I have mixed feelings about RFPs. I can understand why they exist and the necessity for them as a means to stop blatant nepotism and favoritism but then, on the other hand, they take a lot of time to answer and, yes, often squash creativity. The thing that perhaps annoys me the most though is how often they are conducted by companies as a mandatory exercise when in reality they already have a preferred developer (sometime’s even their own in-house teams!) and then find reasons to pick them regardless.
I think RFP’s are perhaps a good idea for some industries, however, not the creative one! I think this should be a separate process altogether, decided by each individual company, as they will know exactly the kind of people they are looking for, and what they want to get from them.
I think PDF’s should definitely be allowed to be uploaded. If the people being hired are expected to be creative every day in the role they are applying for, then surely they need to let their creativity shine in their application. RFP’s definitely hold designers back.
My background is actually architecture, and we would spend in excess of $100,000 on a big chase – with absolutely nothing in return if you didn’t hit the arbitrary marks on the RFP scales. And, it wasn’t just our firm, it’s the faulted industry.
Now in web design / development full-time, I know exactly where you’re coming from. I’m not sure if it’s a learned sixth sense, or a direct reaction to the pain, but sticking your finger in the light socket does have it’s prolonged impacts.
I’m a big fan of The Win Without Pitching Manifesto – http://www.winwithoutpitching.com/manifesto which goes hand in hand with No Spec Work, and also attacks the issue of creatives doing work in an RFP world.
You mentioned starting a movement, once you guys are ready to push, we’ve all got your back.
I be of the same mind with your commentary completely. I suspect it is for the reason that the largest part rfp’s turn up from non creative family
There was a long and sordid history of hookers and blow on yachts in international waters.There are still tiny design houses who rush across town on bike to jam something in a box with minutes to spare.I occasionally respond to an RFP, but for the most part I have found them to be a waste of time
I sat on both sides of the table and it is hard to be yourself even if you know how the other side of the table is thinking! Thanks for this blog it really was nice to read!
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DyanaRose
I worked 8 years for a design architecture firm, in the marketing department.
I know from RFPs. From the government forms that allow for no creativity, to the well formed RFPs that have exacting information requirements, but also allow you to “market” yourself. I still look over other people’s marketing materials by first checking if the binding is good enough.
However, on the other side, what’s more creative than a design competition, eh? A 3 month, multistage, unpaid, design competition…
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Brians
The person or organization that is issuing the RFP is looking to solve a problem, and establish a price or cost to that end. As creatives, we are often trying to deliver Value – what the client needs, when they need it at a market price. Cost and Value are two very different things, and may be a cause of this consternation.
This dynamic works in reverse also. After the contract is signed, the client often discovers that their RFP is deficient because of budget/cost/time concerns – and they may not have thought out nor listened to the creatives value proposition. The good organizations consult with the contractor and amend the contract, and adjust the budget. This could be avoided if they listen to creatives before the contract is written.
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depasseg
I’m not sure I understand the point of the article. It sounds like you are complaining about poorly written RFP’s and no so much the actual process. I used to work for the US Dept of Def, and we wrote a lot of RFPs mostly for IT type systems. We’ve received some very creative and some very poor proposals. I think a lot of it has to do with the RFP itself. The US Gov’t has a HUGE guide to acquiring things. It’s called the FAR (Federal Acquistion Regulation). Check out the table of contents here: http://farsite.hill.af.mil/vffara.htm It will take you 20 minutes just to read the table of contents. As large as the FAR is, it is actually quite helpful. It provides a framework for just about every type of purchase. From a full and open competition, where everyone and their brother can submit a proposal in the sense of fairness to a directed purchase at a price to be negotiated later because it’s so urget we need it right now to support a war.
There is also a distinction to be made when evaluating proposals. Not every RFP is for the cheapest thing. Meaning, not every award has to be made to the lowest price offer (known as the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA)). The team doing the evaluation is allowed to do what is called a best value trade-off, which allows the Gov’t to make a decision to pay for something they didn’t specifically ask for, but that the offeror described in such a way as to make it worth them winning over the proposal that met the basic requirements and was cheaper. Again in the spirit of fairness, when the US Gov’t solicits an RFP, it has to provide evaluation criteria and the guide it will use to “Grade” each proposal (it’s like getting both the essay questions, and the process that the teacher will use to grade you). If a best value proposal is requested, then the gov’t must also tell the offerors which factors are more important to others, and how the trade off will be graded. It takes a lot of time and thought to put these RFPs together.
