Tips to Preparing An Effective Request For Proposal
August 22, 2003
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First, it is important to recognize that it is nearly impossible to communicate in a Request for Proposal (RFP) everything that your consultant should know in order to provide you with a perfect solution. An RFP is most effective when you use it as a tool to narrow the pool of candidates whom you will meet with in person. Interviews, preferrably in person, are the most effective way for you to evaluate your prospective consultant and for your consultant to ask the questions necessary to completely understand:
- the issues you're trying to solve
- the business problems the issues create
- the impact the issues have on the business and key stakeholders
- the results you want to achieve
- how you will measure the results to determine if the project is a success
The key to a quality result is to create a complete and clearly defined Request for Proposal (RFP). A poorly written RFP will severely limit a development company's ability to provide you with a meaningful, accurate proposal. An incomplete RFP may also make your organization appear less prepared for an engagement, thus eroding your negotiating position.
First, let me point out that it is not always necessary to create a formal RFP for your web project. It is common for organizations to solicit a single development company to assist them with planning, developing and supporting their web site, foregoing the formal RFP process. If this is your case, many recommendations in this discussion are still pertinent.
If you are planning a large project and would like to solicit proposals from a number of development companies, you should expect to commit a considerable amount of time and resources to ensure that you provide sufficient information to your bidders. Your web site will be unique to your organization, and to ensure that your bidders understand your unique needs, you will need to provide a thorough profile of your organization and its needs.
You first must learn what information to include in your RFP. For example, who is your target audience(s)? What product or service do you provide? What are your objectives and how will you measure success? What type and amount of resources will you devote to this project? What is your anticipated budget? Who are the key stakeholders involved? Remember, you can never provide too much information about your organization and what results you want to achieve.
You will need to "pre-screen" your candidates, based on items such as portfolio, industry experience, skills and referrals. You should try to limit your selection to three to five companies. A small group of candidates will allow you to work closely with each one, which yields a more thorough proposal, and allows you to learn more detailed information about each firm.
Be sure to notify your recipients that you are submitting the RFP to a small candidate pool. You may receive higher quality proposals since many firms will spend considerably more time and effort preparing it if they know they are members of an "elite" group. If you are requesting proposals for a large project (exceeding $100,000), you may consider offering compensation to your candidates, since it's not uncommon for a firm to spend 40 hours or more preparing your proposal. If firms are being compensated for this planning work, they're more likely to assign their best talent to the job.
With any RFP, your respondents will likely need answers to help them better understand your needs. It is important that you have a dedicated contact person who is able to provide quick, accurate answers to questions. Be sure to indicate in your RFP who the contact person is and how your candidates can reach him or her. By providing this resource, you will increase your chances of receiving a more thorough, valuable proposal.
