The Secrets of Successful RFPs

Secret #11 – Include all your reserved rights in the RFP.
 

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. 
 

Secret #11 – Include all your reserved rights in the RFP.
 

Chapter VII of New York State’s Procurement Guidelines deals exclusively with RFPs. In about 50 pages, they cover the process. And they do it well, transmitting large amounts of direction and advice to the reader. 
 

Publishing your reserved rights makes your actions during the RFP process easier to defend. Don’t keep them a secret. This will, as an extra benefit, help you to educate your vendors about the RFP process.
 

Here’s what New York state claims as their reserved rights in RFPs:
 

To enable the State to acquire goods and services that represent the “best value,” the State reserves rights to:
 

1. Define requirements to meet agency needs and to modify, correct and clarify requirements . . . 
 

2. Disqualify proposed solutions that fail to meet mandatory requirements . . . 
 

3. Eliminate mandatory requirements unmet by all offerors . . . 
 

4. Establish evaluation criteria . . . establish the relative importance of each criterion; and evaluate proposals as well as award contracts on the basis of these criteria . . .  
 

5. Consider every offer as firm and not revocable . . .   
 

 6. Award a contract for any or all parts of a proposal and negotiate contract terms and conditions to meet agency program requirements consistent with the solicitation
 

 7. Establish that in the event two offers are found to be substantially equivalent, price shall be the basis for determining the award . . . 
 

8. Elect to award a contract to one or more responsive and responsible offerors . . . 
 

9. Require . . . a bond or other guarantee of performance . . . 
  

 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 RFP 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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