effective rfps · rob assels (ce, cmrp) • 20+ years experience on supplier side –federal...
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Halifax / Ottawa / Toronto / Edmonton / Victoria
Effective RFPs
An evaluation supplier’s perspective
Rob Assels (CE, CMRP)
• 20+ years experience on supplier side
– Federal
– Provincial
– Municipal
– NGO
• Vice President and Research Director for R.A. Malatest & Associates
– 250 proposals annually for the past 28 years
– 25-35% success rate
2
Topics
• Purpose and structure of the RFP
• How the RFP is read
• Pricing
• Role of standing offers
• An exercise – how would you bid?
• Low budget RFPs
• Tips for effective RFPs
• Knowing your supplier
3
Purpose and structure
4
The Role of the RFP
1. To clearly identify what your needs are
2. To communicate the delivery timeframe
3. To obtain the best value
• Other – To delineate deliverables
– To establish the level of expertise
– To set communication/reporting protocols
– To set the tone of the relationship
5
Necessary Details
• Tombstone info (submission requirements)
• Contractual info (invoicing, terms, etc.)
• Legal info (privacy and security
requirements)
• Evaluation criteria (Mandatory and
Rated)
6
Nice to Have
• Standardized submissions (similar structure)
• Section weights for scoring
– With detailed descriptions this can provide valuable information to suppliers
• Pricing clarification (Ceiling or Range)
• Adequate time for Q&As and then to write submission
7
Are Page Limits Nice to Have?
• They are for some
– The reader of the submissions
– Smaller or new firms (less experience)
• Best practices
– 10-25 pages
– Allow executive summary
– Allow resumes in appendix
8
Other Details for Apple-Apple
Comparisons
• Incentives
– The cost of recruitment goes down as the
value of the incentive goes up
• Translation
– Be precise: guides, survey, reports
9
Typical RFP Requests
• Background
• Purpose
• Methodology
• Evaluation plan
• Project team
• Experience
• References
• Pricing
• Value added features
10
How the RFP is read
What suppliers are looking for 11
First Things First
• Do we qualify?
– Review mandatory requirements
– Subject matter experts / partners
• Can we deliver in this timeframe?
– Availability of resources (writing and executing)
• Is it worth it?
– Value of the RFP
12
Qualifying: Things to Consider
• The more specificity you demand
– The fewer responses you’ll receive
– Can hurt very competent smaller evaluation
firms
• Consider stating whether you encourage
collaborative bids or not
13
Timeline: To Write the Proposal
• How long does writing a proposal take?
• Most allow 2 weeks from posting to deadline
• Most have a 1 week deadline for questions
• Most provide answers just before the
deadline
BUT
• What if Subject Matter Experts are needed?
• What if the Q&A is technical?
14
Timelines: To Conduct the Evaluation
• Which of the following do you want
rushed?
– Design
– Data collection
– Analysis
– Report writing
Correct Answer: NONE
15
Iron Triangle
• Relationship between scope of work,
timing, budget and overall quality
16
What part of survey design take the most
time?
• Questionnaire design 2-5 days
• Client approval 5-10 days
• Programming 5 days
• Pre-testing (English) 1 day
• Revisions 1 day
• Translation 2 days
• Pre-testing (French) 1 day
• Launch
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Pricing
All things being equal
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Two Premises
1. All evaluators are responsible
2. They can design evaluations to meet any budget.
Larger budgets will have:
– More lines of evidence
– Larger sample sizes
– Additional quality control
– More analysis time
– Greater confidence in results
19
Pricing ... What happens when you
• Set a ceiling
– Everyone bids near the ceiling
– Clear understanding of expected level of effort
• Set a range
– Bids scatter based on qualifications
– Introduces some ambiguity about level of
effort
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What about when there’s no hint?
• Introduces uncertainty
– Do they want a Lexus or a Yaris?
– I design the perfect Lexus – you want a Yaris
– I design the perfect Yaris – you want a Lexus
• We waste time writing the proposal
• You waste time reading them
21
Lowest Price Wins
• Reasonable for prescriptive RFPs
• Increases the likelihood ...
– Bate and switch
– Corner cutting
– Quality control checks
• Would this approach work anywhere else?
22
Language is Key
“A literature review”
(2-3 days)
OR
“A comprehensive cross-jurisdictional literature
review citing Canadian and International
sources”
(15-20 days) 23
Key Words and Terms ...
• That suggest a higher price
– Thorough
– Comprehensive
– Precise
– High level of confidence
– Rigourous
24
Impact of Response Rates on Price
• Mean response rate in Canada: 17%
• 50% of population under 30 do not have a
land line
• Refusal rates have been rising for the past
two decades
• Response rates of >50% are VERY
expensive
– And sometimes not achievable
25
n = 500
$10,000
+/- 4.38%
n = 300
$6,000
+/- 5.66%
26
Impact of Sample Size on Price
• 10 minute survey • Completed by telephone • Random sample • General population
Prescriptive OR Flexible
• 10 minute phone
survey
• 20 in-depth interviews
• 2 focus groups
All suppliers should be
within 10-20% of the
same cost
• Mix of quantitative and
qualitative methods
Allows for creativity and
innovation. Wide ranging
financial bids
27
Standing offers
What is their role?
