Student Case

TA (30%) TQ (30%) BS (40%)

Martin Company 5.58 6.63 8.09 6.9

General Dynamics Astronautics 5.27 5.35 8.52 6.59

North American Aviation 5.09 6.66 7.59 6.56

General Electric Company 5.16 5.6 7.99 6.42

McDonnell Aircraft Corp 5.53 5.67 7.62 6.41

Formula is (TA * .3) + (TQ * .3) + (BS * .4)

North American rated third out of five contractors in the Weighted Total column, yet was awarded the contract. That happened because of past successful experience of North American Aviation in developing high performance military and research aircraft. Based on their portfolio, North American Aviation had a higher simple rating score over General Dynamics Astronautics in the Technical Qualification. Having a working relationship with NASA the Reputation of North American Aviation was already established with the client. This would have been a factor on the decision process of selecting a contractor. Most companies follow a prescribed procedure for evaluating and comparing proposals. The procedure is somewhat more intricate when it involves assessing each proposed project for its contribution to a portfolio of projects; this includes looking at the project's contribution to company strategic goals, the resources it will require, and its comparative benefits (expected financial return or cost-benefit ratio). At the time the board was impressed North American Aviation with Technical Qualification and felt that North American Aviation had a better fit to contractor resources and technology that they should be awarded the contract over General Dynamics Astronautics. So, their technical qualification is the best among others, about 6.66, and it's important characteristic. Even if their technical approach not the best, they can easily improve it through additional design effort, according to the board. The next reason for their award that they were recommended by the board, and North American is close associated with NACA (NASA's predecessor agency), it means they are partners.

In conclusion base on past successful experience of North American in this area of technical experience it is very important as the fact that work with firm's partners, reliable partners, is more preferably.