Confessions from an Intake & Orchestration RFP

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Hi {{FIRST_NAME|readers}},

Big week around here. Two things before we get to tonight's guest post.

1/ beehiiv just named us one of their 30 favorite B2B newsletters to follow in 2026.

Our newsletter has never won an award. We've never been on a "best of" list. We just show up every Sunday night and try to write the most useful article possible.

Apparently someone noticed because... There’s 75k+ newsletters on beehiiv…🏆

Help us celebrate!

2/ We dropped a 15-minute mockumentary about what we're building this year.

Because if you're going to announce your roadmap, you might as well make fun of yourself in the process…

Fair warning: things escalate quickly…🥶❄️

Now, tonight's main course.

I've been following Michelle Cleary's sharp writing for a while now and finally asked if she'd guest post on the newsletter.

She just went through a full Intake & Orchestration RFP and came back with war stories, receipts, and advice for both sides of the table (including one CFO move that got a vendor permanently blacklisted).

I thought it was a great story to share with procurement pros and software vendors alike. Let me know how you like it with a quick reply.

This year, we're making a conscious effort to find the next great ProcureTech voices. People in the trenches making tech work with stories worth telling.

If that's you, we want to hear from you.

Onwards!

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by Michelle Cleary

If you're like me, it seems like the only thing more buzzwordy in the procurement world than AI these days is Intake and Orchestration.

Admittedly, two years ago this wasn't even remotely on my radar, and certainly wasn't an area I could convince anyone in procurement or finance leadership to fund. However, it is absolutely top of mind these days and something I think is actually worth all the chatter it's getting.

There is clearly a desire within procurement to elevate the function, embrace technology and AI, and improve workflows to allow us all to operate more efficiently and effectively.

The power of intake and orchestration tools is becoming well-known across procurement functions, hence the emergence of so many vendors in this space. It's also quite refreshing to see companies prioritizing procurement and actually providing funding to explore tools like this — finally!

But let's back up a minute, because not everyone is up to speed on what Intake and Orchestration even is or the potential value it holds. This came up recently in a call with a colleague who kept hearing about how many procurement teams were deploying I&O solutions but wasn't sold on the value proposition.

As someone who just recently went through a lengthy I&O RFP and as a born skeptic, I can candidly say there is definitely value here, without question. At a high level, I&O is a fancy way of saying "we need a better front door for procurement (requests for sourcing, NDAs, access to catalogs, access to contracts, etc.) than just using email", and we also need a better way of managing a request’s lifecycle across stakeholders and systems.

Think about it: how much time do you spend scrolling through emails trying to find a request or track down the latest update? A proper I&O tool not only provides one singular front door to users but also enables stakeholders to see the status of requests in real time.

There are a ton of other modules and efficiencies these tools provide, but this alone should be enough to pique your interest, and hopefully open the door to a funding conversation with your CFO. Obtaining senior leadership backing (and funding!) is critical to secure before you begin the RFP process.

Anyone who has asked for a budget knows it’s not easy, you have to build a strong business case to support why you need the funds. Focus on tangible synergies or bottom line savings that the company will realize by investing in the technology – this can take on various forms such as:

While you’re asking for the funding to pursue a tool, make sure to obtain a senior level sponsor for the project – this is almost as important as the funding!

Having someone from your C Suite sponsor your RFP adds a level of validity (which is sad that you need!) but it helps to ensure that those required to leverage the tool you procure know that the directive is coming from the very top. I&O tools are extremely cross functional in nature, so it’s a good idea to ensure you have the support of leadership not only within the procurement function but also in legal, IT and Risk.

So before we dive into I&O, I should probably elaborate on why I’m qualified to speak on this topic. Like most procurement folks, I have a bit of an untraditional path into procurement. Having spent the first 10 years of my career in traditional supply chain and ops role, I eventually went into a commercial marketing role which had a very close tie to procurement and I began to see the value of being very good friends with my procurement team and how they really were the gatekeepers to a lot of things moving forward within the organization.

Since then, I’ve spent my time both as a procurement consultant and a marketing procurement professional across large global brands, helping to build and shape the future of procurement within the organization. I’ve built this function from the ground up and know first hand the power of creating a strong procurement department.

The first thing every vendor needs to know about pitching their I&O tool is this: you are pitching to procurement people. We live to poke holes and pressure-test vendors, it's our bread and butter. So you better come with your A game. You're never going to pull the wool over the eyes of a strong procurement person, so my honest advice is to ditch the gimmicky sales tactics that might work with marketing teams and be prepared to talk details.

We live in the weeds, you need to be ready to go there with us. There is a misnomer that exists out there about what a procurement person does somewhere along the way we’ve been labeled as Buyers; when in reality a procurement team consists of a lot more than just Buyers. Typically the folks you will engage with during an RFP process will be more strategic category management procurement professionals, who’ve spent a while honing true subject matter expertise; whether within a specific category or as an expert in procurement transformation.