28
What are Standing Offers?
• Evaluation firms pre-qualify to be on a
reduced list of “vendors of record”
– They are not contracts
• Differ between jurisdictions
– Single focus ... Multipurpose
– Cattle call ... Exclusive (e.g., 1-3 VORs)
29
Value
• Saves time and money for the client – Read all the detail once, not each time
– Reduces the number of qualified proposals to read
– Fixed prices and terms for the duration of the offer
– Faster contract initiation
• Saves time and money for the VOR – Nearly 50% of a proposal is repeated
• Company background / history
• Company experience
• Project team
• Credentials / accreditation
30
Any Reason Not to have Them?
• Small number of RFPs
• Types of evaluations you require are
unique
– Already a limited number of firms
• Geography dictates the availability of
suppliers
31
Questions so far?
32
Tables are turned
How would you bid?
33
PROJECT:
• 3 year gang prevention project in Moncton
• 3 full-time case managers
• Youth range from 12-21 years of age
• Partners include:
– Police services
– local school board
– youth groups
– addiction services
EVALUATION:
• Quasi-experimental
design
• Literature review
• Deliverables
– Evaluation Plan
– Data collection tools
– Two annual reports
– Final report
– Presentation
Abridged SOW for Outcome Evaluation
34
What would you need to ask?
• Bilingualism requirements
• Privacy requirements
• Is a control group required
• Will incentives be used
• Do we need a subject matter expert
• What onsite research is required
• Expected number completing program
• Budget
35
Due Date
• Steps involved – Obtaining the RFP (1 day)
– Assessing / Assigning (1 day)
– Reviewing / Researching / Ask questions (1 day)
– Obtaining any needed experts (2-3 days)
– Writing / Pricing (4 days)
– Incorporating answers to questions (1 day)
– Proofing / Revisions (1 day)
– Printing / Packaging / Submitting (1 day)
• 2 weeks?
36
How would you get the best value?
• What if you had no hints
• What if you knew the ceiling was $200k
• What if you knew the range: $150k-$200k
37
38
Low Budget Version
PROJECT:
• 3 year gang prevention project in Moncton
• 3 full-time case managers
• Youth range from 12-21 years of age
• Partners include:
– Police services
– local school board
– youth groups
– addiction services
EVALUATION:
• Quasi-experimental
design
• Literature review
• Deliverables
– Evaluation Plan
– Data collection tools
– Two annual reports
– Final report
– Presentation
SAME Project (Evaluation budget =
$50k)
39
Proposal (reduced in scale)
• Baseline survey
• Post treatment survey
• 5 key informant interviews
• 1 focus group
• Interim report
• Final report
40
Tips for More effective RFPs
41
Build in Patience
• Allow time for a considered response
– On multidisciplinary evaluations, allow time to
find partners/subject matter experts
– Allow time after Q&As (more than 1-2 days)
– Consider 3 weeks a minimum
• Allow electronic submissions
42
Build in Flexibility
• There are always unexpected challenges
and opportunities
• If resources are 100% committed, corners
must be cut to overcome challenges and
opportunities may not be realized
43
Allow Your Organizational Culture to Show
• Use language to reflect how you like to do
business
• Do you want a participatory evaluation
– “Collaboration”
– “Active Committee”
44
Pricing
• Set ceilings or ranges
– If that’s not possible, give significant clues
• If you do none of the above, you will waste
a lot of time and get no tangible benefit
Exception: Prescriptive data collection
projects
45
Added Value
• Some direction is useful
– Design phase
– Data collection phase
– Analytic technique
– Post evaluation support
46
Knowing your Suppliers
47
Multiple Tenders
• All consultants bid on multiple projects at
the same time
– Need to win one
– Hope to win some
– Don’t expect to win them all
But sometimes they do ...
48
How to Avoid Bate and Switch
• Focus on the project team not the
company
– Increasingly common to see experience
sections limited to the project team or project
lead
• Require the project lead to be at all face to
face meetings
• Base future references upon obtaining the
agreed upon team 49
Understand your Suppliers’ Needs
• Suppliers want to be awarded the tender
• If they win, they want ...
– To provide the best evaluation that time, budget and circumstances allow
– To obtain a reference for future submissions
• If they lose, they want ...
– To know how to improve their future submissions
– You need to be specific and be honest
50
Healthy and Capable Supplier Base
• Clearly worded and well timed RFPs will
attract a large number of appropriate
submissions
• All but one evaluator will lose
• It is important that those who lose feel the
process was not only fair and transparent
but was not a waste of their time
51
Halifax / Ottawa / Toronto / Edmonton / Victoria
Questions
Thank you If you have questions, please contact Rob Assels at: 877-782-4816 ext 702 or at r.assels@malatest.com
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