NEED SOME HELP? HERE’S THE GUIDE TO ISSUING A REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ)
When you send out a Request for Qualifications, there are four primary elements you must include:
- Who you are -
What you are looking for (the end product) -
When you need it -
A request for the respondent to tell you why their firm is the most qualified for the project. Your RFQ shouldn’t need to be any more than four pages long, and can frequently be done in only two.
Rather than YOU laying out the scope of work to accomplish your goals, you can develop the scope of work, timelines, and costs WITH the firm you select from the RFQ process. You never know, their philosophy might be a great fit – better than what you might have come up with on your own or as a committee. Plus, you can develop an RFQ in a couple of hours, versus having to develop the entire scope of work and then have it bounced around to get approval.
So, here are the elements you need to address in an RFQ.
1. Name of your organization, contact name and title, address, phone, e-mail, website address.
2. What you are looking for. No more than half a page should be necessary. Concentrate on the end product – the deliverable you expect. Whenever possible or appropriate, ask for an Action Plan (a to-do list) as opposed to a Strategic Plan (strategies, goals and objectives). Specifics (action steps) always yield better implementation. If there are online resources your responders can look at to familiarize themselves with the community or the project, let them know how to access those materials.
3. About the community or the project (another half page or so.)
4. About the lead organization (a paragraph.)
5. Timeline (when you need the project done if you are tied to grant or time-sensitive funding, or simply want it yesterday.) If timing is negotiable on the final product, state that.
6. Submission requirements: a. Since this is an RFQ, a due date two to three weeks out should be sufficient time. Typically, make it a Wednesday. This way it gives time for FedEx delivery, and gives time for the committee to get copies prior to the weekend. b. Let them know how many copies you’d like. No faxes, no e-mail submittals, no PDF files on disk, unless you prefer it that way. c. Ask them to duplex the SOQ if possible (not required) to save on paper (a save the environment initiative.)
7. The selection process Let them know the following: That a “steering committee” has been assembled and will look over the qualifications and will select the firm, based on a review of the materials they submit and references, that they feel best fits the project.
That firm will be interviewed (in person or via phone) to answer any preliminary questions or concerns, and may be invited to sit down with the committee to develop a final Scope of Work, fees and timelines. If the two organizations cannot come to terms with regards to scope, costs, timelines, or if the philosophy (or personalities) don’t provide a good fit for the project, then the committee will move to the second firm on the list.
8. Let them know what you want included in their response:
a. How this is a fit for the responding firm (or organization)
b. Why you over other firms?
c. Qualifications and experience
d. A brief bio of the company
e. Sample projects (brief summaries)
f. Key personnel assigned to the project
g. A list of recent clients and projects
h. References (name, organization, title, project developed for them, phone number, e-mail address)
9. Have them limit the RFQ to no more than 30 pages (you don’t need a book, but want more than a brochure or a two-page response)
10. Let people know your timeline for getting back to them. This typically works quite well:
a. Wednesday, week one – submittal deadline
b. Monday, week two – Selection or steering committee meets, narrows it down to three firms, unless one clearly stands out. Develop a list of questions or concerns about the top three.
c. Tuesday, week two – Call each of the finalists and ask the questions and address concerns. This can be done via conference call with the whole committee, or can just be assigned to one person.
d. Wednesday, week two – Committee makes final determination and the leading candidate is called and informed that you’d like to sit down with them to talk about a scope of work, costs, and timelines.
e. By end of week five – meet with leading candidate, develop initial scope of work, have them provide a contract that details the scope, timelines, costs, deliverables. All this would be done by the end of week five, or sooner if possible. This may require a conference call versus an in-person visit if you are embarking on a national search.
f. Beginning of week six: If the contract looks good, send a note to the other firms thanking them for taking the time to respond. Let them know who you selected and that the committee felt they were the best fit for this particular project.
g. If, by the end of week five, you still don’t have a final candidate (they bombed out,) then go to number two on the list and start the process. This entire process should usually take about a month from start to finish, unless it’s a fast track project and a telephone conference will suffice.
11. When you call them to let them know they have been selected, set up a meeting time and date (phone conference, in-person, video conferencing,) let them ask some questions, and give them an approximate budget. Have them bring a sample scope of work with them, based on questions they may ask of you, and based on your budget. They might provide some options as well. This way the firm can come prepared, somewhat, with a foundation that can be built on. It might change during the meeting, but at least you know what direction they come from, and they will have had time to at come up with some initial ideas on how the end deliverable might be facilitated.
