Oh yes, I've had proposals rejected for terrible reasons. "I like bragging we can afford Salesforce." "We're special, other companies can't do what we do and other platforms can't do what Salesforce does." "I go back years with Salesbozo, he's giving us deals no one else gets, I trust him." (meanwhile they're paying 10% under list, not a good deal at all).
One of my absolute favorites was, "well, our Salesforce consultant is the husband of the VP of marketing so we can't do anything that would eliminate his contract." In the end we got rid of Salesforce, him, AND the VP of marketing.
Yeah I hate the double standards here, if someone lower level recommends someone that they know or heaven forbid related to HR acts like they must quash this awful nepotism and scheming ha.
One of my absolute favorites was, "well, our Salesforce consultant is the husband of the VP of marketing so we can't do anything that would eliminate his contract." In the end we got rid of Salesforce, him, AND the VP of marketing.