Section Two: Vendor Evaluation

Introduction

Section Objective:

A successful ASIC program needs a vendor capable of delivering to your requirements and suitable for a long-term, complex relationship with your group. We recommend developing a list of several government-approved ASIC vendors, to prevent legal problems over noncompetitive single-source bids. Vendor evaluations ensure that the vendor you select for your ASIC program has the capabilities to successfully accomplish both the specific ASIC task at hand and future ASIC work. Section One, Chapter 1 illustrates the advantages of keeping the number of vendors to a minimum. This section shows how to select vendors who will serve over the long-haul.

The two-step evaluation process presented in this section covers management evaluation and technical evaluation. Figure 2.0.1 provides an overall flow of vendor evaluation.

Figure 2.0.1 Vendor Evaluation Flow

We suggest these guidelines when evaluating a vendor:

• form an evaluation team
• get your organization's top-level support
• select qualified QML/QPL vendors

The evaluations in this section are broken into the following areas:

• vendor management evaluation
• quality and reliability analysis
• process technology analysis
• design library analysis
• CAD tool analysis

Now you may jump to:

• the next chapter: Section 2: Chapter 1: "Vendor Management Evaluation"
• the Table of Contents
• the Index
• the Acronym list
• the Glossary