In his first week on the job as CIO of Compass Health, a behavioral health nonprofit based in Everett, Wash., Rich De Brino got a crash course in the seamier side of vendor relations.

First came the phone company representative, bearing free tickets to his company's suite at Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners. The rep knew Compass was mulling a major Voice over Internet Protocol project. De Brino politely declined--several times. Even after he bluntly explained the potential conflict of interest, the rep persisted, saying his predecessors at Compass had always accepted such gifts. "That was before me," De Brino told him.