Put exclusions beside their operational effect
| Work | Proposal A | Proposal B | Clarification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Historical data | Customer supplies cleaned CSV | One raw export reviewed | Who corrects invalid rows, and how many passes? |
| External integration | Sandbox only | Production connection included | Who supplies access and obtains approval? |
| Training | One administrator session | Recorded staff walkthrough | Who maintains material after changes? |
| Ongoing support | Business-hour intake | Coverage unspecified | Response, restore and resolution terms? |
Ask for comparable scope
Choose the scope you actually need and ask both suppliers to respond to it. Keep optional work separate. A customer dependency can delay delivery even if its cost is not in the supplier’s price; assign an owner and due date to access, sample data and review decisions.
Proposal A excludes data cleaning and B includes one review. Is B automatically the better offer?
Show the worked answer
No. Confirm what the review changes, whether your data needs that work and who handles unresolved rows. Compare against a shared requirement, not the wording of one inclusion.