AI Vendor Evaluation Scorecard

A good AI vendor choice compounds; a poor one drags on your budget, security posture and customer experience for years. This scorecard exists to make the decision defensible and repeatable — not a gut-feel answer dressed up in a paper trail.

The 25-criterion framework covers the five pillars that matter most in UK procurement: capability (does it actually do what we need), security (UK GDPR alignment, certifications, breach history), risk (model provenance, vendor stability, IP indemnity), cost (total cost of ownership over three years in GBP) and strategic fit (integration with existing stack, roadmap alignment, commercial flexibility). Each criterion has an editable weight so you can tune the scorecard to your priorities.

The workbook compares up to three vendors side by side, auto-populates an executive summary with pillar scores, a rank and a shortlist recommendation, and runs eight red-flag checks — such as no signed UK GDPR Data Processing Agreement, unknown data-processing location, or code that stays with the vendor — so they cannot be overlooked. A built-in guide explains the 0–5 scoring scale, the default weights and how to adjust the shortlist thresholds.