How many potential OEM Suppliers should a Purchaser offer an RFP to?
A Purchaser can oftentimes find itself attempting to evaluate too many potential OEM Suppliers after the Statement of Qualifications has been completed. This is a problem because it forces the evaluating personnel to restrict the evaluating criteria, potentially allowing an undesirable OEM Supplier – Purchaser relationship. As a result, the most common recommendation is to pare down potential candidates as much as possible in the SOQ stage so that the Purchaser has no more than six or seven potential Suppliers for any given unit.
