RFP
How to develop a request
for proposal document.
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Request for Proposal
A process for having vendors do some of
the design work for a project.
Objective: open, fair competition with
understood evaluation criteria.
Qualified vendors should be offered an
opportunity to bid.
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Intelligence
In-house
Vendors
Consultants
Literature
Similar installations
Review services (Auerbach, DataPro)
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RFP Process
First Pass:
Eliminate unacceptable alternatives
Reduce the choices to 2-4 alternatives
Second Pass:
Select the final product.
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Need to publish:
Written requirements
Formal presentation expectations
Don't let vendors run the selection
Evaluation standards
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Typical RFP Contents
Introduction
Instructions
Objectives
Contacts
Timetable
System Requirements
Mandatory Requirements
Desirable Features
Evaluation Method
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Evaluation Criteria
Features Table
Hard Dollar Evaluations
Soft Dollar Evaluations
Delivery Date
Acceptance Criteria & Penalties
Mandatory Features
Desirable features
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Desirable Features
Modularity
Compatibility
Reliability
Maintainability
Vendor Support
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Acquisition Strategies
Rent: Short term, complete vendor support,
high cost
Lease: Intermediate term, local support, user
specified equipment
Purchase: Cheaper, total user responsibility
Contract: Full vendor responsibility, contract
sensitive
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Validation
Test the proposed system to assure that it
does what you want:
Modeling
Simulation
Benchmarking
Work sample analysis
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