Your project is running behind schedule and over budget. The account manager of a supplier you’ve worked with before tells you that if you select them for a contract they are bidding on, they will throw in a free resource. Later that day, you meet with the vendor selection committee and see that the vendor ranks at the bottom of the stack. You select the vendor anyway to help the budget, even though it goes against the procurement policy.

How may your actions be perceived?

A. Heroic B. Conflict of interest C. Justified D. Improving cost variance