happens if the vendor's best engineer for your account leaves.

For each, name the mitigation. "We'll cross that bridge" is not a mitigation.

Step 6. Write the decision memo

Structure:

• Recommendation. Buy, do not buy, or buy a smaller scope to prove it out.
• Summary. Two sentences on why.
• Scorecard. Dimension by dimension, with evidence.
• Comparison. Against alternatives.
• Concerns. Even for buy recommendations, at least two.
• Negotiation priorities. The top three terms to push on if the deal advances.
• Post-signing review triggers. What would cause a mid-contract renegotiation or exit.

Step 7. Define the review cadence

A signed contract is not the end of the evaluation. Before signing, define:

• Health review cadence. Monthly or quarterly.
• Exit triggers. Concrete signals that would cause non-renewal.
• Escalation procedure. Who in your company calls who at the vendor when something breaks.
• Renewal readiness. When the evaluation for renewal starts, relative to the renewal date. Earlier than you think.

Templates

• templates/en/scorecard.md: per-vendor scorecard with evidence and comparison.
• templates/en/decision-memo.md: buy or do-not-buy decision memo.
• templates/es/scorecard.md: scorecard por proveedor con evidencia y comparación.
• templates/es/decision-memo.md: memo de decisión comprar o no comprar.

Related skills

• security-questionnaire: use it when you are the vendor answering a buyer's assessment, not scoring vendors.
• rfp-response: use it when responding to a procurement document rather than evaluating providers.
• candidate-evaluation: the same scorecard discipline applied to hiring a person, not buying a vendor.
• proposal-scoping: move to it once the vendor is chosen and the engagement needs scoping.

Anti-patterns

This skill must never produce:

• A scorecard for a single vendor with no alternative considered.
• A score without evidence.
• A memo that uses "strategic partnership" as a descriptor.
• A memo that recommends buying based on demo polish.
• Incumbent comparisons that ignore switching cost.
• Recommendations without named post-signing review triggers.
• Evaluations that score demo teams rather than post-sale teams.
• A recommendation that treats the vendor's roadmap as guaranteed.

Checklist before delivery

• Category, scope, criticality, duration, and incumbent are named.
• Rubric is chosen with purchase-specific weighting.
• Every score has concrete evidence.
• At least one real alternative is scored in comparison.
• "What if they fail" scenarios are written with mitigations.
• Memo names concerns even in buy recommendations.
• Negotiation priorities are listed.
• Post-signing review triggers are defined.
• No buzzwords from the voice rules appear.