Sometimes organizations do not have the skills or knowledge to manage a project, whether it is the whole project or parts of it. If an outside vendor or contractor is needed to help plan and/or run a project, a Request for Proposal (RFP) is created. The RFP outlines the scope and requirements of the project and is sent to other organizations to determine if they are interested in working on the project. A detailed, accurate, and thorough RFP allows potential contractors the opportunity to understand expectations and to accurately propose their services and accompanying costs.

Directly below is a template of the typical sections that are included in an RFP. For Part I, you are going to complete this form to hire someone to perform two tasks found in the Portfolio Project. Since this is only the second week of the course, you are not expected to be an expert on the Portfolio Project yet. However, you received the Portfolio Project Directions and the Portfolio Project Template documents in Week 1, so this is a great time for you to review those documents again to get accustomed to them.

Look at the Project Schedule of the Portfolio Project Template. In this RFP, you need to hire someone to help with the last two items on the schedule; your new hire will be responsible for the following:

• Names of RSVP’d attendees
• Providing a list of all items to be purchased before your graduation party
• The names of the restaurant and band for the party
• The date/time/mode of transportation to get to the graduation ceremony and party.

For Part II of this assignment, you will create an email communication to the President with your evaluation of an outside RFP template and make your recommendations for improvement.

Part I Directions:

Fill out the RFP template below. Use the information provided above and then be creative for the rest of the sections. In most sections, you only need one or two concise, detailed sentences per section. The goal here is to give you practice understanding the various sections of RFPs and what to include in them.

Note that in this RFP, you do not have to give the actual details of the information, only a description of what is needed. For example, in the first bullet point above, you would state that you will need data entry into Excel (names of RSVP’d attendees.) You will not list out the actual names in this RFP as you would not have received those names yet when sending this RFP.

RFP Template:

Date:

To Whom It May Concern: [Alternatively, if the name of the contractor is known, that would be used here instead of this generic term. For this exercise you can leave this phrase.]

We are seeking proposals from contractors to plan and execute a project regarding [enter subject matter of the project].

The details shared in this RFP are considered confidential. Do not share.

Name of [our] contact: [Enter your name]

Address to send completed RFPs: [Provide a fictional address]

Due Date of RFP: [Provide a fictional date]

Statement of Work (SOW):

[Enter details about specific tasks for the contractor to perform. Use the information provided in the bullets above.]

Requirements:

[Enter thorough details about expectations in order to consider the project a success. For example, include any technical specifications you want, specify research you want the contractor to conduct; for example, to determine market size if applicable, etc. Be creative here.]

Deliverables:

[State what the customer requires as an end product. For example, what specific reporting is needed, what recommendations do you want out of the project, etc. Be creative here and for the rest of the sections below.]

Acceptance Criteria:

[State what is necessary to be included in the RFP before you will accept it. For example, you might want to say that you have to confirm the deliverables, or agree on the final payment amount, etc.]

Items Supplied to the Contractor:

[State what kinds of resources will be given to the contractor. For example, you might give the contractor who is managing this project some specific data pulls from internal databases, or you might share proprietary information, etc.]

Approvals Required:

[State that you must approve all documents, etc. For example, you might say, we must approve marketing materials that would be provided to the public, etc.]

Contract Type:

[State whether the awarded contract will be based on a fixed price or something else. Whatever the fee will be based on, state it here. Be specific.]

Due Date:

[State the final date that the RFP is due. Include additional details such as how many copies of the completed RFP you need what address to send them to, etc.]

Schedule:

[State important dates such as when RFPs will be sent out to contractors, when the completed RFPs are expected back from contractors, etc.]

Payment Terms:

[State what and when payments will be made to the contractor that is awarded the contract. For example, 25% paid at contract signing, 25% paid at receiving the first deliverable, etc.]

Specific Contents Expected in the RFP:

[State the minimal things that the contractor must provide in the RFP. For example, what are the specific deliverables, what is the specific data needed from the customer (us), will there be additional costs above the payment for services, etc.]

Criteria to be Used in Evaluating the RFP:

[State the criteria we will use to determine which RFP we will award the contact to. For example, you might say that the contractors will be judged in the following areas: 25% for experience, 25% for proposed costs, etc.]

Part II Directions:

Scenario

The President of the company has asked you to evaluate discrepancies you found among RFPs and for your recommendations of changes to make to the categories on the RFP template you just completed.

Using Bryant & Stratton’s Virtual Library or popular search engines, find one example of either another RFP template or an actual RFP used by an organization. Compare that RFP with the template above, then answer the prompts below. Be sure to use sufficient details and clarity so that the President easily understands what you are communicating.

Directions

Type your answers to the prompts below in the format of an email message but type it into a Word document for ease of submission and grading. Your submission should be at least 500 words. Remember: the intention of this email message is for you to inform the president of the company about the discrepancies you found among the RFPs and your recommendations of changes to make to the categories in the above RFP.

• Compare and contrast the above template categories with those used in the RFP you located through research.
• Identify which categories you feel are important to include in your RFP and which can be omitted. Justify your selections.
• Distinguish which of the categories included are best related to enlisting support for organizational projects. Support your rationale.