Advisory fee proposals are comparable only when they cover the same evidence, workstreams and coordination responsibilities. A lower total may exclude specialist review, management interviews or revisions that the buyer assumes are included. Compare the route to the required decision-support package rather than rank firms by an isolated hourly rate.
Advisory fee proposals are comparable only when they cover the same evidence, workstreams and coordination responsibilities. A lower total may exclude specialist review, management interviews or revisions that the buyer assumes are included. Compare the route to the required decision-support package rather than rank firms by an isolated hourly rate.
List the financial, legal and coordination tasks in each proposal. Identify document coverage, entities, jurisdictions, periods and expected meetings. Ask advisers to state what they will rely on without independent verification and what additional work would be required if the records are incomplete.
Do not treat two reports with similar titles as equivalent. One may summarise information supplied by management, while another performs a different level of analysis or review under its engagement terms.
Ask which roles perform the work and who signs or reviews the deliverables. Evaluate whether the proposed team matches the matter's complexity, without assuming that more senior hours automatically produce a better result.
Clarify how external specialists are appointed and charged. If a firm coordinates another adviser, identify whether coordination and the specialist's fee are included or separate. The buyer should not discover a major required workstream only after the initial engagement begins.
Ask each bidder how it would handle a new entity, a missing record set or a material revision to the project assumptions. Request the approval process and charging basis. A statement that reasonable revisions are included needs enough definition to be useful for the actual assignment.
For example, adding another contract family may affect both legal review and the financial model. The fee comparison should identify whether the proposals account for that cross-workstream effect rather than price only the extra pages reviewed by one team.
Build a comparison showing accepted scope, exclusions, assumptions and potential additional stages. Have the relevant professional owners assess whether each proposal's method is appropriate. Purchasing should not infer technical adequacy solely from report length or a fixed-price offer.
Document why the selected team fits the project and where the budget remains conditional. A transparent staged proposal can be preferable to an apparently comprehensive fee with undefined exclusions. The commercial decision should support the professional work the business actually needs, while keeping additional commitments subject to informed approval.
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