Procurement · RFP-2026-0417-DATA

Vendor Evaluation Matrix — Data Platform RFP

RFP reference RFP-2026-0417-DATA Published 19 Jul 2026 Evaluation window Jun 08 – Jul 17, 2026 Compiled by an agent · Published with
Final — for committee review
Recommended vendor

Kestrel

Balanced leader across all five evaluation categories

87.8 / 100

+8.0 pts ahead of runner-up · leads on 6 of 13 criteria

Runner-up

Argon DB

Strongest security & compliance posture, best support SLA

79.8 / 100

Trails leader by 8.0 pts · tied for top on access control

Evaluation matrix

Five vendors scored 1–5 on thirteen weighted criteria across five categories. Weighted score per criterion = weight × (raw score ÷ 5); category subtotals and the weighted total follow the same formula.

scroll → for all 5 vendors

Criteria Weight DatafallFastest ingest, thinnest security KestrelBalanced leader across the board Argon DBEnterprise-grade support & compliance MeridianBudget pick, mid-tier depth LoomdataLegacy architecture, trailing field
Architecture — 20% of total
Data model flexibility 8% 4 5 4 3 2
Multi-region architecture 7% 3 5 4 2 2
Ecosystem integrations 5% 4 4 5 3 2
Section subtotal 20% 14.6 19.0 17.0 10.6 8.0
Performance — 25% of total
Query latency (p95) 10% 5 4 4 3 2
Ingest throughput 8% 5 4 3 3 2
Scalability under load 7% 4 5 4 2 1
Section subtotal 25% 23.6 21.4 18.4 13.6 8.6
Security & compliance — 25% of total
Compliance certifications (SOC 2 / ISO) 10% 2 5 5 3 3
Encryption & key management 8% 3 5 4 3 3
Access control granularity 7% 2 4 4 3 2
Section subtotal 25% 11.6 23.6 22.0 15.0 13.6
Operations — 15% of total
Observability & tooling 8% 3 5 4 3 2
Support SLA 7% 3 4 5 4 2
Section subtotal 15% 9.0 13.6 13.4 10.4 6.0
Commercials — 15% of total
Total cost of ownership (3-yr) 9% 3 3 3 5 4
Contract flexibility 6% 3 4 3 5 3
Section subtotal 15% 9.0 10.2 9.0 15.0 10.8
Weighted total 100% 67.8 87.8 79.8 64.6 47.0
Category leader per criterion Score fill, scale 1–5 Scroll horizontally to see all five vendors on narrow screens

Notable findings

Evidence pulled directly from vendor RFP responses, live demo sessions, and reference calls conducted during the evaluation window.

Kestrel wins on breadth, not just one strength

Highest score in 6 of 13 criteria and a class-leading 23.6/25 in Security & Compliance — no single weak category drags the total down.

Datafall trades security for raw speed

Best-in-class latency (5/5) and ingest throughput (5/5), but the lowest security subtotal in the field at 11.6/25 — SOC 2 report listed as "in progress" in the vendor's own RFP response.

Argon DB is the tightest runner-up

Trails the leader by just 8.0 pts overall, anchored by a perfect Support SLA score (5/5, 15-minute P1 response commitment in contract terms).

Meridian sweeps commercials outright

Perfect 15.0/15 on Commercials — lowest 3-yr TCO and most flexible contract terms of any finalist — but mid-tier technical depth keeps it out of the top two.

Loomdata trails the field by a wide margin

Total score of 47.0 sits 32.8 pts below the runner-up, with the field's lowest scalability rating (1/5) — reference calls cited request throttling above 50K events/sec.

Access control is the tightest single race

Kestrel and Argon DB tie at 4/5 on access control granularity — no vendor in the field offers attribute-based policies at the scale the RFP requested.

Scoring methodology

Committee-assigned raw scores (1–5) per criterion, converted to weighted points and summed to a 100-point total.

CategoryWeight
Architecture20%
Performance25%
Security & compliance25%
Operations15%
Commercials15%
Total100%

Formula

weighted_score = Σ ( criterion_weight × raw_score ÷ 5 )

Each of the 13 criteria is scored 1–5 by the evaluation committee against vendor RFP responses, live product demos, and reference-customer calls conducted Jun 08 – Jul 17, 2026.

A criterion's weighted contribution is its category weight scaled by the raw score out of a possible 5 — a perfect 5/5 on an 8%-weighted criterion contributes the full 8.0 points; a 3/5 contributes 4.8. Category subtotals and the weighted total are the sum of these contributions, capping the maximum possible total at 100.0.