The short answer
Every proposal claims experience and a good process. The differences show up in how a supplier handles disagreement, change and the end of the relationship.
Ask about those directly, because the answers are hard to rehearse and very informative.
Questions worth asking
| Question | What you are listening for |
|---|---|
| What would you push back on here | Willingness to disagree |
| Who exactly will do the work | Not a different team after signing |
| What happens when scope changes | A process, not an argument |
| What went wrong on a recent project | Honesty, and what they changed |
| How would we leave | A real answer, not discomfort |
The last question matters most and is asked least. A supplier comfortable explaining how you would take the work elsewhere is telling you something useful.
Check what you can verify
- Speak to a reference whose project is a few years old, not a recent one.
- Ask that reference what they would do differently.
- Look at something they built that is still running.
- Confirm the named people are actually available.
- Check the contract says what the conversation said.
An older reference is far more useful than a recent one. Everything looks fine at handover; what matters is how it held up.
Answers that should give you pause
- A fixed price for work nobody has scoped
- No questions asked about your process or data
- Reluctance to name who will do the work
- Discomfort discussing how you would exit
- A timeline that assumes nothing goes wrong
The second point is the strongest signal. A supplier who does not ask difficult questions before quoting has not understood the problem.
Start with something small
A short first piece of paid work tells you more than any selection process: how they communicate, whether estimates hold, and whether working with them is straightforward.
It costs a fraction of the project and is the most reliable check available.