Proposals package pass-through, markup, minimums, and incentives differently, so headline rates cannot be compared.
Vendor Selection
Run The Processor RFP On One Defensible Basis.
From longlist to term sheet, Straata normalizes every proposal to one cost, contract, capability, and operating model the board can compare.
When every processor bid needs to answer the same question.
The Problem
A Gut Call Can Put Eight Figures Behind The Wrong Answer.
For CFOs, payments leaders, and product or operations teams choosing a first scaled processor or replacing one whose capabilities, technology, contract structure, or operating model no longer fit. Not for a sound incumbent where price and terms are the only gap, or for teams that already chose a processor and need the merchant-by-merchant move.
“We think another processor would be cheaper.”Board Exposure / Before Normalization
Unnormalized Bid RegisterBefore Effective Cost Basis
Bid APass-through plus markupAnnual rebateProvider managedNot Comparable
Bid BBundled rateGrowth creditSharedNot Comparable
Bid CSubscription plus basis pointsFee waiverPlatform ownedNot Comparable
Bid DBlended effective rateRamp incentiveContractedNot Comparable
Bids arrive in incomparable formats by design. The visible rate is only one part of the full-ramp economic answer.
Capability claims sit apart from integration effort, support obligations, risk, and contract terms.
A preferred vendor emerges before finance and the board can see a defensible total-cost and fit model.
What You Get
The Decision Model Behind The Award.
Every bidder answers the same requirements and economic questions. Straata turns the responses into one decision model across cost, terms, capabilities, implementation, and operating fit, then carries the finalists to a board-ready recommendation and term sheet.
Vendor Selection Decision BookFour Work Products
Normalized Cross-Section
One full-ramp Effective Cost Basis per vendor, ranked in dollars and tied back to proposal assumptions.
Scored Questionnaire
Requirements and claims scored across the same capability, implementation, support, and risk framework.
CapabilitiesScored
ImplementationScored
Operating riskScored
Finalist Negotiation
The short list is carried through economic, contract, support, and implementation diligence before the recommendation.
EconomicsOpening positionSharpened
TermsOpen issuesResolved
SupportGeneral promiseNamed
Term Sheet
The selected economics and operating commitments are carried into a term sheet the board and counsel can use.
01Economics and ramp assumptions
02Risk and support ownership
03Implementation commitments
04Governance and contract path
01
Requirements, decision criteria, and stakeholder alignment
02
Market scan, longlist, and bidder outreach
03
Standardized RFP and proposal intake
04
Normalized economics and total-cost comparison
05
Capability, contract, implementation, and operating-risk scoring
06
Finalist diligence, recommendation, and term-sheet support
Scale Boundary
Stripe is still the right starting choice through the first hundred million or two of volume; this service exists for the scale where that stops being true.
How It Works
Seven Controlled Phases From Scope To Award.
Each phase closes one decision before the next begins, so criteria, economics, diligence, and negotiation stay tied to the same selection record.
Processor RFP Control RegisterSeven Phases
01
Scoping
Align stakeholders, requirements, decision criteria, data inputs, and bidder rules.
Scope Locked
02
Longlist
Scan the market, screen operating models, and invite the field that can meet the brief.
Bidders Invited
03
Questionnaire
Issue one requirements and proposal structure, then close gaps before evaluation.
Responses Complete
04
Evaluation
Normalize Effective Cost Basis and score capability, contract, implementation, and risk.
Field Scored
05
Shortlist
Resolve diligence gaps and identify the finalists that survive the complete decision model.
Finalists Approved
06
Finalist Negotiation
Sharpen economics, support, implementation commitments, contract terms, and risk ownership.
Term Sheets Ready
07
Award
Deliver the recommendation, decision record, and handoff into contracting and implementation.
Vendor Selected
Proof / Public-Safe And De-Identified
The Economic Stakes Are Material At Platform Scale.
Modeled means a quantified scenario. Executed means completed engagement work. Identified means a sized opportunity that has not yet been realized. Structural describes a market condition.
One basis point equaled $600K a year on a $6B platform.
Volume placed across completed selection engagements.
Migration friction has collapsed: what was a 6 to 12 month threat is now a 4 to 8 week project.
What Goes Wrong Without A Controlled RFPPre-RFP Risk Register
Pre-RFP Defensive Amendments
A late concession moves the anchor before the market has produced a comparable alternative.
Incumbent Attention Drop
Service and escalation coverage weaken before the replacement decision is complete.
Board Pre-Selection
A preferred name forms before criteria, weighting, economics, and operating fit are visible together.
Two-Vendor Compression
The field narrows too early, reducing leverage and hiding alternatives that fit the operating model better.
executed
A de-identified field-service SaaS engagement records that a processor was selected, beta completed, and the replacement payments program launched live. The case asserts no savings amount. It supports experience carrying a selection through launch, not a claim that Vendor Selection alone caused a quantified result.
Fit Check
Use Vendor Selection When The Processor Itself Must Change.
Best For: Platforms replacing an incumbent or selecting a first scaled payments partner. Choose This When: Processor fit, capabilities, or operating risk are wrong, not merely price.
Engagement Fit And Routing RegisterChoose The Right Motion
Processor Must ChangeVendor Selection
Trigger
Replace the incumbent.
Motion
Run a full RFP.
What You Leave With
A term sheet from a ranked field.
Incumbent Still FitsContract Negotiation
Trigger
Re-tune the incumbent.
Motion
Run a renegotiation.
What You Leave With
Reset economics on current rails.
Processor Already Chosen
A book already committed to a processor goes to Managed Vendor Migration .
What Happens Next
Start The Selection With A Scoped Longlist.
The first call scopes the decision, confirms the incumbent should be replaced, and identifies the inputs needed to build the longlist and Effective Cost Basis.