It’s good practice to let participating suppliers know where they stand after evaluating the responses. You should tell suppliers when they have been unsuccessful and that you don’t intend to enter negotiations with them, within 2-3 weeks of making this decision.
However, in some instances you may want to keep competitive tension between the top-ranking suppliers. If there’s more than one supplier capable of delivering the contract, you may want to negotiate with the top-ranked supplier and reserve your position with the second-ranked supplier. If the negotiations with the top-ranked supplier fall through, you may then offer to negotiate with the next-ranked supplier. In this case, your agency can tell other highly ranked suppliers that you are negotiating with the preferred supplier and, should negotiations fail, they may still be considered for the contract opportunity.
