Provide Ample Time to Evaluate RFP Proposals Effectively
Evaluating vendor proposals is one of the most critical aspects of the RFP process, secondary only to negotiations. The ironic thing is that we've seen too many clients try to abbreviate this activity, take short cuts, or even avoid it altogether. Providing ample time for your team to review the vendor RFP responses is critical to a quality review process, while not rushing the evaluation process ensures that you understand their complete offer and proposal.
RFP team members are typically time constrained and do not allocate enough time to evaluate the vendor's proposals adequately. We have found that it takes team members 2-3 hours to review the average RFP (length of 112 pages) and evaluate and score each proposal. This process typically requires multiple readings of the proposals to generate thoughtful scores. Most evaluation teams allocate two weeks to review the vendor's responses after the RFP due date. So let's do the modeling: if we assume 2.5 hours per proposal to evaluate the vendor's response and we presume an average of 4 responses, this equates to at least ten hours required to sufficiently evaluate RFP responses. If this is an unplanned activity, chances are it will be performed after hours or rushed at the very last minute just to get their scores in. Rushing the review process increases the chances of the review being incomplete.
Our Take
As the evaluation time approaches, calendars tend to fill up. Therefore, we recommend that you have the team members schedule the evaluation time on their calendars as early as possible … sometimes even before the RFP is drafted. IT RFPs average between 5-6 evaluators. Chances are one of these evaluators is on the IT leadership team. If so, consider extending the review process by another week to provide them with the flexibility to evaluate the responses. Remember, it is always better to have reserved the time and not need it than to need it and not have it reserved.
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