Christina Zamon asked "I've never done an RFP before" and "what ... do I need to include in this RFP?"



Christina, for starters, you need to understand the SUBSTANTIAL difference between a BID and a Request For Proposals (RFP).



In a Bid, you write a very detailed set of requirements (a "Specification") which describes the goods and/or services you expect your eventual vendor to provide. The vendor which meets your requirements at the lowest cost is your vendor. Thus, cost is the selection mechanism.



In a RFP, you typically describe the business problems you need solved and the benchmarks by which you will measure the successful outcome of any solution, and the vendors propose a solution. Your organisation forms a Selection Committee which evaluates the various proposals according to a set of objective criteria, which may or may not include cost initially. The eventual vendor is selected based on a combination of "best proposal" (from a technical perspective) and "best value". So, while cost is always a consideration, it is not the primary selection mechanism in the RFP process. Factors other than cost, such as "innovative solutions", "quality of service", etc., are the basis for vendor selection. So the amount of detail in an RFP is typically less than in a Bid.



The ARMA Bookstore has a "soft" publication on creating an RFP which you can quickly download:

"Writing a RIM Request for Proposal" (it's a 2006 article from the Information Management Journal)

Author: Bud Porter-Roth

Member: $0.0000

Non-Member: $10

Catalog #: J06SEPSF2



Good luck,



Fred

--------------------------------------

Frederic J. Grevin

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Office: 212-312-3903



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