The Secrets of Successful RFPs

Secret #3 – Sign the Contract before the Award is Made
 

Hear what the President of NIGP says about this book . . .

“I have found the Request for Proposal Handbook by Michael Asner to be a great training tool for my buyer staff. Although I have an experienced staff, they have had limited exposure in their careers to RFPs. The best practices information, examples and checklists all have proven to be wonderful tools. Thank you Michael.”

                                                         Ron Watkins CPPO, Purchasing Manager
                                                         City of Grand Junction, Colorado
                                                         President, National Institute of Governmental Purchasing
 

www.rfpmentor.com
 

This snapshot is taken from our new 400-page reference text, The Request For Proposal Handbook (Third Edition).  This book focuses on best RFP practices that will help you be successful. Chapter 5 of The Request For Proposal Handbook (Third Edition) identifies five excellent RFP manuals. 
 

New Mexico’s Guide is a great resource! Its 133 pages provide solid information about the entire process. In addition, it contains more than 70 pages of sample documents and forms. It’s arguably the best I’ve encountered. It’s thorough, well written, and full of practical advice based on experience and well organized. 
 

Here’s one of their gems:
 

Secret #3 – Sign the Contract before the Award is Made
 

Many jurisdictions include sample contracts in their RFPs. But few have an objective of having the contractor’s signature on the contract prior to the award. This is a significant innovation which dramatically changes the negotiation process. It takes a lot of work to negotiate contracts with multiple vendors. However, negotiating before opening the proposals gets the agency the full attention of each vendor. Vendor’s failing to come to an agreement with the agency are excluded from the competition. There proposals are not opened.
 

Here is an extract from the best practice followed by the state of New Mexico.
 

Some of the important benefits include the following:
 

• The negotiation is based upon the agency's contract not some 50 page document prepared by a battery of corporate attorneys that no one assigned to the procurement can understand. 
 

• The negotiation is overlapped with the procurement process where limited inhouse legal resources can be scheduled and utilized efficiently and effectively. 
 

• The resulting contract matches the contractor's proposal.
 

• The agency is in a position to maximize its negotiating position. 
 

• It reduces the involvement and compresses the time frame for corporate counsels. 
 

• It allows the proposal evaluation to be completed on a truly apples-to-apples comparison basis. 
 

Learn how you can reduce the risks by developing a more effective RFP and a better process. Learn about this RFP Guide and four others. Learn about the best practices from more than sixty jurisdictions based on Michael Asner’s 20-years of experience.

www.rfpmentor.com
 

Chapter 5 of The Request For Proposal Handbook (Third Edition) focuses on excellent manuals. Those few publications which are easy to read and convey solid advice in terms of ‘best practices’. Chapter 5 features publications from New Mexico, New York, the Federal Transit Administration, Massachusetts and Montana.
 

The entire 400-page book focuses on how to create effective, low-risk RFPs. You will learn about best practices that will help you be successful.
 

www.rfpmentor.com

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