Slow The Burn: How To Make Risk-Resilient Vendor Choices

By Raul P. Lima, Executive Vice President, Clinical Operations, inSeption Group

Survey experts across the pharmaceutical industry, and you’ll find that many share similar principles for reducing financial risk when selecting an outsourcing partner, such as a contract research organization (CRO). This eBook brings together insights from professionals with experience in clinical operations and organizational leadership — both from sponsor and vendor perspectives — on how to protect clinical programs during the bidding and contracting process.

The eBook highlights three common red flags that often arise during outsourced vendor selection. It explores the risks of overlooking these warning signs and provides practical guidance for addressing them effectively.

The first article, Outsourcing Vendor Red Flag #1: Copy-And-Paste Bids & Cookie-Cutter Contracts (p. 5), examines how generic contracts often fail to address the unique challenges of a specific clinical program. These boilerplate agreements can lead to unexpected costs or delays and should be seen as a red flag that the vendor may not fully understand—or be capable of meeting—your specific needs. This article outlines ways to tailor contracts that better align with program goals and protect your budget.

The second article, Outsourcing Vendor Red Flag #2: Layers of Oversight and Process Are Impeding My Program (p. 9), delves into how excessive bureaucracy within a vendor organization can hinder, rather than help, your program. Multiple layers of management may serve the vendor’s structure, but do little to enhance speed, quality, or transparency for the client. Sometimes, promised flexibility clashes with rigid standard operating procedures (SOPs). The article suggests strategies to contractually incentivize desired vendor behaviors, not just outcomes.

The third article, Outsourcing Vendor Red Flag #3: A Bid Is Inaccurate or Suspiciously Low (p. 13), helps readers identify warning signs when a CRO’s bid doesn’t seem to add up — whether due to missing services or an unrealistically low price. The article offers actionable steps to assess bid validity, such as issuing detailed requests for proposals (RFPs), soliciting bids from multiple vendors, and asking for transparency on bundled line items. These tactics help reduce the risk of costly surprises and ensure that vendor pricing is both accurate and fair.