Procurement doesn't happen in a closed environment. Apart from functionality and price/performance issues, decisions are sensitive to other, often non-rational influences. No matter what the environmental issues are, procurement decisions are still made by humans, each carrying different influential "baggage." Different influences on purchasing decisions originate in one of four major categories. MARKESS assists the client understand the influence of each of these "Ps" in decisions to purchasing products and services for IT systems. By examining a specific agency's operational policies, sales strategy and marketing requirements should become clearer, which is not to say necessarily, easier.