Responding to Requests for Information, Requests for Pricing and Invitations to Tender and writing proposals
Duration
2 days.
What is this course about?
This course is the reverse of the course outlined above and covers the issues from the point of view of responding to RFIs, RFPs and ITTs. The key difference revolves around intellectual property rights (IPR) and disclosure as all companies responding to RFIs, RFPs and ITTs will encounter the same issue: how much to reveal even under an NDA because this may cause issues in the market.
Who would benefit?
- Senior management
- Programme managers
- Board members.
Objectives
The objectives of this course include:
- Understanding RFIs, RFPs and ITTs
- Establishing the basis for the future relationship with the client
- Understanding the value of IPR, the use of NDAs and how much to reveal at this stage
- Understanding the value of questions seeking further information
- Understanding the costs involved in developing responses and how to minimise them
- Writing the document and gaining business approval
- Submission
- Challenging decisions
- Winning the business.
Key topics covered
- How to analyse an RFI, RFP or ITT
- How to gain the appropriate contributions and manage time scales
- Creating objectives for your response, including initial business approval
- The role of IPR in winning the business, including adding creativity
- Questions for further information
- Submission
- Being short-listed
- Challenging the process
- Winning the business.
Course programmme
1. Analysis of the RFI, RFP or ITT:
- Potential client's objectives and how to establish them
- Information gathered so far and tabulating it
- Understanding internal stakeholder requirements and interests
- Boiler plate elements
- The use of non disclosure agreements (NDAs)
- Costs of responding to an RFI, RFP or ITT and cost control
- Understanding time lines
- Setting expectations internally and with the potential customer or client
2. Ensuring that the document meets the wider company needs:
- Who owns production of the response - and who should?
- Commercial stakeholders and commercial interest groups across the company
- Assigning sections to departments and individuals
- Sales and marketing engagement
- Initial business approval and how to gain it
- Company secretary and legal counsel issues
- Board interests
3. Relationship with customer or client:
- Customer, client, partner, joint venture
- How will it be managed
- What needs to be in the document
4. Creativity:
- Is this required or are the requirements fixed
- How to include this
- What impact will it make
- Sales and marketing input
5. Writing the response(s)
- Use of templates - and which templates
- Writing - style, approach, objectives
- Editing and ensuring conformity and consistency
- Filing and audit trail issues
6. Document testing
- Appraisal of the document prior to submission
- Reliability, validity and consistency
- Does it answer the questions?
7. Time scales for responses
- Real deadlines and internal artificial deadlines
- Deadlines for internal assessments and responses
- Pitfalls
8. Processes while developing responses
- Questions eliciting further information (and will these be shared with the competition)
- Responses to questions
- Managing expectations and responses
- Understanding pressures on potential clients and customers
- Business approval approach prior to submission
9. Competition issues
- What is the competitive response and how to anticipate it
- Positioning and differentiation
- Ensuring that competition is neutralised
10. Understanding the evaluation process
- Formal methods?
- Informal methods?
- Consultation across the company
- Being prepared and ensuring consistency across the company
11. Short listing
- What to do if not short listed and how to do it
- Making a challenge
- Understanding rejection criteria and rejection letters
- Invitation to shortlisted process and how to respond
12. Next stage
- Need for more questions and how to deal with that
- Understanding of the processes
- Understanding the final selection criteria
- Understanding rejection and dealing with it - including making a challenge
- Acceptance letters and outline negotiation
Course outcomes
- Greater confidence in understanding the procurement process around the RFI, RFP and ITT documents
- More awareness of how to neutralise competition and differentiate the response
- Wider company buy in to the process and the outcomes
- Much more tightly controlled responses and focus
- Better preparation for the receipt of RFIs, RFPs and ITTs from potential clients or customers, including dealing with questions for more information
- Greater confidence in handling being shortlisted and selected
- A more cost-effective approach to creating responses
- A better, stronger and more productive relationship between the parties.
