It's a balancing act. If you are transparent and up front about it, you'll say, “We are going to run this pilot at this amount of money with the option of doubling down and running an extended contract.” That's part of the procurement on the front end. If the pilot fails, then I go back out and start over again, but if the pilot runs well, why would I try to go back out and design an RFP when I know who I want to win and I want to continue working with this group?
It's a bit of a balancing act. If you're transparent and open about it on the front end, what are they going to challenge on the back end? You would pilot it for $25,000 with an option for $100,000. You're not immediately going out for that $100,000 investment, in case it goes wrong.