Case Scenario
You are a project manager in the human resources department for a global investment management firm, LRH Financial. You are currently updating your benefits administration to an external company; this is expected to be a minimum 5-year operational commitment. As part of this move, you are revising your benefits options, updating the employees on the changes, revamping the intranet to include self-service benefits administration, and redeploying about 20 human resources benefits staff to new positions with the human resources department. The vendor that will be taking over benefits administration operations has not yet been chosen. Due to a lack of resources in the information technology department, a vendor will be used to update the intranet and train employees on the new self-service functionality. It is not yet clear how the redeployment of the benefits staff will be completed. In the past, this type of activity has been handled by a boutique management consulting company.
You just met with your boss, Pat, the Vice President of Human Resources. Pat emphasized that you will have responsibility for all the contracting, negotiating, and vendor management activities. You will need to work closely with purchasing and accounts payable as you complete these activities.
Problem 1:
You had your meeting with the project sponsor and the other decision makers, and they approved your general approach. Now you need to develop the request for proposal (RFP) for distribution. You have decided to use a number of vendors for the project, preferring deep expertise to a vendor who can "do it all." Develop a list of criteria against which all the proposals will be evaluated. It should include the following:
- background information on the company and project
- the bid/proposal process from the vendor's perspective
- the criteria that will be used to evaluate the vendors
- timing with which the vendor must comply
- descriptions of any specific terminology or specialized terms
- open questions or issues
NOTE: You do not have a list of specific requirements. Create them to the best of your ability using your own experience and Internet research. It is acceptable to use placeholders for the requirements. The process and flow of information/decisions are critical.
Problem 2:
Pat and the other decision makers are anxious to sign a contract with a vendor as soon as possible. They are strongly urging you just to sign a contract with the boutique consulting company you have always used for the staff redeployment activities. You are not convinced that it is the best firm to do the job, and you are concerned about its abilities to work effectively with the human resources team. There have been some differences of opinion in the past, and that firm has sometimes gone around the project manager, directly to Pat. The firm defers to Pat and does not always make the hard decisions that need to be made. (You suspect that this is why Pat wants to use the firm and not worry about looking at any others.) You have not had any experience with the firm directly, but you have heard the same story from several of your peers who have worked with the firm.
Describe your approach to solving this difference of opinion. Be sure to answer the following questions:
A) What is the best way to respond to Pat and the decision makers?
B) Is choosing this vendor consistent with the vendor strategy you chose during the group project? If not, what are the implications of using the vendor?
C) What are the benefits of completing the full-vendor analysis?
D) If you chose to go with the vendor, what could you do to minimize the risk of the vendor behaving in the same way? What could you build into the contract to address your concerns?