Using Requests For Proposals To Handle Procurements
If there comes a time when my company needs to deal with a third party to deal with some part of the business, we turn to the procurements department to deal with the point of contact and to get the proposal process started. There are also a number of companies this can be outsourced to, depending on the company’s needs.
The procurements department would then be responsible to review the possible companies and make the best possible recommendations. If one of the companies passes this initial screening test they will be asked to submit a formal proposal. In the past, we never worried about the format of the proposal, we just looked for the answers to certain questions.
But now that has all changed. I have been recently informed that the procurements department was looking for someone to handle inbound data. That was all well and good, but then they asked if potential companies should submit a proposal by EOI, RFP, or RFT.
An EOI, or Expression of Interest, is a good choice for a company that needs help with a specific problem but doesn’t know how to fix it. In other words, there’s something that needs fixing, but they’ve never dealt with the problem before. An EOI will provide solutions as well as a list of costs to deal with it.
A Request for Proposal (RFP), on the other hand, is what you should use when you plan on purchasing goods and services straight from a third party. A quality RFP will also include more than one solution to your problem, and offer some pricing options with them. This way you will have some flexibility in how you choose to solve your problem and you’ll be able to do more or less as the situation dictates. You will see this kind of proposal in the consulting industry or communications technology fields.
RFTs – Requests for Tenders – are the proposals that are used when you need a specific solution to a specific problem. This means there will be limited room for flexibility, and the price will remain the same. For example, if you decide to add on a bathroom to the house, there may be some changes in the materials and labor costs between companies, but all the proposals are for the same solution.
In my particular case, I knew it was going to take a lot of flexibility to get the problem solved. So, in the end, I chose to have the procurements department secure requests for proposals from all the top contenders.
Sometimes it may take some time for a company to complete a good RFP, depending on how big the project is and how much detail you expect in the project, but by collecting a lot of RFP you’ll be able to find the company that can fill your needs at the most cost effective price point.
When submitting an application for government contracts it is vital to comprise a well written RFP. Greg has had sufficient writing experience with construction contracts, government procurement and other topics that he understands the procedure. For additional information, see his other resources.
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