The Vendor Management and Selection Policy from TechRepublic Premium describes the processes and procedures the organization’s employees and representatives must practice when issuing requests for and receiving product and service cost estimates, when awarding bids and when selecting consultants, suppliers and vendors of goods and services.

From the policy:

Organization employees and representatives must receive three competing estimates from three separate, independent companies when awarding service contracts for purchasing goods whenever the total expense exceeds $5,000.00. No information from a participating company’s competitive bid or competing quote — including the names of other participating companies, proposals and pricing — may be shared with any other firm either during the bidding process or after a bid is awarded or goods are purchased.

All vendor product and service agreements must provide the organization the option of prematurely terminating the agreement with no penalties to the organization in the event the vendor fails to meet any documented delivery date, project milestone or fulfillment commitment. Organization employees and representatives should conduct, at a minimum, an annual review of each vendor’s agreements to ensure these termination abilities remain intact and current.