Stage 1: Establish the buying constraint

Planning allowance: 2–4 working days; 4–8 internal working hours. Obtain the current contract, renewal notice language, statement of work, order form, amendments and latest invoice. Ask procurement or counsel to confirm the effective notice deadline; do not infer it from an account manager's reminder.

Interview the sponsor about what must change. Examples include unattended identity alerts, an upcoming customer assurance request, a new acquisition or a recovery exercise that exposed a dependency. Define the business outcome and the person authorized to accept residual risk. Write down what is outside this procurement.

Contact: contract owner, finance, executive sponsor and the incumbent's delivery lead. Exit criterion: a signed-off buying brief and a realistic decision calendar. Pitfall: opening a broad “cybersecurity review” without a decision owner or stopping point.