Tell The Nice Consultants What They Need To Know

Being the second of Greg's tips on how to write an RFP that will get you the proposals you're hoping for.


Earlier this week we talked about the importance of NOT overloading your RFP with unnecessary mandatory requirements. Here's another hint.

TIP No. 2: Tell The Consultants What They Need To Know


When you issue an RFP, you're looking for support. Sometimes you just need more hands on the wheel; sometimes you're looking for help to figure out exactly what kind of help you really need. But at the beginning of a project, at the RFP stage, no-one knows more about your actual requirements than you, the client. And the more you tell the consultant about those requirements in the RFP, the better and more focused the proposals you receive will be.  It's like dealing with a doctor or a real estate agent; you'll get quicker, more effective responses if you provide complete and accurate information about your needs.

If there is a need for the consultants to travel to “various Aboriginal communities to be determined” - do you know how many communities? Or what regions? If not, do you have a travel budget to guide the poor schmuck of a consultant who has to guess whether you mean two trips to Golden Lake and Kitigan Zibi, or a dozen tips that include Terrace, BC and Grise Fiord, Nunavut?  That's a $30,000 difference right there: it would be helpful to know.

If the project is to involve "interviews with various stakeholder groups", do you have a sense of which groups? Clients? Funders? Partner organizations? Local businesses? Program staff from government? Special interest groups? Each one of those target communities is going to require a slightly different approach and tools, which changes the scope, scale, method, and of course the cost of the consultation. We can try to guess what you have in mind: but the clearer you are, the more accurate about costs and methods we can be.

If there is a key document, such as an evaluation framework, that you have developed to guide the project work –  share it with all bidders so they better understand your requirements.

Have you taken a hard and honest look at what you're really trying to achieve, and agreed internally on what your real priorities are?  Some years ago we were invited to bid on the evaluation of a provincial component of a program delivered on-reserve. The program officer we spoke to was very helpful. He explained that the sponsors of the evaluation were looking for three things:
- they needed the evaluation done as quickly and inexpensively as possible
- they wanted to ensure a high level of community engagement, so the consultants would be expected to train a network of community workers to do most of the data gathering, review and analysis;
- and finally, they wanted in-depth, highest-quality scientific research results that can only be obtained by highly qualified and experienced professionals.

Each of those objectives was worthwhile, but it was impossible to meet all three. We decided not to bid: a month later, we read that the RFP had been withdrawn because no other bids had been received. 

Achieving clarity in an RFP shifts part of the responsibility for project results to you, the client. But there's real value in defining your own real needs and goals before releasing an RFP, instead of simply describing a broad need and then waiting to see what you get back from the consultant. You'll be dealing with fewer and better proposals, and you'll be much better prepared to manage the consultation to come.