Conflicts and Information Security Challenges in the IT Bidding Process

Abstract

The basic document of the business is the commercial offer2. The offer sets out the scope, professional contents, terms of trade and the price. Many times 10-15 specialist members can take part in the process of finalizing the offer. In this situation, both the supplier and customer side are in-house. Conflicts of interest are inevitable. The details of the commercial offer are strictly confidential, similarly to the alternative dispute resolution (mediation) process. In this study, I present the conflicts that typically arise during the lifecycle of an IT-focused commercial bidding process. I examine where there may be information security vulnerabilities in that process which a given company must respond to. The study builds on real corporate processes with a scientific approach.