Apparatus and method for providing interactive evaluation of potential vendors

A system for evaluating supplier capabilities to qualify a supplier as a vendor for a project, comprising:

• a first database system storing a plurality of industry quality standards;
• a second database system storing supplier information including existing vendor performance reports, historical vendor performance reports, supplier responses to project proposals, and audit reports generated during on-site evaluations of the supplier in accordance with selected quality maturity requirements;
• processing means for generating said selected quality maturity requirements from said first database system, said processing means generating a first-tier supplier maturity level on the basis of said supplier responses to said corresponding quality maturity requirements each having a weight value, and a second-tier supplier maturity level on the basis of said audit reports performed in accordance with said supplier responses and said first-tier maturity level;
• and
• a terminal device for providing data access to said processing means.

A method for responding to a request for proposal, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

• reading an electronic file comprising a plurality of questions related to said request for proposal, at least one of said plurality of questions corresponding to a selected set of quality maturity requirements;
• successively displaying said plurality of questions during an interactive session;
• selectively accessing a specification database in response to a supplier access request, to obtain information on the quality maturity requirements corresponding to a selected one of said displayed questions;
• receiving a supplier response to at least one of said displayed questions, and
• storing said at least one supplier response in an electronic file to generate a supplier response file.

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of sequences of instructions, said plurality of sequences of instructions including sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause said processor to perform the steps of:

• receiving an electronic file comprising a plurality of questions related to a request for proposal, at least one of said plurality of questions corresponding to a selected set of quality maturity requirements;
• successively displaying said plurality of questions during an interactive session;
• selectively accessing a specification database in response to a supplier access request to obtain information on the quality maturity requirements corresponding to a selected one of said displayed questions;
• receiving a supplier response to at least one of said displayed questions;
• and
• storing said supplier response in an electronic file to generate a supplier response file.

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of sequences of instructions, said plurality of sequences of instructions including sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause said processor to perform the steps of:

• receiving an electronic file comprising a plurality of questions related to a request for proposal, at least one of said plurality of questions corresponding to a selected set of quality maturity requirements;
• successively displaying said plurality of questions during an interactive session;
• selectively accessing a local database in response to a first supplier access request, to obtain information on the quality maturity requirements corresponding to a selected one of said displayed questions;
• selectively accessing a remote database in response to a second supplier access request, to retrieve remote data supplemental to, and complementary with, said selectively accessed maturity requirements;
• receiving a supplier response to at least one of said displayed questions;
• and
• storing said supplier response in an electronic file to generate a supplier response file.