Competitive Bidding Process

• Competitive bidding is required for contracts and commodity orders valued at or above US$250,000
• Conference hotel, caterer and convention center contracts are exempt from this requirement; however, it is “best business practice” to follow a competitive bidding process for all contracts/orders. 
• It is the responsibility of the contract manager (staff or volunteer) to negotiate contracts in order to ensure the IEEE receives the best price and quality possible to meet the requirements. Bid process should include at least three suppliers.
• Contract manager shall complete "Supplier Justification" form in the electronic transmital form. 
• Strategic Sourcing staff shall maintain the authority to escalate any supplier selection and price justification to the Board either directly or by the alternate process. 
• Once finalized, all correspondence shall be electronically filed for central record/ retention.
   

The contract manager shall document and recommend the vendor selection based on:

• requirements; 
• best price;
• past reliability (good or bad);
• past reliability – not cost effective to switch to new supplier  (must justify);
• sole source for requirements - only supplier who can meet total requirements, unavailable resources/parts (must justify price is favorable);
• IEEE volume discount – other IEEE departments use supplier.