Responding to an RFP: how to handle a request for proposal, from receipt to presentation

Responding to an RFP: how do you approach it?

You respond to an RFP in fixed steps: decide whether to bid, break down the request, ask questions, answer each question with evidence, work out price and terms, check and submit, and then the shortlist, the presentation and the decision. What sets an RFP apart from a request for information or a request for quotation is covered in RFI, RFP and RFQ.

Unlike a public tender under the EU procurement rules, a private RFP follows no statutory procedure. Buyers do use templates that set out the process, though. The RFP template from CIPS, the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, includes a timeline with, among other things, a deadline for questions, a closing date, an evaluation period and the award. In business, negotiations often follow once the proposals are in, writes G.J. Heijboer of the University of Twente. In the public sector there is much less room for that.

What does an RFP process look like over time?

A fictional example: a service provider receives an RFP with three weeks until the closing date.

1. 1Days 1 and 2: read and decideRead the whole RFP, list the questions, criteria and deadlines, and decide: do we bid?
2. 2Day 3: send in questionsThe questions to the buyer go out in writing, well before the question deadline on day 7.
3. 3Days 4 to 15: writeAn answer with evidence for each question, the price and the response to the terms. The buyer’s answers arrive on day 10 and are worked into text and price.
4. 4Days 16 to 19: checkSomeone who did not write reads everything and goes through the compliance matrix. Management sets the price.
5. 5Day 20: submitOne day before the closing date, with a confirmation of receipt.
6. 6Weeks 5 and 6: shortlist and presentationTwo bidders are invited to present their proposal. A conversation about price and terms follows.
7. 7Week 8: the decisionThe client chooses. Win or lose, the service provider asks for an explanation.

Should you bid?

Responding to an RFP takes days of work. In business, buyers sometimes tie the number of quotes they request to the value of the contract, and the list of invited suppliers, according to Heijboer, often consists of names the buyer already knows from earlier procedures. So ask yourself first whether you have a real chance with this client, or whether you are there to fill the list. If you do not know the client and have no relevant reference, no is often the best answer. How to make that call is covered in bid or no-bid.

How do you break down an RFP?

Read the whole RFP before you write a single answer. The purchasing division of the US state of Nevada gives the same advice. Then list what you must deliver and how you will be evaluated.

In a private RFP you will often not see the weighting. The example in the CIPS template does show one: price carries 30 of 100 points, quality 20 and ESG contribution (environmental, social and governance) also 20. The CIPS guidance also says the criteria in the list are not in any order and do not necessarily carry equal weight. So do not read anything into the order. If the weighting is missing, ask for it.

Take the format seriously. In the CIPS template a proposal must follow the prescribed format, and one that does not may be disqualified. The client may reject a proposal that is incomplete, conditional or does not comply with the RFP.

What questions do you ask the buyer?

Only ask questions that change your answer or your price, and ask them in time. If you can talk to the client before the RFP is issued, use that: the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KVK) advises asking about the goal, the desired result, the planning and the expectations. Once the RFP is out, questions usually go through a set channel. In the CIPS template, questions go in writing to the designated contact, and the client may share the answer with all bidders. In the New Zealand government’s RFP model you can mark a question as commercially sensitive, and the buyer shares a question that matters to everyone in summarised form, without your name.

So assume your competitors will read your question. Ask for what you need without giving away your approach. And do not discuss the RFP with anyone other than the designated contact, not even people you know well at the client; Nevada warns against this too.

• EvaluationHow will you choose?What weighs most, who evaluates, and does each evaluator score their own part?
• ProcessWhat happens after the closing date?Is there a presentation, a conversation about price or a second round?
• ContentWhat exactly do you mean?A volume, a term, a service level. Anything that changes your price or your plan.

Your competitors often read your questions to the buyer. Ask what you need, not what you plan.

What is a compliance matrix?

A compliance matrix is a table listing every question and requirement in the RFP, where you answer it and whether you comply. You build it while breaking down the request and check it before you submit. Some clients ask for one. In the CIPS template, the bidder confirms in a table, requirement by requirement, whether it complies, with room for comments and deviations.

New Zealand Government Procurement gives three pointers that the matrix captures: answer each part of a question, answer in the same order and with the same numbering as the request, and check that all evaluation criteria are covered in your answers.

How do you write an answer that scores?

Start with the answer to the question, in the first sentence, and prove it after. An evaluator who has to search scores lower. If the client asks how fast you respond to a fault, start with the time, not with your vision of service.

A fictional example. The question is: how do you ensure continuity when staff are absent? A weak answer starts with how important continuity is. A strong answer starts like this: “If someone is absent, a trained replacement is on site within one working day; to do that, we keep two people available per site.” Then comes the evidence: how you organise it, and a reference where it worked. New Zealand Government Procurement advises including examples of similar work you have delivered.

Answer the question first. Prove it after.

How do you handle price and terms?

Give the price in the format the client asks for, and itemise it. The CIPS template asks for a detailed cost breakdown rather than a single lump sum, prices that cover all costs, and a statement of what the price depends on, such as exchange rates or commodity prices. How to build that up is covered in pricing a proposal.

Read the terms as carefully as the questions. In the CIPS template the bidder must state which terms it wants to negotiate. If you say nothing, you are deemed to have fully accepted them. So raise deviations in the proposal itself, specifically and with an alternative. Watch the validity period too: in the template it runs from the closing date, and according to the guidance, a period of more than 90 days often causes concern among bidders. What a validity period means legally, under Dutch law, is covered in is a quote binding.

What happens after the shortlist?

After evaluation, the client sometimes invites a few bidders for an interview, a presentation or a visit. The CIPS template lists interviews, presentations and site visits as possible steps to test bidders further. Being shortlisted is not yet a contract: the New Zealand government’s RFP model states explicitly that a place on the shortlist does not mean the buyer accepts your proposal.

A presentation is your chance to remove the doubts left after reading. How to prepare is covered in winning the pitch. Expect a conversation about price and terms afterwards. CIPS calls post-tender negotiation an appropriate way to secure value for money, provided it is conducted professionally and ethically.

What do you do after the decision?

Always ask for an explanation, even when you win. In the private market the client has no obligation to explain its choice. In the CIPS template the client gives unsuccessful bidders feedback at its own discretion, on written request, limited to general strengths and weaknesses and without information about other proposals. CIPS itself believes that debriefing suppliers builds better relationships with them.

Know what you can ask. The New Zealand government, which must offer a debrief, describes what belongs in one: how your proposal performed against the criteria, why it did not win and what the advantages of the winning proposal were. Other bidders’ documents and detailed pricing stay out of the conversation. A company is not bound by those rules, but they are good questions. How to use the lessons across several tenders is covered in win-loss analysis.