RFP's are sick, not dead Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

RFP's are sick, not dead - Essay Example In simple word RFP is a document used by buyer to solicit proposal from various potential suppliers. Proposal is prepared by suppliers by answering specific queries of buyer in the form of document. For example if a company wants to purchase computer system then they will write and issue Request for Proposal to suppliers. After the RFP is issued by the company then suppliers start responding to it. In the second step company receives and analyzes potential proposals from suppliers and after analyzing proposal they select most specific supplier. Industry report says that suppliers proposing low cost but quality solution to buyer have high probability to crack the deal in comparison to others (Schwalbe, 2010, p. 475). There is no fixed way for companies to select proposals from suppliers and entirely depends on business requirement of buyer. Research scholars suggested that companies should use expectancy value model to select right proposal. In expectancy value model buyers emphasizes on attributes of proposals. According to this model, buyers assign value point on various attributes of a proposal and then summarize total points assigned on potential proposals. ... Generally RFI and RFP include following points. Introduction Background of buyer Information regarding the project Purpose and Scope of RFI Specific Request Qualification of Vendor (Stein, 2006, p. 430) Due date of submitting proposal Confidentiality norms (Whitney, 2011, P. 246) Detailed information of supplier (Langer, 2012, pp. 49-50). Theoretically any company can use RFP for particular project but in low cost project issuing RFP ultimately harts objective of the organization. RFP for project costing below $10,000 can be classified as costly in terms of both staffing and investment (Click, and Duening, 2004, p. 78). Specific situations where buyer needs to issue RFP can be summarized in the following manner. Project cost is more than $10,000. Numerous suppliers are available to provide solution Requirement is complex and needs technical supervision High customization is required for the requested system (Wisner, and Stanley, 2007, p. 324) Substantial cost is associated with maint enance of requested system Multiple agency involvement is required during purchase process (Institute for Law and Justice, 1999). Cost of preparing RFP document is negligible in comparison to overall cost of the process. Problem areas for RFP process can be explained in the following manner. Potential Problems and Issues of RFP Reason Potential Effect Potential Threat No mention of Coordinator in RFP Creates confusion among suppliers and agencies Suppliers may protest against the company and solicitation might get cancelled No clear mention of needs or requirement by the buyer in RFP Suppliers do not respond sufficiently to RFP Buyers might need to reissue RFP with clarified requirement statement Ambiguous proposal requirement Confused vendors send incomplete