Having completed many evaluations of contractor and lab services over the years I have encountered several techniques and methods of identifying the best team for completing specific tasks.
This is also true of oil analysis lab services.
My favoured method being to create a spreadsheet of "needs" and "wants" (1 to 5 identification of how important a service component is) from a system under construction/revision. This ensures that rather than creating a 'loaded' assessment where emotional preferences pull you into a business partnership, you can ensure that reasonable steps have been taken to set a level playing field where all service providers have an equal opportunity.
My question;
What criteria do you specify when reviewing the analysis completed.
Analysis (FTIR, water, PQ, NAS/ISO, soot/insol, TAN/TBN, KinVisc@40/100/both, flash point, etc, etc),
Sample/data handling (sample analysis time, result return format, support, one-offs, etc, etc)
Hardware (bottles, pumps, cases, courier bags, etc, etc)
Software (internal, external, import/export, remote viewing, etc, etc)
Human aspect (local rep, several/sole point(s) of contact, common language, etc)
Geography (domestic service/support, local lab support, remote/local, etc)
IP (knowledge base, experience, industry knowledge, technique knowledge, etc)
Quality (ISO/other certified, audit trail, calibrations, procedures, etc)
And the list goes on. If you specify that the sample bottles must be glass, clear or of a specific cleanliness class for particle count data then you need that at the start.
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