Like all of us, the people who make buying decisions in the federal government are influenced by their own biases, perceptions, and views of the world. Although the government uses an ostensibly objective numeric scoring system to evaluate proposals, in the end it's a person who assigns the score. It's not much different from when your teachers graded you way back when. A proposal evaluator reads a submitted resume and decides the person on the resume is graded out at a score of 87 out of 100. Why not an 85 or 89? Because it is a subjective process and all procurement decisions boil down to a subjective judgment no matter how sophisticated the scoring scheme.

Scoring usually doesn't occur when products are purchased, but essentially the same thing happens. A buyer may say that product pricing, a particular feature, fast delivery time, or the availability of an extended warranty is his basis for selecting Product A over Product B. In fact, Product A and B may be virtually identical; the difference is that the seller of Product A employed a more effective sales approach. Whether buying one million paperclips or a $10 million software system, the most important factor in making the sale is usually what the buyer has learned from salespeople. A salesperson's goal is to make a sale by helping buyers make informed decisions.

Information garnered from a vendor's references, from colleagues who have past experience with a vendor, and the general reputation and brand identity of the vendor all contribute to what comes down to a buyer's subjective decision based on value.