Finding the right Request for Proposal (RFP) can mark a major turning point for your business or organization. Billions of dollars in contracts are awarded each year through the RFP process, but in such a competitive landscape, it can be difficult to know where to begin one’s search. At The Bid Lab, we’re experts in […]

The Request for Proposal (RFP) process – or how organizations source, evaluate, and acquire goods and services – used to be a pretty archaic ordeal. Think binders slowly making their way through the mail, typewriters bleeding ink, and warehouses full of questionnaires piled as high as the eye can see.

Your organization – private, public or nonprofit – needs to implement a project, such as building a new website, and you’ve been chosen to lead the process to find a vendor to do it. You’ve decided the best way to compare vendors is through the RFP process since there are many advantages to doing so.

Many people hate Request for Proposals (RFPs) – I mean really hate RFPs. And it’s tough to blame them. Oftentimes, RFPs are hundreds of pages long, requesting painstakingly detailed information about a product or service with the understanding that responses are contractually binding, pricing should be firm, and due dates strictly adhered to.

Responding to RFPs can be a rewarding and lucrative choice for your business; but, before you can respond to one, you need to know where to find them! In our latest blog post, we cover the ins and outs of finding public and private RFP opportunities.

Your organization needs to build a new website. You’ve been chosen to spearhead the project. Now, it’s time to build a Request for Proposal (RFP) – and of course, you’ve never done this before! What is an RFP? How do you even construct one? Where do you look for help?

The world of bidding on government projects can seem daunting! For one thing, there are a myriad of bid document types, and to make things worse, similar or identical document types often have different names or abbreviations, depending on the preferences of the entity that issued them. We’ll break down the differences for you in our latest article.

Your organization has a service or product to sell. It’s time to respond to a client’s Request for Proposal (RFP) – don’t panic! What are the steps in the process? How can you be sure to respond correctly and on time?

A Request for Proposal, or RFP, is by far the most common way for the government – and some private companies – to acquire goods and services. When an organization needs a product or service, they may write up and publish an RFP, and ask for qualified vendors to apply in a specified way. Simply put, it’s a document that lays out an organization’s needs and asks for solutions from applicants, who are applying to win the right to complete the project.

Bidding on government and private sector RFPs can be very different experiences for you and your business. Generally speaking, this is largely due to the varying objectives and regulatory requirements of public organizations versus those of private companies. While profit is usually the sole motivation of a private business, public entities have myriad factors to consider.  

With so much competition in the marketplace, it is absolutely vital, that agencies spend the proper amount of time and effort customizing their proposals. As AdAge puts it, “RFPs are not simple, cookie-cutter documents where agencies need only fill in the blanks with stock answers they’ve developed over time for the purpose of responding to RFPs.” While many individual queries in an RFP may be similar (if not identical), responses need to be as distinct and specific as possible, tailoring their responses to each individual request.

Selling products and services to the federal government can be a confusing, time-consuming process. Fortunately, the government has established a program to streamline government acquisitions of private-sector assets.

While hiring a consultant may seem like an easy and efficient way to tackle the RFP process, there are a few things to keep in mind if you do choose to do so.