If you push for anything, I think you should push people to spend time writing better requirements and RFP’s, and think through how they will evaluate the proposals that they receive.
Sorry for the rambling.
Greg
PS – Did you know that the Gov’t can allow Proposal Preparation costs to be submitted for reimbursement?
I currently work for a law firm in Ohio, but there was a time when I workecd for an engineering consulting firm in Florida. In Florida, there are laws governing the RFP process, particularly when it comes to design-build projects for state or municipal facilities, structures, roadways, etc. Florida Statute Title 19-287.055 is called the Competitive Consulting Negotiation Act. This law has two basic purposes:
1. Promotion of fair and open competition
Reduces opportunity and appearance of favoritism
 Inspires public confidence that contracts are awarded equitably
 Uniform procedures and documentation are essential to curb
improprieties and ensure ethical process
Thank you for posting your interesting article, I hope such organisations have been able to read it (and understand it).
Early this year, I tried my first real RFP… and sure it was an ‘interesting’ experience, but for sure, I will never fill up such request again.
When you start reading their 24 pages reference document, only one page for the description of the work, 23 pages of many contractual requirements and conditions. That merely scares the designer that I am for the rest of the day, and the only thing you want to do is leaving this stuff behind. So many conditions for only ten type of layouts?, which are usually the one they maybe did one or two years ago… no reflexion, without any consideration about what they could really need, do, imagine, etc.
Well, as I promised myself to do it, I did it, completing all these details about ourselves, like if we were dangerous people to work with. As we are mainly ‘visual people’, it’s not easy to write and present ourselves in a language which are not ours.
When they let me know about the differences between the costing of every proposals, there was over 215% difference between the lowest and highest quote (and most of them where based from the same country!). I don’t say it’s so surprising but still, the lowest quotes worried me as much the RFP request after all. And when your require some feedback about your proposal… Silence is the word ! (of course you’ve agreed on this when you’ve signed such offer ;-)
I had good experiences and relationships with organisations requesting an offer based on a first meeting, in order to see, if we can best meet their requirements, and to me that’s a good point to start with, to first see if we can go along and make evolve a project together.
I used to be a “Certified Government Contractor”…which meant I was fairly skilled at sifting through BS. Although the RFP process is extremely daunting for a “newbie”, just remember that 85% of the requirements are there because the Government got burned in the past at some point with a similar job request. With that said, the contracting officers, and COTRs, and everyone involved are there to “help” you. More often than not, you’ll find you (as the expert) are needed to re-write the specs they provide. If that’s the case, just remember they are only people, and relationship DOES have it’s advantages…even though they say the decision is strictly objective. In summary, give RFPs their due diligence, BUT don’t waste your time if you can’t perform EVERYTHING in the requirements, or can find someone who can…cost effectively.
One issue with RFPs without the ability to discuss with the client is that unless we talk to the major movers/shakers, it’s hard to clarify what’s really needed, and thus the real scope of the job. I’ve found that sometimes a potential client will include something based on not fully understood language (but in reality they don’t need it), and sometimes things are left out. This isn’t surprising, since we can’t assume that potential web clients are fully conversant with industry jargon, let alone the technology, nor are they always fully aware of all the things they *could * do, but a conversation would have sorted this out in short order.
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macfreek
I have always been curious about whether there are state or federal laws that require a bid process for government agencies. I couldn’t find any substantive information to support that for this article, so if you work for a government agency and can shed some light on this for us, please add your two cents in the comments area.
