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The following is a free excerpt from the RFP Report, the only newsletter devoted to the Request for Proposal. If you have questions, contact the author, Michael Asner.

Series 1: The Eight Building Blocks of the Evaluation Process

In this section we examine the details of the evaluation process. In reviewing a large number of RFPs, we identified 8 different components of the process, such as reviewing a proposal for compliance with mandatory requirements or interviewing the suppliers. We refer to each of these components as a building block:

Reference Checking

Many different evaluation processes can be constructed by combining some or all of these building blocks in different sequences. Some procedures use only 3 or 4 of these. More complex examples can use all 6 and repeat some of them two or three times. For example, one evaluation process commonly used is based on a 3- step short-listing process. After each major type of analysis, the list of suppliers still being considered is reduced. This is repeated three times; once, for each type of analysis.

Different processes formed by using different building blocks, different evaluation criteria and weights will yield different results. Purchasers should test their evaluation process before using it on real proposals. Some organizations create hypothetical vendors and "walk through" the evaluation process. These purchasers are investigating the ability of their intended process to yield an acceptable result. They are seeing how small differences in process or weight can influence the results. For example, if "technical merit" receives 10% more weight, will the results change? Is this acceptable? If cost is included as an evaluation criterion, could a company win the competition but be $200,000 higher than a close competitor? Is this acceptable?

Often organizations discover, by testing their evaluation process, that the process will readily identify those firms capable of doing an acceptable job. The process will identify a group of companies that scores high, say in the 80 to 90 per cent range. The process may not, however, be very good at identifying which of the companies in this group is "the best". Often additional thought, more specific criteria, and additional steps have to be included to validate the winner.

For almost any proposal, a face-to-face presentation by the proponents adds value to the process. It is very difficult to determine by reading the proposal "the ability of the project manager to communicate effectively with a wide range of users". This attribute is readily determined in a 2-hour presentation by the project manager. Presentations provide a quality control check on the selection process. They often reveal issues which have been overlooked or under-valued. While a firm cannot go from last place to first place on the basis of a presentation, the presentation can be useful in differentiating the skills of the top three proponents

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