Many procurement professionals who are category experts have actually sat on the other side of the fence (ex. I’ve been in Marketing roles so I understand the needs of Marketing a lot more intricately which allows me to be more successful as a Marketing Procurement professional).

You may also get some on the team who are ex-consultants in procurement, coming from the Big Four firms (or some smaller ancillary organizations); team members from this background are definitely going to be prone to digging deep on change management, implementation, and full workflow.

In short, it’s critical that you understand the dynamics of the team you’re pitching to understanding the backgrounds, skill sets and personalities of the decision making team will help you to properly tailor your pitch and demo.

In the same vein, I cannot stress enough the importance of understanding what your potential client is actually looking for, and only pitching to that need. I see this all the time with marketing vendors: if I'm running a pitch for a new PR Agency, do not try to sell me on your other services; it's a major red flag and a turnoff.

Thoroughly read the brief and ask questions prior to your pitch so you can demo the solutions that address what we're actually trying to solve. There was a lot of functionality I saw during my RFP that was extremely cool, but mostly nothing we were ready for, looking for, or could afford.

Finally, make sure you have someone with real procurement knowledge as a key part of your pitch team. We love nerding out with like-minded procurement geeks, and having a solution presented by someone who has experienced the same issues we're trying to fix goes a long way. We can spot a phony a mile away, so don't try to fake it.

In our RFP, I can candidly say we were presented with the full spectrum of options, from highly established, well-known providers to virtual unknowns. As a total nerd, this was exciting, as it allowed us to truly make the most informed decision for our needs.

I cannot stress enough how much value I place on running a proper RFP for this type of
work, it is critically important to see what's out there, because this is definitely not a
shallow pool of one or two providers like it was a few years ago. When I run RFPs for my marketing stakeholders, I usually have an unwritten rule to invite 5-6 agencies or vendors, for the following reasons:

This rule has proven right time and time again, and this RFP was no exception. Seeing a wide range of offerings also meant seeing a healthy mix of mistakes and triumphs across pitches:

Mistake #1 is one I'm still shocked to see in every single RFP I run: not being able to solve for the business need. This goes back to properly understanding the brief. If, upon reading it, you determine you don't have the solution that meets the need, politely decline to participate. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having the self-awareness to acknowledge you're not the right fit; it's far better than making a group of people sit through a disastrous pitch.

Actual Real Life Example: It was obvious within 7 minutes of their pitch that one of the vendors did not have anything close to an I&O tool; we actually felt second hand embarrassment for the poor person who had to spend the next 90 minutes pitching us. When we gave them the feedback, they said “yea we know we don’t really have this functionality”, infuriating!

They should have declined to participate instead of wasting everyone’s time.

Mistake #2 is not following the RFP directions, sounds obvious, right? It's not. A good brief will give you clear instructions on timing, point of contact, and deliverable dates. Going outside those rules of engagement immediately sours the vibe. Don't overreach to senior leaders to get a leg up; don't be late on deliverables. Your behavior during the pitch process gives us a window into what you'd be like as a partner (even if the delivery
teams are different…), make sure it's a good one.

Actual Real Life Example: one participant in our RFP had their CFO reach out directly to our CFO at the onset of the RFP and offer to provide a discount if we agreed to cancel the RFP. Our CFO never responded and instead forwarded it to us and said “do not hire them.”

Mistake #3 is overselling and upselling. Similar to Mistake #1, it comes back to understanding what we need. Focusing too much on upselling things we don't need leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

Actual Real Life Example: our brief clearly stated that we were not looking to replace our P2P tool; however, one participant pitched and priced us for not only I&O but also a full end to end P2P. When we pushed back on this, they actually refused to price us on only I&O (they were one of the first ones we pushed out of the process)

Mistake #4, which likely won't come as a shock, is pricing. I try hard not to make my RFPs purely price-focused, finding the right partner matters more, but price is obviously a big factor, and it goes both ways. Coming in with a completely outrageous price is an immediate red flag and, depending on how far off it is, can be a total deal-killer. If you're 3x my budget, I'm probably not going to bother negotiating. Conversely, coming in too low raises eyebrows about your company's legitimacy and staying power.

Pricing is always a balancing act, avoid the extremes on both ends.

Actual Real Life Example: We were very clear on the term and number of users we were looking to procure the tool for; however we had a vendor who refused to price to our needs and instead used their own pricing model which resulted in such an absurdly astronomical price we didn’t even negotiate it, we simply told them they were far too high.

They immediately came back and reduced it by 40%… which made us even more turned off.

