How to Evaluate an IT Staffing Vendor (A Scorecard You Can Actually Use)
OKAYA
A practical 8-factor scorecard to evaluate IT staffing vendors — beyond RFP theater. Red flags, pilot design, and what good looks like.
Most IT staffing RFPs measure the wrong things.
They ask for headcount, office locations and a rate card. Vendors send back glossy decks, and procurement ranks the cheapest compliant response. Six months on, the seats are still open, the resumes look recycled, and everybody's asking why "the program" isn't working.
We've sat on both sides of that table for twenty years. This is the scorecard we'd want a client to use on us, and on anyone else pitching talent acquisition support.
Why RFP theater fails
An empty seat costs more than the salary math shows. We've written about that in The Real Cost of an Empty Seat. Getting the right person in fast matters a lot more than shaving a nickel off the bill rate.
Plenty of vendor evaluations still reward:
The lowest markup
Whoever promises "we can submit tomorrow"
A giant database number nobody's asked to prove converts into hires
You can win on every one of those and still never send a shortlist a hiring manager wants to interview.
The 8-factor scorecard
Score each factor 1 to 5, and weight them for your own program. A regulated bank and a startup doing a surge hire shouldn't use the same weights. The total isn't the point. The conversation you have while scoring is.
1. Role understanding before sourcing
Good: before anyone touches LinkedIn, they ask about the stack, how the team's built, what's a must-have versus a nice-to-have, what the interview loop looks like, and why the last person left.
Weak: "Send the JD, we'll send resumes today."
2. Evidence of relevant fills
Good: recent, specific examples in your space (cloud, data, support and so on), with the level and engagement type spelled out. A logo wall doesn't count.
Weak: a slide of Fortune 500 logos and nothing about the actual roles.
3. Candidate quality process
Good: you can see their phone-screen criteria, someone sanity-checks the tech before a candidate lands on your calendar, and they want feedback on every reject.
Weak: a pile of submissions and "the HM can decide."
4. Speed with honesty
Good: a realistic window for the first shortlist on this role, and a straight answer on what could slow it down.
Weak: guaranteed 48-hour fills on every req.
5. Bench and database that actually search
Good: they can walk you through how they search (skills, recency, work authorization filters) instead of just quoting a profile count. OKAYA publicly cites 2.5M+ profiles in our ATS. What you should care about is what that does for your req, not the size of the number.
Weak: "Millions of candidates," with no method behind it.
6. Compliance without killing the candidate
Good: a clear path for W2, C2C, background checks and E-Verify, with timelines set early so people don't ghost halfway through. We're an E-Verify registered employer. Ask any vendor how they handle candidates dropping off during checks.
Weak: compliance shows up as a surprise in week three.
7. Account behavior under an MSP / VMS
If you buy through a managed program, read this next to Getting Better Results From Your MSP and VMS Staffing Program.
Good: they still bring strong people when VMS rates are tight, and they'll tell you a req is mispriced rather than send warm bodies.
Weak: they only chase Tier-1 reqs and go quiet when a role gets hard.
8. Partnership after the start date
Good: regular check-ins, replacement terms that don't feel like a fight, and real help when the scope drifts.
Weak: you never hear from them again after the offer letter.
Quick way to use it: score three vendors side by side. If two come out even on price, go with whoever scored higher on 1, 3 and 8. Those are usually where programs fall apart.
Red flags in vendor pitches
Walk away, or at least slow down, when you hear:
"We specialize in everything." If they can't point to recent fills, it's a marketing line.
Rate-only competition. When the whole pitch is about markup, get ready for resume spam.
No questions about your interview process. They're tuning their funnel. Your time isn't on their list.
Fake urgency. "Lock in this candidate tonight," and there's no sign of a competing offer.
Refusal to run a small pilot. They want the big MSA signed first and the proof never comes.
Blame-shifting. Every miss is your process or the market. It's never their screening.
How a 30-day pilot should work
Keep it small. Pick one or two live reqs.
Week 1: Run an intake workshop. Agree on a scorecard for the candidates this time, and pin down must-haves and disqualifiers.
Weeks 2–3: First shortlist. Track how many the vendor actually phone-screened, how many interviews turned into onsites, and how long it took from intake to the first slate worth your time.
Week 4: Debrief and decide whether to keep, expand or cut. If you're continuing, get replacement and communication SLAs in writing.
A pilot costs less than a bad hire. It also costs less than another year with the seat empty.
What to do with this scorecard
Print it and bring it to your next three vendor calls. Hand a copy to procurement so "cheapest compliant" stops being the only column anyone reads.
If you'd like a second opinion on a live req, whether it's contract, contract-to-hire or direct hire, our team works those every day through talent acquisition. Or get in touch and bring the scorecard along. We're happy to be graded on it.