The Questions Roger Sterling Doesn't Want to Answer: What to Ask in Your RFP |
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The most important question to ask internally as a company considering issuing a request for proposal (RFP) should be, "Is this really what we as a company want/need to do?" Writing and managing a RFP is time-consuming and can be expensive. A good rule of thumb is one percent to 10% of the solution should be budgeted for writing and managing the RFP process. The RFP document itself is the end result of key decisions and research, not the starting point in the process. Below are a few key questions to ask internally before issuing a RFP: Do you have a budget defined or a sense of
the final cost already? Do you have management buy-in or clearly
defined goals? Do you have the solution already? What will the criteria be for a successful
proposal? What if I don't have the answers or don't
know where to start? Next, establish a qualification round. Send out a letter to a wide array of possible vendors, including those that helped you, in more detail, based on the findings and answers above. Let them know, based on their responses, the list will be narrowed to three or four to participate in the formal RFP process. The purpose of the formal RFP is to minimize risk, make the best purchasing decision based on defined parameters and allows the winning vendor to produce the desired outcome of the customer. At the end of the RFP process, if the decision isn't clear, the RFP has failed, not the respondents. Get some help if you have never executed and managed an RFP. Keeping associated costs down is in direct correlation with experience and a well-written RFP, and there are multiple companies able to provide this service. A good RFP service provider will be a net savings both in cost of the RFP process and, more importantly, the solution chosen. Assuming the RFP follows best practices, formats, components, other questions, etc. that can be found on a simple Internet search, there are some key questions to ask in a RFP that are surprisingly absent many times, even in a well-written and managed RFP. Depending on your current situation, you may want to ask some of the hard financial questions in the qualification round. Is your
company currently expanding or contracting its workforce? Is your
company privately or publicly held? What is the source of financing, and/or who are the major investors? What is
the percentage of revenue from the application you are providing relative to
the size of your company? Describe the structure of the organization by product
or service and partner dependencies that provide component products or
services. What
percentage of your clients are in this vertical? Can you provide a detailed case study of a similar
project in size and scope? The hardest questions to ask about the vendors are typically the most important. Dig as deep as you can on their "business," which is the most telling on the products and services delivery capabilities. Most vendors will have plenty of great information about their products and how well they will solve your tactical issues from a sales perspective. Vendors that win contracts, however, should be financially stable, work to develop strategic solutions, experts in the industry and not afraid to share information. Finally, be ready to answer some hard questions from the vendors as well. A good RFP is a two-way street of information flow to determine the best solution. Good questions from the respondents are a sign of professionalism and expertise. The answers to them are, as they say, another story. FRITZ BUGLEWICZ has 20 years of experience with project management, procedural analysis and business development in print-to-mail and document management operations. He serves as the executive vice president of business development at CapStone Technologies, a business engineering firm. For more information, visit www.captechno.com. |