Municipalities know that a competitive procurement process is integral to ensuring the products and services they purchase offer the best value for the public. It’s well-known that the process for procuring consulting and professional services, differs from the process for purchasing goods because, among other differences, it is more difficult to compare the responses received in the two scenarios. That’s why it’s first and foremost imperative that care is given to the design of the Request For Proposal (RFP) or solicitation document itself, before it is posted. There are two approaches in particular that I’ve noticed being used to develop RFPs or solicitation documents.

On the one hand, I’ve witnessed municipalities that simply ask another municipality for a copy of the RFP they used for a similar project, and then they copy and paste their municipal information into the RFP without really reading the clauses and ensuring that they apply to their own situation. While there is nothing inherently wrong with using someone else’s RFP template to ensure you’ve touched on all the criteria you want in it, what worked for municipality “A” most likely will not be identical to what municipality “B” needs. If the wording is incorrect in the solicitation document and you award the work based on that wording, you’ve incurred risk and you may be stuck with the results.

Alternatively, I’ve also witnessed that in their quest to develop thorough solicitation documents, municipalities end up creating a document that is so lengthy and cumbersome that they are inadvertently eliminating some experienced and knowledgeable consultants and professionals from being able to respond, and driving up the price quotes of the ones who do respond, as a result. It takes time to fill out a lengthy RFP and the costs for doing so will no doubt be added into the quote.

Here are some tips that may help you find a happy medium between these two extremes and increase the number and quality of the responses you receive.

Reduce the length of your RFP whenever possible

More and more consultants I’ve spoken to report that they no longer respond to RFP documents that are too long and cumbersome. It simply takes too much time and time is money to them. I could almost guarantee that you will receive more responses and ultimately more competitive quotes by simply reducing your document and posting it on correctly targeted platforms.

Only include the criteria you need in the RFP

Be sure to carefully examine the scope of your project and include only those criteria you absolutely need to meet your needs, because more is not always better. If you have too many requirements that are not absolutely critical to the success of your project, you may be missing an opportunity to work with smaller firms and/or highly experienced professionals, simply because they cannot possibly meet all the criteria. This results in limiting the responses you will receive and you may end up paying more for the work.

Provide enough time for responses

Responders need a reasonable amount of time to fill out a RFP and ensure they can meet the criteria. Thirty (30) days is considered to be an acceptable standard and is a reasonable amount of time to allow for responding to a services RFP.

Include opportunities for responders to add alternative solutions

Give responders some opportunity to apply a creative solution or alternatives in your RFP. If the RFP is too rigid you could be missing out on other solutions you were not even aware of, but they can still meet your needs and provide potential cost savings or efficiencies to boot.

So how do you know your solicitation document will appeal to potential bidders yet still mitigate risks for the municipality? If you do not have trained procurement personnel in house, you may want to consider outsourcing the RFP development, and in some cases the entire RFP process itself, to a RFP project manager. There are costs for doing so, but given the increased legal challenges municipalities are now facing on the manner in which contracts are awarded, the cost of a legal challenge will be much greater than paying for an expert to do it right in the first place. You can find some of these experts on muniSERV.ca.

Finally, to increase the number and quality of the responses you receive, make sure you post your final document on as many sites as possible that target the service providers you’re trying to reach, including muniSERV.ca. Doing so will ensure you’re reaching as many potential bidders as possible.

Remember, whenever a prospective bidder decides not to bid, it’s your loss!