Here is the regulation for the European Union (sorry, I don’t know the rules for to me foreign countries like the USA):
33 Reader Comments
Back to the ArticleGordon McLachlan
I have mixed feelings about RFPs. I can understand why they exist and the necessity for them as a means to stop blatant nepotism and favoritism but then, on the other hand, they take a lot of time to answer and, yes, often squash creativity. The thing that perhaps annoys me the most though is how often they are conducted by companies as a mandatory exercise when in reality they already have a preferred developer (sometime’s even their own in-house teams!) and then find reasons to pick them regardless.
Stephanie93
I think RFP’s are perhaps a good idea for some industries, however, not the creative one! I think this should be a separate process altogether, decided by each individual company, as they will know exactly the kind of people they are looking for, and what they want to get from them.
I think PDF’s should definitely be allowed to be uploaded. If the people being hired are expected to be creative every day in the role they are applying for, then surely they need to let their creativity shine in their application. RFP’s definitely hold designers back.
demo38
Greg, thank you for the great post.
My background is actually architecture, and we would spend in excess of $100,000 on a big chase – with absolutely nothing in return if you didn’t hit the arbitrary marks on the RFP scales. And, it wasn’t just our firm, it’s the faulted industry.
Now in web design / development full-time, I know exactly where you’re coming from. I’m not sure if it’s a learned sixth sense, or a direct reaction to the pain, but sticking your finger in the light socket does have it’s prolonged impacts.
I’m a big fan of The Win Without Pitching Manifesto – http://www.winwithoutpitching.com/manifesto which goes hand in hand with No Spec Work, and also attacks the issue of creatives doing work in an RFP world.
You mentioned starting a movement, once you guys are ready to push, we’ve all got your back.
basicfuels
I be of the same mind with your commentary completely. I suspect it is for the reason that the largest part rfp’s turn up from non creative family
There was a long and sordid history of hookers and blow on yachts in international waters.There are still tiny design houses who rush across town on bike to jam something in a box with minutes to spare.I occasionally respond to an RFP, but for the most part I have found them to be a waste of time
guapamedia
I sat on both sides of the table and it is hard to be yourself even if you know how the other side of the table is thinking! Thanks for this blog it really was nice to read!
DyanaRose
I worked 8 years for a design architecture firm, in the marketing department.
I know from RFPs. From the government forms that allow for no creativity, to the well formed RFPs that have exacting information requirements, but also allow you to “market” yourself. I still look over other people’s marketing materials by first checking if the binding is good enough.
However, on the other side, what’s more creative than a design competition, eh? A 3 month, multistage, unpaid, design competition…
There are worse alternatives out there.
Brians
The person or organization that is issuing the RFP is looking to solve a problem, and establish a price or cost to that end. As creatives, we are often trying to deliver Value – what the client needs, when they need it at a market price. Cost and Value are two very different things, and may be a cause of this consternation.
This dynamic works in reverse also. After the contract is signed, the client often discovers that their RFP is deficient because of budget/cost/time concerns – and they may not have thought out nor listened to the creatives value proposition. The good organizations consult with the contractor and amend the contract, and adjust the budget. This could be avoided if they listen to creatives before the contract is written.
depasseg
I’m not sure I understand the point of the article. It sounds like you are complaining about poorly written RFP’s and no so much the actual process. I used to work for the US Dept of Def, and we wrote a lot of RFPs mostly for IT type systems. We’ve received some very creative and some very poor proposals. I think a lot of it has to do with the RFP itself. The US Gov’t has a HUGE guide to acquiring things. It’s called the FAR (Federal Acquistion Regulation). Check out the table of contents here: http://farsite.hill.af.mil/vffara.htm It will take you 20 minutes just to read the table of contents. As large as the FAR is, it is actually quite helpful. It provides a framework for just about every type of purchase. From a full and open competition, where everyone and their brother can submit a proposal in the sense of fairness to a directed purchase at a price to be negotiated later because it’s so urget we need it right now to support a war.
There is also a distinction to be made when evaluating proposals. Not every RFP is for the cheapest thing. Meaning, not every award has to be made to the lowest price offer (known as the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA)). The team doing the evaluation is allowed to do what is called a best value trade-off, which allows the Gov’t to make a decision to pay for something they didn’t specifically ask for, but that the offeror described in such a way as to make it worth them winning over the proposal that met the basic requirements and was cheaper. Again in the spirit of fairness, when the US Gov’t solicits an RFP, it has to provide evaluation criteria and the guide it will use to “Grade” each proposal (it’s like getting both the essay questions, and the process that the teacher will use to grade you). If a best value proposal is requested, then the gov’t must also tell the offerors which factors are more important to others, and how the trade off will be graded. It takes a lot of time and thought to put these RFPs together.
