RFP Infographic

5 Steps from RFP to Award

Five key steps from when you issue a RFP to when you Award. The following RFP infographic provides a basic summary of the chain of events which often transpire when you are required to issue a request for proposal for a product or service. Some of these steps and the amount of time required to properly issue, evaluate and award a RFP are often underestimated. Hopefully, this graphic on the 5 steps on the RFP to Award process will provide some useful insight when it comes to the process.

RFP Infographic

5 Step Summary – FROM RFP TO AWARD

Step 1 – A need is identified and SOW provided

All companies, regardless of size, that are making the effort to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) are doing so because they have a need for a product or service and are looking for proposals from qualified suppliers to assist with this need. This requirement typically comes with clearly defined specifications. With a Statement or Scope of Work defined the group should now collaborate on the development of the RFP.

Step 2 – Invite suppliers to your RFP

Identifying a list of competent and qualified suppliers to invite to bid on your RFP is often the most important part of the whole RFP process. Some companies prequalify suppliers prior to issuing the tender, some depend on experience or history from past projects, while others depend on recommendations from colleagues. Regardless, of how you put together your vendor list, this is not one area to short cut.

Step 3 – Question and clarification period

Important to remember that the more detailed your SOW is the fewer questions and clarifications will surface during the response period. The benefit of a detailed SOW is you will receive more accurate quotations as unknowns will not be factored into cost.Typically, three to four weeks is given for a RFP response depending on complexity and whether site visits are required.

Step 4 – Evaluation of responses

Okay, now you have all these proposals or responses from your bidders. What’s next? Some companies use what is called an evaluation matrix. In it, areas like commercial terms are scored and used to justify an award. Basically, you are reviewing proposals in depth and shortlisting the responses you feel are best suited to your project requirements.

Step 5 – Award

With your evaluation complete, you are now ready to issue an award. Some companies use an award letter and PO, while others use a letter of understanding (LOU) followed by a contract.  Remember to issue rejection letters to unsuccessful bidders. Contract monitoring and hopefully a successful completion to your project. This is a very basic overview and summary of the typical chain of events which occur when issuing a RFP. Check out our website for more details on buyer and supplier solutions like sample RFP’s, response letters and any other forms you might be searching for.

If you have found this information to be useful, please consider sharing this infographic on the 5 steps from RFP to an Award.

 

Evaluating your Spend

Every business should have a clear understanding on their operating costs and should be constantly evaluating this spend regardless of size or how big your company is. What does it mean to be evaluating your spend? If you asked your accounting department to provide a list of the top 20% of vendors in relation to how much money you spend with them annually, this would be a start. This list of suppliers will represent close to 80% of your operating budget. I know, the pareto principle is overused but in this instance is 100% on point.

Prudent business owners will dedicate a large portion of their time or their purchasing department’s time on analyzing this 80% cost. These are your target vendors and where you need to focus your efforts. Requesting price concessions for your guaranteed or long term business and suggesting that they partner with you on productivity improvements are two quick solutions you can key in on.

There are multiple ways to approach this:
1. First drill down and gather specific details on this spend. How many widgets am I buying of a specific product in a 12 month period? This is known as your annual usage. What is our cost to procure these items? Is there a better quality product which will perform the same function and reduce operating costs? Are there like vendors that can provide a similar material or service?

2. Approach your existing vendor directly or by way of a RFQ and request firm pricing for a 12 or 24 month period. In exchange for this commitment, you are expecting preferred pricing. This does two things, stabilizes your costs for the next 12 – 24 months and reduces ordering costs as these commodities can be covered by a contract or supply agreement.

3. Creating competition is the best way to achieve fair market pricing for goods and services. To achieve this, you need to issue a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for the above item(s). If your spend warrants, you should do your homework and pre-qualify vendors for these items. Ensure they are of similar quality by asking for samples and get a sense whether these suppliers can meet price and delivery timelines based on your usage or existing requirements. No use buying something for 10% less than what you are presently paying if the new vendor cannot deliver!

4. It gives the vendor comfort knowing they have your business for the next 12 months in exchange for better pricing. By granting them a contract for the next year, the expectation is the vendor would guarantee they carry relevant inventory in their local branch which would then allow you to reduce on-hand inventory. In this instance you are reducing carrying cost, cash outlay for inventory and achieving a reduction in unit costs. Savings all the way around!

Issuing a RFQ (Request for Quote) to determine present market pricing is always the preferred way of doing business. It is ethical, transparent and begins to condition your suppliers of your intention on monitoring your spend. It sends the message that your company is focused on ensuring you are receiving the best possible product at the best possible price.

If creating a RFQ to help manage costs is on your radar, there are many sample RFQ templates available on-line or the team at RFQPro would love to help you get the ball rolling.

See a list of our templates and forms by visiting our In the Pack Page

Here is to your success — Mark.

The Dreaded RFP Response

Dreaded RFP Response

As a vendor or supplier of product or services, one of the biggest challenges you have in today’s marketplace is finding the time to respond to all the information requests you receive from your customers in any given week. Your responses need to be professional, representative of your organization, accurate and detailed enough to ensure you are shortlisted for potential projects.

Information requests might be for price and delivery, product specifications, tenders or quote requests and even the dreaded RFP response which is likely the most time consuming task out of all the inquiries presently filling up your inbox. RFPs are on the rise because more and more companies are using them as a catch all for dealing with requirements the purchasing department receives from internal departments.

If the purchasing department does not receive a clear scope or specification on a need, they will often use a RFP to solicit a response and hopefully a solution from a vendor. What is often over-looked by the Buyer is the amount of time and effort the Vendor has to put into generating a worthy response and you cannot blame them as they have enough fires of their own to put out and most supplier’s understand responding to a request for proposal is a cost of doing business. Are there ways to mitigate the cost of responding to RFQ’s and RFP’s?  Yes and no and we will address this piece shortly.

As a vendor you should keep track of your success rate and the approximate cost of preparing your response. If you are spending $10,000 to submit a response and being awarded a $150,000 contract then you can clearly justify your ROI. If you are spending the same $10,000 to be awarded a $15,000 contract then not so much unless it leads to further work or a long term relationship with a new client.

I am not sure most companies can answer how much it costs to deliver a RFP response or tender call however I do know that if they can find a way to do this quicker, save money and achieve better results then everyone would consider doing it. Having a clean versus cluttered response is a start and taking the time to have more than one person review the RFP request are two solid ways of improving your chances. Each RFP response you craft requires a specific or unique response however some of the pieces and verbiage used in the response can be cookie cutter.

Your company references, testimonials, company bio, contact coordinates, past project successes, financials, safety and equipment lists can be prepared ahead of time. Other areas like your cover letter can also be saved in a format which allows you to tweak and go. All these pieces will help you get your responses out quicker and quicker means cheaper.

Since 2008, RFQPro has been helping both Buyers and Suppliers succeed with the request for quote and request for proposal process by providing web-based RFQ Software and edit friendly procurement related word templates to help users expedite this process and improve departmental productivity. Why start from scratch…visit the RFP Response Page for more details.