Craft your RFP response carefully and with precision.
A request for proposal, or RFP, is a business document that organizations develop for bidding on funds, services, or goods that they wish to secure. The offerer of the funds, services or goods is the entity that decides which bidder shall be rewarded, based on the quality and content of the RFP response. Accordingly, writing an effective RFP response is necessary if you wish to come out ahead of your bidding competitors.
Instructions
1. Review the RFP response requirements. When a bid is released it asks for a specific set of criteria that the offerer wishes to get back in the response, such as estimates, organizational charts, copies of business or staff licenses, etc. Make sure you know exactly what your bidder expects so that you can provide an effective response.
2. Create an outline of your response. Base the outline on the structure of the RFP. For instance, if the offerer lists questions in a particular order, you must respond to those questions in the same order as they are written. The outline will help you keep everything aligned so that you know what to respond to, and where in the response it will be located.
3. Transfer the outline to a first draft response. Set up a word document to be typed, and format it in the same order as the outline. Begin filling in the response for each heading, category or question that you have outlined.
4. Include data and statistics. If the RFP calls for trends, numbers, facts or figures, you must provide them whenever possible. This might require you to do some research before drafting the response to a particular question.
5. Provide accurate estimates, if the RFP calls for it. Avoid "ball-parking" any figures that you include. Always justify how you came to particular estimates, costs or amounts. You can break out figures by providing budgets or expense spreadsheets as attachments to the RFP response.
6. Answer the RFP questions honestly and fairly. You should never respond to an RFP with false information. For instance, if the RFP asks you to list staff who are licensed engineers, you must not include staff who are not licensed, assuming that they will become licensed in the future.
7. Do not over-promise something that is unrealistic. As a bidder, you want to have the best offer so that the offerer selects you to procure the goods you are after. However, if an offerer does not believe that your organization is capable of doing something -- possibly because it seems far-fetched -- you might become disqualified. For example, if an RFP calls for a 20-person job, it is unrealistic to say that your company can handle the job with only five staffers.
8. Share your successes and discuss your strengths. Tell your offerer why you are the most qualified person or entity for the bid by listing the accomplishments for which you or your entity is responsible. Name rewards that you've received, successful ventures and anything else you can extol.
9. Define your performance measurement and evaluation criteria. Offers want to know how you will be measuring and monitoring the goods, funds or services that you secure if you win their bid. It is important for you to clearly outline the key indicators and quality controls that you will apply to ensure quality performance.
10. Use direct, confident language. Avoid phrases like "we think we could do a good job," and, instead, write phrases such as "we will do a good job." You don't want your offerer to have any doubts about your capabilities.
11. Keep your language clear and concise. The offerer has many RFP responses to read through, and wants to get right to the point. Avoid lengthy and flowery language by tightening sentences and keeping responses straightforward.
12. Follow the formatting instructions exactly as they are written. The offerer's instructions might say to write a response that is no more than 5 pages, or might specify that your answers to the RFP questions must be italicized. You must pay attention to small details such as this, because the offerer wants a standardized response. Straying from the offerer's instructions can disqualify your bid.
13. Proofread your RFP response several times. Make changes as necessary and re-review. Give the response to others to read and catch any errors you may have overlooked.
14. Sign the RFP response to make it official. Only the company's signatory may sign off on an RFP.
