Discovery Primer (3/7): Beware of "Unit Price" Details! Tricks of Discovery Support Estimation that can cost you a lot if you don't know about them

Discovery cost estimates can be divided into three work processes: "pre-review work," "review work," and "translation work. Since the final number of documents to be reviewed cannot be determined at the quotation stage, quotes are often based on a "unit price" per volume of data. However, this "unit price" is important to keep in mind when controlling discovery costs, because different vendors base their calculations on different amounts of data.

For example, suppose that quotes are obtained from two vendors, Company A and Company B.

(1) Company A's quote...Unit cost is high, but the basis for the calculated cost is " unzipped " files.

(ii) Company B's quote...low unit price, but the basis for the calculated cost is the " after decompression" file.

It would be premature to select Company B simply because its unit price is lower. If the basis of calculation is based on compressed pre-extracted data, the unit price is more expensive than if the basis of calculation is based on post-extracted files. But the total number of files after decompression is almost always larger than before decompression. Therefore, when we look at the overall cost, we find that the estimate that multiplies the unit cost by the post-unzipped files is higher.

(1) "High unit price" × "files before decompression" < (2) "Low unit price" × "files after decompression"

If you choose a discovery vendor based on unit price alone without knowing this trick, you will be surprised when you see the total amount later. Some vendors, such as Company B, dare to quote a low price for the first time and shut out their competitors.

Note that the unit price is multiplied before and after decompression of the compressed file.

Also, note that there is a similar case where a vendor charged for the amount of data "before keyword search" even though the unit price was low.

These examples are too numerous to list. When obtaining a quotation, be sure to confirm which state (process) of the data is being charged for.

Pay attention to whether the unit price is applied before or after the keyword search.

Estimates reveal that "nothing costs more than free."

Next, be wary of vendors with extremely low unit prices. This is because the quality of work is often not accompanied by the quality of work, and additional costs are often incurred.

As is often said, the largest percentage of discovery costs is the cost of review. Nevertheless, some overseas vendors provide estimates only for pre-review work without calculating review costs, and their unit costs are sometimes as low as free. Even if the cost of the pre-review work is low, the review work is not included, resulting in unexpected costs.

Pre-review work is very important, but if the quality of the work is reduced as a result of lowering the unit cost, the review process will be more complicated. Predictive coding, a high-tech review process, was discussed in Discovery Primer (2/7): Three Essential Questions to Ask When Selecting a Discovery Vendor, but predictive coding is only possible with accurate pre-review work.

Incidentally, companies that use our proprietary predirective coding do not offer the service of only undertaking the predirective coding after other vendors have done the pre-review work. This is because the other vendor's work itself is unreliable, and the accuracy of the predirective coding is compromised.

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