I overheard a conversation between a husband and his wife on a Friday evening. The husband had indicated he was going out with the boys that evening. The wife concerned, asked what time he was coming back home.
The husband’s answer was that the watering hole they were intending to visit was not very interesting. The question was answered, but not appropriately.
The wife had to infer the meaning of a watering hole that was not interesting in relation to the question of time of return from the drink with the boys.
The wife understood the husband was trying to communicate that he was going to be early since there was nothing much to keep him engaged during the outing.
This type of communication is very common in our social lives, but has adverse effects in business.
The word “prevarication” is speaking or acting evasively so as to hide the truth. Women are the biggest culprits of prevarication in communication when men propose love.
A majority of men will agree with me that they are in relationships in which they did not receive direct or precise response to their love proposals.
Women would accept by volunteering phone numbers, proposing the time for the return visit, or other non-direct means.
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Marriage institutions are concluded with no firm commitments. In contracts, agreements are concluded if there is an offer and acceptance. Acceptance must meet some conditions that include the following:
• It must be unconditional. If acceptance alters the provisions of the offer, it amounts to a counter offer which cancels or invalidates the initial offer
• Acceptance must be communicated directly to the offerer
• Acceptance must be communicated within the timelines stated.
In business, equivocation might be unintentional or deliberate. In tendering, prevarication can be also be deliberate or by error. Chancers can prevaricate in responding to enquiries for the purpose of deceiving would be buyers.
Some suppliers may fail to present responsive bids because they are worried about the technical aspects and the price of their offers, in the process belittling qualification criteria.
The common areas that would-be suppliers fail to comply with tender requirements include:
• Failure to state the validity period of their offers
• Failure to state or include in their write up, answers to specific questions in the request for proposal
• Failure to include requested forms and certificates in the bid document.
There are some business relationships that might arise from incomplete information or process. The challenge arises when parties want to enforce their rights in the relationship.
Some issues may not be covered in the implied agreement. It will be assumed the parties are in contract due to the exchanges that will have happened between the parties, and the problem arises in defining obligations in the event of a problem.
The solution is to avoid prevarication in the process of forming a contract. The process is two way involving the buyer and the supplier.
The buyer needs to be precise as to what they want from suppliers. This includes qualification criteria and technical specifications.
Qualification criteria must include measures of compliance and non-compliance. In simple, qualification criteria must be “Smart”, that is, they must be specific, measurable, attainable, reliable and time bound.
Suppliers must be able to read the fine lines of tender requirements.
Submissions must be complete and responsive.
