The study found an estimated 17 percent of respondents use the tender process when shopping for IT solutions.

Commenting on the research, Mullins and Mullins IT manager Paul Isaac defended IT by pointing out that vendor selection must consider the level of service and trust with the current supplier.

"Our vendor is also our support crew - if there's something we don't have the in-house skills to do, they assist us, so naturally we factor this in when we approach vendors," Isaac said.

"We run Compaq and Toshiba laptops [so] I wouldn't consider going to Dell to make a bulk purchase there because I've never found the support satisfactory."

While Isaac is happy with current suppliers he does source quotes from competitors "to keep them [the vendors] honest".