A Real-world RFP Case
• 1994 Northridge Earthquake Causes Costly but
non-life threatening damage in LA area
• Walt Disney Co. takes significant financial hit in
repairing corporate buildings
• During damage remediation an Engineering
consulting firm suggests that a comprehensive
earthquake monitoring system in the Walt
Disney buildings could be used to speed
remediation in the future
Walt Disney Case Study
• Walt Disney Co. decides that EQ
monitoring system may be needed and
determines that a Request for Proposal
should be written to solicit bids on
providing the system
• Engineering firm is hired to write the
technical specifications for a document
which describes what Walt Disney CO.
needs for EQ monitoring
Walt Disney Case Study (RFP)
• Request for Proposal (RFP) includes
– Who? wants the work done
• Walt Disney Co.
– What? Exactly what technical specifications that must be met
• period, record length, remote access, inter-connection,
robustness…
– Where? they want the work done
• Several individual buildings in LA
– When? project typically includes timeline
• Billed on this year’s budget so it can be written off as part of
Northridge expense
– Why? motivation for wanting the work done
• To quickly determine if damage has occurred to building during an
EQ with minimum disruption and physical inspection
– How? methods to be used, tied to ‘what?’
Walt Disney Case Study (RFP cont.)
• RFP typically does not include cost - bidders supply
• RFP’s with a significant amount of ‘why?’ information can be very
useful for the bidder - knowing the ‘why?’ may allow a bidder to
come up with a better ‘what?’ a bad RFP has very little ‘why?’ and
may mean the bidder will be left with narrow prescriptive work - not
everyone’s favorite.
• How? typically this is left up to the bidder in good engineering
projects, but RFP writer must be able to judge if various how?
options are feasible
• In engineering projects the RFP writer may contact potential bidders
in the process (this is touchy) but often occurs due to the technical
nature of engineering RFP’s - the RFP should ask for something
practical or costs will go sky high