Are these cozy relationships with preferred vendors ones that were established years ago by your predecessors? ... or current management?
The benefits of the relationships may have had value at one time, but we all know what happens over the course of ongoing out-of-contract or out-of scope work. The natural inclination to gouge and overprice work or materials sooner or later leaks into the pricing. And sooner or later it implodes and someone (usually everyone, even the innocent) looks embarrassed in the least, or down right unethical at worst.
Keep at arms length from these guys. Might suggest preparing an objective and comprehension spreadsheet of pricing from all of your sources and put it in front of the decision-makers. Someone will either get the hint or at least appreciate your diligence. But this seem to be the fuzzy math that only a few people are in on:
Preferred vendors have been very forthcoming with financial incentives to XX including volume rebates, signing bonuses, and scholarship dollars...all of which will greatly benefit the University.
Again, I would just give the upper management the numbers and be prepared to live with the outcome. It's up to them to reassess and see if the "rebates and scholarships" are still worth it. Or, if someone's a$$ should be grass.
The Six Phases of the Project:- Enthusiasm.
- Disillusionment.
- Panic.
- Search for the Guilty.
- Punishment of the Innocent.
- Praise and Honors for the Non-Participants.