Vendor evaluation
scorecard.

Agree the requirement before opening the proposals

Write the business outcome, required operating scenario and decision owner. Have the responsible specialists identify the mandatory requirements. Ask all vendors to respond to the same brief and make exclusions explicit.

Separate mandatory gates from weighted preferences

A gate is a requirement that cannot be traded against price or a high total score. Record each as Passed, Unresolved or Failed, with its evidence and responsible reviewer. Examples include a required capability, integration compatibility, service coverage and an agreed data-handling requirement. These examples are prompts: your team must define the actual requirements.

A failed mandatory gate makes the current proposal ineligible under the agreed brief. An unresolved gate holds the decision until evidence is obtained. Keep gates separate from the score; do not turn a mandatory failure into a small point deduction.

Use a shared scoring scale

Use 0 for demonstrated failure, 1 for major gaps, 2 for partial fit, 3 for meeting the requirement, 4 for a stronger evidenced fit and 5 for a materially stronger evidenced fit. Define what those levels mean for each criterion before scoring.

A blank score means evidence is missing. It does not mean zero and it should prevent a complete total. Record evidence and unresolved questions alongside each score. The default weights below are an illustrative starting point, not a validated universal procurement standard.

Calculate the score and challenge the assumptions

For each criterion, weighted points equal weight multiplied by score divided by five. With weights totaling 100, a complete total is out of 100. The CSV includes spreadsheet formulas and leaves scores blank; use one copy per vendor. Check scores are within 0–5 and weights total 100 before relying on the spreadsheet total.

Small differences in totals should lead to discussion, not automatic selection. Review the assumptions, disagreements between reviewers and the criteria most sensitive to changed weights. Do not change weights just to make a preferred vendor win.

Keep a decision record

Document the chosen option, the rejected alternatives, accepted tradeoffs, remaining conditions and who approves the decision. Include the evidence needed for acceptance, handover and ongoing ownership. Read the worked example for a fully labelled hypothetical comparison.

Adapt it to the supplier category

For industrial equipment, pair the scorecard with a common operating scenario and a lifecycle-cost comparison. For AI suppliers, use the AI vendor due-diligence questions to identify relevant tests and evidence. NIST's voluntary AI Risk Management Framework provides further risk-management context for AI; it does not endorse these weights or this worksheet.

Example criteria & weights