When making a significant purchasing decision for your business, you may want to use a Request For Proposal (RFP) process to gather detailed bids from qualified vendors. However, a poorly-written RFP can actually complicate your decision-making and frustrate potential suppliers. Here's what you need to know to write an RFP that gets results.

Is an RFP the right choice?
Before you get started, make sure that an RFP is right for your business and the type of purchase you're making. The best fit for an RFP is a buying decision that involves multiple components or ongoing service. While buying a forklift or a digital copier is a significant purchase for a small business, an RFP is probably more trouble than it's worth. You'll want to use RFPs for purchases that include ongoing services (creating and maintaining a web site, for example), systems made up of multiple components (video surveillance or access control), or highly customized purchases that involve significant setup or installation work (any business software or modular buildings).

Don't feel compelled to turn the RFP-writing process into a massive project. Government agencies are often required to produce very detailed RFPs for their purchases, but for other businesses, there's no rule that says an RFP has to be 50 pages long or describe every possible option. A scaled-down RFP can be a useful tool for many important purchases.

What do you really need to know?
The main goal of an RFP is to allow you to compare potential suppliers. To make accurate comparisons, you'll need to be sure you ask all the essential questions that you would normally get answered through interviews and research.

Sit down with the people who the purchase will most directly affect and create a prioritized list of what you need to know from each vendor. Include technical considerations, integration concerns, customer service expectations, and any other factors that are important to you. At that point, you're ready to draft the RFP.

Sample RFP outline

1. Overall objectives — what the problem is you're trying to solve and the business reasons for making a purchase.
2. Current business environment — describe your business, as well as any infrastructure or pre-existing equipment that the new purchase will have to work with.
3. Scope of work — what you actually need the vendor to do. Include equipment, installation, training, maintenance, length of contract, customization, and any other services or products you expect them to provide.
4. Evaluation criteria — tell respondents what criteria you're going to use to evaluate them: longevity, experience with your industry, 24 x 7 customer service, familiarity with specific technologies, or any other factors that are critical to your business.
5. Response instructions — what you expect each provider to supply: written responses, sample work, demos, evaluation software, etc. Include contact information and due dates.

Don't tell them how to do their job
Sections 3 and 4 should make up the bulk of the RFP, so spend most of your effort there. Describing exactly what you want the supplier to do and what you'll be basing your decision on will help make the responses more valuable.

Try not to fall into the trap of describing how the supplier should do their job. The best responses will cover methods — but they may not be the same methods you'd come up with. Overspecifying the process can limit vendors' ability to provide the best solutions.

Finally, while you'll provide detailed response instructions, you can expect some respondents to ignore them and submit a bid in their own format. You can react in one of two ways: simply accept the proposals and work them into your evaluation, or ask for a new proposal that follows your instructions.

The responses you get should help you make the right buying decision. To find quality vendors to take part in your RFP process, visit BuyerZone for your next major purchase.

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