Practice · IT Sourcing & Vendor Management
Sourcing strategy, scorecards, negotiation and vendor management — from someone who rebuilt IT procurement across $4B in annual spend and then ran the programs himself from inside the business.
Why This One Is Different
Most procurement transformation fails the same way. A strategy is written, a framework is presented, and the business units quietly carry on buying the way they always did. The deliverable was a document when what was needed was a toolbox.
At JPMorgan Chase, David LaRue re-engineered IT procurement across $4B in annual spend and four divisions — building a practical process and a vendor scorecard that the divisions adopted. Adoption was the measure, not the framework. At True Value he then ran the multi-vendor program himself as chief architect, and competitive sourcing cut IT expense $8M a year.
That is a different credential from running a selection. It is having built the function that runs selections, inside organizations large enough that the politics mattered more than the methodology.
Looking for how an IQ4hire engagement runs for you? That is Find, Fit, Execute. This page is the sourcing work done inside other companies.
Engagements
| Organization | Category | Scope | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan ChaseIQ4hire · 2001–04 | Procurement Re-engineering | Re-engineered IT procurement across $4B in annual spend and four divisions. Built a practical procurement process and a vendor scorecard that turned an overarching strategy into a toolbox the divisions actually adopted — the hard part, and the reason it held. | $4B Spend4 divisions |
| McDonald'sIQ4hire · 2001–03 | RFP · Evaluation · Contract | Designed the RFPs, evaluation frameworks, scorecards, negotiations and contracts for the data center, connectivity and service-outsourcing selections, and served on the five-person team for the global ERP selection. Favorable terms increased coverage while reducing risk. | $600M ProgramSaved $72M |
| Hartford InsuranceIQ4hire · 2001–04 | Outsourcing Selection | Led the application-maintenance outsourcing selection and the contract negotiation behind it, across a mixed legacy and modern application portfolio. | OutsourcingSaved $30M |
| CNA InsuranceIQ4hire · 2001–04 | Negotiation · DR | Negotiated a disaster-recovery contract delivering 5× application coverage against a $48M initiative — a structural win in the terms rather than a discount on the price. | 5× CoverageSaved $5M · Avoided $21M |
| True Value CompanyDirector, Enterprise Architecture · 2013–18 | Sourcing Program · GEP | Ran a multi-vendor sourcing program as chief architect — Teradata, Adobe Commerce and Experience Cloud, loyalty, GEP procurement and an application and infrastructure outsourcing selection — managing 20 direct and 100+ indirect staff. | Multi-VendorCut $8M/yr + $700K |
| DuPage County, IllinoisERP Advisory Board · 2006 | Public Sector · Oversight | Served on the advisory board guiding the county through a $6.7M ERP replacement with a large systems integrator — sourcing governance from the client side of the table. | $6.7M ERP |
| AVSC & Designed AlloySteve · 2001–12 | Contract Negotiation | Consolidated multiple telecommunication contracts for $750,000+ in savings, negotiated maintenance contracts across the data center, and reviewed, negotiated and approved every telecom, vendor and service contract at Designed Alloy. | Contracts OwnedSaved $750K+ |
What We Evaluate
A headline discount is the easiest concession for a vendor to give and the easiest to claw back at renewal. Coverage, caps, exit rights and change-of-control are worth more and are negotiated once. CNA's 5× coverage was a terms win, not a price win.
Weighted criteria agreed before proposals arrive, scored by the people who have to live with the outcome. A scorecard built after the demos exists to justify a decision already made.
Run-rate buys do not need an RFP, and a formal process that costs more than the purchase is a tax on the organization. Large, irreversible decisions get the full structure. Matching the process to the stakes is most of the saving.
Most value leaks post-signature — unmanaged renewals, scope creep, unclaimed service credits, auto-escalators nobody diaried. Vendor management is the half of sourcing that is usually unstaffed.