Understanding the RFPInstructor: Glenn Smith

Session Leader: Kimberly Rogers

September 10, 2001

Kimberly RogersPrinciple Consultant

Washington Consulting Practice

Kimberly.rogers@us.pwcglobal.com

(703) 322-5113

3

Expected outcomes for today’s class

• Become familiar with key concepts associated with RFPs and why organizations issue them

• Understand the importance of RFP analysis

• Discover what to look for when reviewing an RFP

• Highlight examples in the sample eArmyU RFP

• Discuss how to interpret what a client is really asking for and prepare for proposal writing

What is an RFP?…and how is it similar to a vanity license plate?

5

Requests for Proposals allow clients to

• State their needs and concerns that require solutions

• Standardize the format of prospective bidder responses – Ease evaluation time and effort– Facilitate “apples to apples” comparison– Promote compliance to stated requirements– Increase quality of proposals that are submitted

• Establish procurement expectations and schedules

6

Procurement practices

• Vary with the type of customer, type of procurement, and the program’s projected cost

• Are not rigidly fixed by law and continue to evolve as programs grow and more bidders enter the marketplace

• Are increasingly moving away from sole-source contracting to practices that maximize benefits resulting from competition

• Differ between private and public sector marketplaces– Commercial RFPs are driven by good business sense– Federal procurements must follow federal source selection

practices and regulations

7

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

• Is the primary regulation for use by all Federal Executive agencies in their acquisition of supplies and services with appropriated funds

• Became effective April 1, 1984

• Issued under joint authority of Administrator of General Services, Secretary of Defense, Administrator for the NASA, and Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, OMB

8

Most important parts of an RFP

RFPRFPRFPRFP

Instructions toOfferors

EvaluationCriteria

Statement Of Work

Contractual Clauses

Attachments(Additional Information)

Deliverables

9

Commonly used terms

• Statement of Work (SOW)

• Contract Line Item Number (CLIN)

• Key Personnel

• Contracting Officer (CO)

• Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR)

• Deliverable

10

eArmyU RFP exercise: Finding the key elements

11

Recap: Why do buyers issue RFPs?

Why analyze the RFP?…and what-the-heck am I supposed to be looking for?

13

As bidders, why it is important to fully read and understand the RFP?

• Understand the needs before launching into problem solving

• Determine reasonableness of requirements

• Assess sufficiency of firm capabilities to meet requirements

• Assess risks to firm

• Assess costs (relative to potential gains) to create a proposal

• Identify conflicting, unclear, or missing information

• Identify whether strategic benefit to the firm exists

14

Best-practice tips for reviewing RFPs

• Read the RFP quickly to gain overall appreciation of the scope of work including technical and contractual requirements

• Especially note the table of contents and RFP organization

• Read RFP again, 3 or 4 times if necessary, with highlighter

• If information is not clearly organized, cut a copy of the document apart and reassemble it in logical groups– administrative info, proposal guidance, technical

requirements, contract requirements, evaluative info

• Determine if information is contradictory, prepare a list of issues, and clarify them as much as you can

15

What about those unclear requirements?

To ask or not to ask?

• Identify all issues on one list

• Mom was wrong, there are stupid questions

• Don’t ask unless you are willing to live with the answer

• Can you influence your advantage by asking the question?

• Will you tip your hand by asking?

16

As you read, you should be able to…

• Clearly understand the client requirements…ESSENTIAL

• Think about how your competitors will respond – Do your capabilities or strengths make you unique?

• Identify implicit requirements as well as explicit ones

• Distinguish wants from needs

• Pick up on client hot buttons or biases

• Start to plan a logical structure for your proposal that is compliant, responsive, and creates a compelling business case

17

Analyze the RFP to avoid risk of being:• Non-responsive• Non-responsible• Non-profitable

PricewaterhouseCoopers

18

Checkpoint: • Is it clear?• Should you bid?• Can you win?• Ready to write?

So this is easy, right?…or complexities underlying the basics

that make things more interesting

20

eArmyU SOW synopsis

21

Example: eArmyU pricing tables

• Turn to Part III of the RFP; schedule for pricing starts on p 7

• III (a) – Contractor shall perform all tasks

• III (b) – Estimated Potential Online Enrollments

• III (c) - Enrollment History

• III (d) – Disciplines of Interest

• III (e) – Pending Legislation

• III (f) – Minimum Guaranteed Amount/Contract Maximum

• Etc.

22

Example: eArmyU pricing tables cont.

• Turn to Part III of the RFP; schedule for pricing starts on p 7

• Explicit requirements of the instruction call for– Estimated qty, unit hours, unit price, est. amt, est. net amt,

guaranteed min amt

• RFP encourages bidders to use as many subCLINs as warranted – For separate institutions offering services– For separate rates for in-state and out-of-state tuition rates

23

Hints about other things to look for

• Read carefully and identify potential risks– Requirements are sometimes vague

• Understand how the performance-based aspect to the work is defined– How can you use that to your firm’s advantage?

• How are you going deal with lots of upfront capital before receiving payment?– Implementing and operating the portal– You provide ISP, internet access, library, software, books,

tutors, travel, program management– But students don’t pay until they take the course

• How can you discern the Army’s hot buttons?

24

Things PwC fully didn’t anticipate…

• The integration aspects of this solution are colossal

• High visibility of program in Government, politics, and media

• Impact of vague requirements weren’t always clear until solution design and prototyping got more detailed

25

You are ready to get started. Questions?