A Winning Proposal

It's often helpful to stop and consider the characteristics of a winning proposal and a successful RFP process prior to beginning the RFP itself. When planning the RFP process, it is helpful to consider the desirable results and ensure that your plan will promote the desired outcomes. This preliminary examination often introduces changes in the approach adopted, the detailed tasks, the RFP document, timing, and the requirements.

Let's first examine the output produced by the RFP -- the actual proposals submitted for our consideration. What are we looking for? How do we define the proposal contents? What questions do we ask to help us determine the best suppliers? How do we evaluate the proposals?

What Is A Proposal?

The first step is to agree on the definition of a proposal. A proposal is essentially a sales presentation. If it were simply a statement of prices and contract terms, it would not be a proposal but a quotation. A proposal can be thought of as serving three purposes:

1. It is a written attempt to persuade the evaluator to select the proposer and its product or service.
2. It is a response to an RFP supported by an arrary of credentials which attempt to convince the evaluator that the proposer is best qualified to provide the results the evaluator requires.
3. It is an offer to provide some specified goods or services; explaining the terms, the costs, and the suitability to satisfy the customer's needs.

What Is A Winning Proposal?

Having defined a proposal, what is a winning proposal? What are the characteristics of the proposal, theorganization, and the solution which make it attractive to evaluators.

Obviously, a winning proposal is the one that receives the award. But why is it selected? The major reason for one supplier's proposal being selected over dozens of others is this: the proposal persuaded the reader that it was the best proposal and offered by the best organization for the job. The best proposal convinced the evaluators not simply thatthe supplier could do the job, but that the supplier could do the job better (and often at less risk) than any other organization.

Winning proposals have four characteristics in common:

1. The supplier fully understands the needs and problems.
2. The supplier knows how to satisfy the needs or solve the problems and offers a suitable plan.
3. The supplier is well qualified by virtue of experience and resources, including personnel, to carry out the proposed plan; and
4. The price asked is reasonable and is within the organization's budget.

This definition is not universal -- it must conform to your organization's policy. So the "reasonable price" may become the "least cost" depending on your policy. In creating the RFP, we should ensure that we solicit enough specific information to evaluate these four characteristics. This evidence, in total, helps each evaluator assess the risk of failure (or the chances of success) associated with each proposal.

SUCCESS IN THE RFP PROCESS

Now that we've discussed the RFP, a proposal and a winning proposal, let's consider another important question. You can use this question to guide your efforts as you execute the Request for Proposal process. The question is: "What is success?"

When all of this is finished, how do we know if we have been successful?

Some of the characteristics of a successful process are listed below.

• The procurement process was executed in a professional manner and was consistent with your organization's purchasing policy and the applicable laws and regulations.
• The procurement process was documented as you went along and could survive public scrutiny.
• No objections were raised by suppliers concerning the fairness of the process or the actual selection.
• The selected supplier performed as expected. The solution was implemented on time, within budget and satisfied requirements.
• Your organization (your boss) acknowledged that the project was a success.

Excerpted from THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL HANDBOOK, By Michael Asner

Correction

We made a mistake in our last installment on the topic of variable contracts. We'd like to thank Ralph Broome, contracting officer at the U.S Department of Agriculture, for calling us on it.

We stated that, when a buyer fails to order the minimum quantity under an indefinite quantity contract, the proper measure of damage is the difference between the amount ordered and the full guaranteed minimum amount.

The case we sited, Delta Construction International, was later overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals. See White vs. Delta Construction International, Inc., 285 F.3d 1040 (Fed. Cir. 2002), http://www.contracts.ogc.doc.gov/cld/rd/courts/01-1253.html. There the court found that the proper basis for damages is the loss the contractor actually suffered as a result of the governmentĂ­s breach, NOT the total amount it would have received without the breach.