Most government RFPs aren’t vague because teams are careless — they’re vague because people are trying to be “fair.” Broad language feels safe. In reality, it’s exactly what gets agencies sued, protested, and stalled for years. In this episode of Untangled, we break down why subjective RFP language turns procurement into a beauty contest — and how vendors use that ambiguity to file protests that agencies can’t defend. We walk through a real-world permitting system case where a city lost two y...
All content for Untangled is the property of Abhijit Verekar and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Most government RFPs aren’t vague because teams are careless — they’re vague because people are trying to be “fair.” Broad language feels safe. In reality, it’s exactly what gets agencies sued, protested, and stalled for years. In this episode of Untangled, we break down why subjective RFP language turns procurement into a beauty contest — and how vendors use that ambiguity to file protests that agencies can’t defend. We walk through a real-world permitting system case where a city lost two y...
Procurement Politics: How to Keep Vendor Selection Fair & Focused
Untangled
42 minutes
4 months ago
Procurement Politics: How to Keep Vendor Selection Fair & Focused
Procurement isn’t just paperwork—it’s politics. And if you don’t manage it strategically, your entire ERP project could be compromised. In this episode of Untangled, the Avero team digs into the behind-the-scenes dynamics that shape fair vendor selection—and what public agencies can do to stay above reproach. You’ll learn: How to avoid RFP language that favors one vendorWhy Phase 0 discovery builds better, more neutral requirementsWhat it really means to be vendor agnostic (and how to spot re...
Untangled
Most government RFPs aren’t vague because teams are careless — they’re vague because people are trying to be “fair.” Broad language feels safe. In reality, it’s exactly what gets agencies sued, protested, and stalled for years. In this episode of Untangled, we break down why subjective RFP language turns procurement into a beauty contest — and how vendors use that ambiguity to file protests that agencies can’t defend. We walk through a real-world permitting system case where a city lost two y...
