RFP

1
RFP

• How to develop a request for proposal document.

2
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.

3
Intelligence

• In-house
• Vendors
• Consultants
• Literature
• Similar installations
• Review services (Auerbach, DataPro)

4
RFP Process

• First Pass
• Eliminate unacceptable alternatives
• Reduce the choices to 2-4 alternatives
• Second Pass
• Select the final product.

5
Need to publish

• Written requirements
• Formal presentation expectations
• Don't let vendors run the selection
• Evaluation standards

6
Typical RFP Contents

• Introduction
• Instructions
• Objectives
• Contacts
• Timetable
• System Requirements
• Mandatory Requirements
• Desirable Features
• Evaluation Method

7
Evaluation Criteria

• Features Table
• Hard Dollar Evaluations
• Soft Dollar Evaluations
• Delivery Date
• Acceptance Criteria Penalties
• Mandatory Features
• Desirable features

8
Desirable Features

• Modularity
• Compatibility
• Reliability
• Maintainability
• Vendor Support

9
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

10
Validation

• Test the proposed system to assure that it does
  what you want
• Modeling
• Simulation
• Benchmarking
• Work sample analysis