Mistake #5 is not understanding the market. There are a lot of players in this space now, many offering very strong tools at vastly different price points. Humility goes a long way when you're not the only fish in the pond. As buyers, we have plenty of viable options, as a supplier, you should understand the market landscape and adjust your approach accordingly.

Actual Real Life Example: We invited one of the market leaders to participate in our RFP and it was clear from the onset that there was a high level of ego in play, both in the way they presented themselves and they way they priced. They absolutely failed to realize that there were plenty of other options out there, their ego lost them this business.

On the flip side, I saw some really impressive things during the pitch process that I'd encourage all vendors to replicate, behaviors that won the business or placed vendors as a strong #2 or #3:

Best practice #1 was partnership. This may surprise you, as it's often the most underestimated part of an RFP, but it's frequently the most important. I've said many times that RFPs are like speed dating: we're checking if you're fit-for-purpose, but we're also making sure we actually like you and can work with you. Our winner meshed perfectly with our team from the start. We felt they would be an amazing collaborative partner and that we could grow with them. Never underestimate how important team chemistry is even if it’s not an explicit requirement in the RFP.

Actual Real Life Example: there were two vendors with who we had a strong connection. This went a long way with our team. At the end of the day though, our #2 choice had an absolutely disastrous key member that unfortunately soured us completely on them. It gave us pause and made us wonder: “If they were hired, would others be as much of a mess?”

Best practice #2 was having a good balance of AI features. Some vendors went so heavy on AI that we weren't sure we'd ever actually work with a human, a massive concern that ruled some out. We were transparent upfront about our company's limited AI maturity, and those who listened were able to showcase their AI capabilities while also reassuring us that a strong human element remained central to the experience.

Actual Real Life Example: Our strong #3 choice was in a pretty good position but lost for 2 very specific reasons… One of those was AI. We were pretty clear that our company was not mature in AI but they didn’t listen and went SO heavy into complex AI functionality that we began to question if the tool was actually any good or if it this was an AI shadow game. It also made us feel like they didn’t listen to our needs and culture.

Best practice #3 was references. I experienced a real roller coaster with reference checks during this process. Please make sure you give good references. We were on the fence between our #1 and #2 choice, and the reference checks literally made our decision for us. I'm still genuinely puzzled by some of the references we were given, and I feel bad knowing they cost those vendors the deal.

Actual Real Life Example: The second reason our #3 choice lost is because of their references. They gave us a handful of references to call, none of whom are even actively using the tool. Some had been trying to go live for over a year. It was incredibly odd and made us wonder if the company was still in a start up mode and not actually live yet.

Best practice #4 goes back to a key theme: focusing on solving the business problem. Our two strongest options clearly understood our core issues and built their demos around helping us address them. They didn't try to upsell us or push us in a different direction, and it made for much smoother conversations rooted in a shared goal. They didn't feel salesy, they felt like true partners.

Actual Real Life Example: Our winner truly felt the most like a partner. They had a strong understanding of procurement, took the time to understand our challenges and explained how their team and their tech could help us do our jobs more efficiently. In addition, they just felt like genuinely nice people to work with.

Procurement People: I'm glad I went through this thorough RFP process, it's genuinely made me something of a subject matter expert on I&O. Every client is different, so the solution we chose may not be right for you, but that's entirely the point of an RFP. There are several very strong tools out there right now, so it's critical that you educate yourself on the options in the market, not only from a functional perspective but from a cost perspective.

Economics 101: when there's more supply, you as the buyer have more leverage on price. Even if you ultimately choose the most expensive option, make sure that decision is the result of due diligence and market analysis. Be clear and concise on why you're looking for an I&O tool so vendors can pitch to you on how they specifically meet that need.

Also, ensure you have a robust and transparent scorecard for properly evaluating vendors throughout the RFP process; this is an excellent way to ensure you have real time feedback and that your decision is based on robust data from all stakeholders vs, just the opinions of a select few.

I also encourage putting this evaluation criteria within your brief so that the vendors also know how they are being assessed; it sets you up for strong pitches and demos. In the RFP I ran, our evaluation criteria included the following:

Vendors: Do your homework. Understand your client, read their brief carefully, don't assume you know what they need, ask and tailor your pitch accordingly, not what you think they need. Remember, you are pitching to procurement people, so you need to know your stuff. Leave the fluff behind.

Insights into the Outcome: In our case, after a quick but robust RFP process, we selected our winner pretty easily, they had been our number one choice throughout the process. They were ahead of our #2 choice by a fair margin.

We wound up going with a fairly new player in the space which I think shocked even us because we had never even heard of them prior to beginning the RFP; however, there were some very clear reasons why they were unquestionably the winner:

It's exciting to see the evolution in this space and the ongoing innovation to address the unique needs of procurement teams. It's strange for procurement to finally be center stage, and I'm absolutely here for it.