How do you negotiate with multiple suppliers or consortiums for complex or large-scale projects?

A few typical pitfalls at this starting step> a) Failed or insufficient engagement from the parties who are supposed to define the tender requests together, making the tender requests handicaped b) Drown in overwhelming details and criteria from different stakeholders of the tender, missing target and priority c) Lack of supply market knowledge, waisting time in unrealistic requests.

1. Define your needs and objectives clearly 2. Collect all data that will be necessary for the other party to make a realistic offer. I like to provide 24 months. This shows our seasonality as well areas of growth / decline, etc. 3. Add company sales expectations for the next 12 - 24 months. 4. Create the to-be-used input template. This allows you to compare the different offers (apple-2-apple comparison).

An organized way conducting market research is a must to ensure efficiency and delivery time. Depending on the industry, a target market can be really huge and full of suppliers, products, service of varied levels. Tips for time saving and reliable result: a) start with the most accessible info channels b) cross check c) take the supplier you found good enough for the task, there will always be better ones in market, but our mission is not to excavate them all.

1. List down the suppliers you know 2. Search in professional media for new suppliers, for disruptive ones, etc 3. Review all suppliers to make sure they comply with your requirements. 4. In the first round, you can send an RFI to check who is interested. 5. The ones that responded positively to your RFI: check their financial situation and if OK, continue to RFQ.

Rounds of negotiation as necessary, by means of: - Breakdown line by line nego - Global discount after line by line - Net price nego before adding rebate, services and other conditions will reveal the bottom price and make offers comparable among different suppliers - Negotiate suppliers with their responsables at different position level - Know your nego priorities, take the offer fullfilling your priorities if you cannot have the all best offer - Split the buying requests into sub-tenders to simply the tasks where possible - Could be more efficient to retain a few suppliers cooperating together esp. when it requires high level of specilized skills.

Tips: - Know yourself and your counterpart for an insight of the positions, prons and cons, constraints, interests etc. - Have a plan B if the nego failed - It is a "trade" activity to conduct a negotiation, means the takeaway shall be comfortable for both parties to have a lasting and positive outcome - A sum up of the nego is necessairy for validation. Be sure all parties understood what have been agreed.

Very important to be open, flexible and creative in finding commom grounds in a negotiation. Obvious and objective auguments are easy to be negotiated, just be sure of your data sourcing being reliable. All others depend on negotiation skills, creative mindset and practical experience.

Additionly, and apart from the "hard side", you should assess the soft or human behavior side to have a supplier who is: Reliable Responsable Engaging Proactive and quick in reaction Consistent Enthousiast if possible

I like to use an evaluation template in which we evaluate hard and soft points. Each category is also weighted. This way, we try to avoid emotions or personal preferences. The people scoring a supplier are requested to explain their points when we notice that they deviate from the "standard" score by the rest of the team members. We to this after the RFQ to narrow down the list to the last 3 eligible suppliers and we us to prepare for final meetings.

Once contract is signed. Agree on a communication matrix, escalation procedure, and establish your "GANTT" to coordinate the integration and collaboration. During the first months (3 to 6), stay on top and keep close contact with suppliers management to secure smooth transition. Investing more than enough time during those first months will pay out in the long term. And ..... be honest and trustworthy.

Below will help you build a long term sain relationship: a) show them a promising future working with you, have them share your visions b) be consistent with your behavior c) respect and mutual trust: avoid playing trick d) support your suppliers to better work with your company's other departments e) Award and recognization are better than punishment

Leverage competition, prioritize transparency, establish clear project specifications, negotiate bulk discounts, consider long-term partnerships, evaluate consortium strengths, and ensure flexibility in contracts. Facilitate open communication, seek win-win solutions, and conduct thorough due diligence. Maintain a collaborative approach to optimize value and mitigate risks in complex, large-scale projects.