If you push for anything, I think you should push people to spend time writing better requirements and RFP’s, and think through how they will evaluate the proposals that they receive.
Sorry for the rambling.
Greg
PS – Did you know that the Gov’t can allow Proposal Preparation costs to be submitted for reimbursement?
PPS – I like beer too.
JimJarrell
I currently work for a law firm in Ohio, but there was a time when I workecd for an engineering consulting firm in Florida. In Florida, there are laws governing the RFP process, particularly when it comes to design-build projects for state or municipal facilities, structures, roadways, etc. Florida Statute Title 19-287.055 is called the Competitive Consulting Negotiation Act. This law has two basic purposes:
1. Promotion of fair and open competition
Reduces opportunity and appearance of favoritism
 Inspires public confidence that contracts are awarded equitably
 Uniform procedures and documentation are essential to curb
improprieties and ensure ethical process
sbgraphic
Thank you for posting your interesting article, I hope such organisations have been able to read it (and understand it).
Early this year, I tried my first real RFP… and sure it was an ‘interesting’ experience, but for sure, I will never fill up such request again.
When you start reading their 24 pages reference document, only one page for the description of the work, 23 pages of many contractual requirements and conditions. That merely scares the designer that I am for the rest of the day, and the only thing you want to do is leaving this stuff behind. So many conditions for only ten type of layouts?, which are usually the one they maybe did one or two years ago… no reflexion, without any consideration about what they could really need, do, imagine, etc.
Well, as I promised myself to do it, I did it, completing all these details about ourselves, like if we were dangerous people to work with. As we are mainly ‘visual people’, it’s not easy to write and present ourselves in a language which are not ours.
When they let me know about the differences between the costing of every proposals, there was over 215% difference between the lowest and highest quote (and most of them where based from the same country!). I don’t say it’s so surprising but still, the lowest quotes worried me as much the RFP request after all. And when your require some feedback about your proposal… Silence is the word ! (of course you’ve agreed on this when you’ve signed such offer ;-)
I had good experiences and relationships with organisations requesting an offer based on a first meeting, in order to see, if we can best meet their requirements, and to me that’s a good point to start with, to first see if we can go along and make evolve a project together.
Shankopotomus
I used to be a “Certified Government Contractor”…which meant I was fairly skilled at sifting through BS. Although the RFP process is extremely daunting for a “newbie”, just remember that 85% of the requirements are there because the Government got burned in the past at some point with a similar job request. With that said, the contracting officers, and COTRs, and everyone involved are there to “help” you. More often than not, you’ll find you (as the expert) are needed to re-write the specs they provide. If that’s the case, just remember they are only people, and relationship DOES have it’s advantages…even though they say the decision is strictly objective. In summary, give RFPs their due diligence, BUT don’t waste your time if you can’t perform EVERYTHING in the requirements, or can find someone who can…cost effectively.
Diane Vigil
One issue with RFPs without the ability to discuss with the client is that unless we talk to the major movers/shakers, it’s hard to clarify what’s really needed, and thus the real scope of the job. I’ve found that sometimes a potential client will include something based on not fully understood language (but in reality they don’t need it), and sometimes things are left out. This isn’t surprising, since we can’t assume that potential web clients are fully conversant with industry jargon, let alone the technology, nor are they always fully aware of all the things they *could * do, but a conversation would have sorted this out in short order.
macfreek
I have always been curious about whether there are state or federal laws that require a bid process for government agencies. I couldn’t find any substantive information to support that for this article, so if you work for a government agency and can shed some light on this for us, please add your two cents in the comments area.
Here is the regulation for the European Union (sorry, I don’t know the rules for
to meforeign countries like the USA):http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/internal_market/businesses/public_procurement/l22009_en.htm