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The RFP pack

How to write a request for proposal that produces answers you can actually compare. The structure, fourteen questions written so a vague response is obvious, a scoring model agreed before responses arrive, and what to do once they do. Written for contact centre and phone system selection in Australia.

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What is inside

Four parts, seven pages

Most technology RFPs are written to be defensible rather than useful. They ask for a feature list, receive a feature list, and produce a shortlist that could have been assembled from the vendors own websites. This is written to produce a different result.

01

The structure, and what to leave out

Six sections that matter, with what belongs in each. Also the thing to cut: the feature matrix with hundreds of yes or no rows, where every vendor answers yes, the matrix tells you nothing, and it takes a week to produce.

02

Fourteen questions that are hard to answer vaguely

Commercial, delivery and operation. Whole of contract cost itemised across three years, the uplift and whether it is capped, the named implementation team, the availability actually achieved rather than the figure in the service level agreement, and what leaving would cost.

03

A scoring model to agree before responses arrive

Six weighted criteria with a worked interpretation of what a five, a three and a one look like. Scoring after you have read the responses is how a preference becomes a process.

04

What to do once the responses are in

Score before you meet anybody, send your questions back where an answer was vague, choose your own reference customers, and negotiate before you announce. The fortnight before a vendor knows they have won is the strongest position you will ever hold.

Who it is for

Two situations this is written for

The pack assumes you are replacing something that works well enough to make the decision difficult.

You have to run a formal process

Procurement requires an RFP, and you would rather it produced a genuine comparison than a stack of brochures. Parts one and two are the document, part three is how you defend the outcome.

Start at part one

You are not running a formal process, but you want the answers

The fourteen questions work just as well sent to three vendors by email. Most of the value in an RFP is in asking questions that are hard to answer vaguely, and that does not require a formal process.

Start at part two

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Common questions

Questions about the pack

What people ask before giving an email address for something.

What does it cost?

Nothing. We are vendor funded, so the service costs your business nothing.

Will I be added to a sales sequence?

No. You receive the pack, and we contact you only if you ask us to.

Is it specific to contact centres and phone systems?

The questions and the scoring model are written for that selection, because that is the market we work in every day. The structure and the scoring approach transfer to most technology purchases without change.

How long does an RFP process actually take?

About six weeks done properly: writing the document, giving vendors time to answer, scoring, reference calls and negotiation. Anyone who tells you two weeks has removed a step that matters.

Can we send you the responses to look at?

Yes, and it is the fastest way to get value from us. Reading the commercial terms in a set of responses takes us a day rather than a project.

What if we already have a preferred vendor?

That is still worth testing. A renewal or a direct award negotiated against real market pricing usually improves whether or not you end up moving.

We are vendor funded and completely free to your business. Always focused on the right outcome.

Or let us run the process for you

We already know what these vendors charge and where they will move. You get a shortlist with the whole of contract cost attached, and where each option is weak.