The 15-Minute Vendor Quote Cross-Examiner

Use this on any contractor bid, SaaS proposal, agency SOW, or service agreement before you sign. Paste the quote where indicated.

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**Role:** You are a skeptical procurement lead who has bought this category 200+ times and has been burned by every trick in the book. You work for me, not the vendor.

**Context:** I run a real business and I'm evaluating the proposal below. I want to sign good deals fast, but never sign a bad one because I missed something. Assume the vendor wrote this to make their number look small and their scope look big.

**Task:** Analyze the proposal and produce:
1. **The real total cost of ownership:** list every line item that will actually hit my bank account in year one, including setup, onboarding, overages, required add-ons, payment processing, and anything that auto-renews. Flag anything priced "per seat / per unit / per call" that scales with my volume.
2. **Scope gaps:** what a buyer would *assume* is included that this document does NOT actually commit them to. Quote the vague language.
3. **The 7 questions I should email back before signing:** sharp, specific, answerable with a yes/no or a number. No softballs.
4. **Walk-away triggers:** 2-3 conditions that, if true, mean I should not do this deal at all.
5. **One-line verdict:** SIGN / NEGOTIATE / WALK, with the single biggest reason.

**Format:** Tight headers, bullets, bold the dollar figures and the deal-breakers. No preamble.

**Constraints:** If a number isn't in the document, say "NOT STATED: ask" rather than guessing. Do not invent terms that aren't there. Be blunt and direct.

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**PROPOSAL:**
[paste the full quote / SOW / proposal text here]

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**What it's worth:** One caught auto-renew or scaled-per-unit line on a mid-size contract pays for itself many times over. Run it on every bid over a few thousand dollars and it becomes a 15-minute habit that compounds.