The process of preparing for a Request for Proposal (RFP) requires developing a solid plan and the team should expect to devote significant time and effort.
Establish your RFP Timeline
The first step in preparing for an RFP is to establish your RFP timeline. To spend the University's money through a formal bidding process like your RFP, your team will need to set aside a great deal of time and effort.
The process to steward an RFP can require a median 341 calendar days on this effort from the time you kick off the RFP process until you award the contract. Your specific timeline may vary depending on:
- the number and complexity of your requirements
- your team culture and leadership style
- other business factors like negotiation or assessment needs
Identify your RFP Team
You must create an RFP team, starting with an RFP lead. The RFP lead determines who the committee members need to be. The RFP lead could be in just about any role, chosen organically based on the product.
There should be no more than 10 members, ideally people who will be using the product (with a minimum of at least one member who will be using the product). We've provided some guidelines regarding time commitment etc. for committee members. This estimate can vary, depending on how many requirements you issue and how many responses you get.
- Brainstorming sessions (2): 2 hours total
- RFP review & scoring: 20-40 hours
- Solution demos: ½ - 1 day per semi-finalist
- Usability testing: 3-5 days depending on number of finalists
- Reference checks: 60-90 minutes per finalist
Request Service From Usability Services
Once you have established your RFP timeline and determined your RFP Team, you can submit a request (https://z.umn.edu/uxservice) to Usability Services.
After receiving your request, the Usability Services team will work with you to create use cases and usability scenarios appropriate for your project.
Establish a Summary Video
A summary video introduces vendors to your bid and frames the conversation as realistically as possible. Record a short video explaining what you've learned so far about your current solution and practices.
Vendors can have a difficult time contextualizing the questions that are on the RFP. They don't necessarily understand what features of their product we are interested in hearing about, and therefore provide answers based on assumptions. The scoring team then can have difficulty scoring answers because vendors don't address the features the scoring team were hoping they would.
Example Summary Video
The team at Academic Support Resources developed a slideshow that they recorded and presented as a video to potential suppliers. Review the presentation and sample video for an example of how you may go about establishing your own summary video: