RFP Database doubles in membership size in 10 months and hits 25,000 subscribers; becomes one of the largest private sector portals for Requests for Proposals.
Northampton, MA - October 30, 2008 - Confluent Forms LLC is proud to announce that their strategic business sourcing website, the RFP Database, has hit a milestone of 25,000 registered users and has doubled its membership in 10 months.
Requests for Proposals (RFP) are a valuable tool for companies, non-profit organizations, and government agencies to solicit competitive bids as well as a integral sales channel for companies seeking to sell their products and services. Most RFPs are scattered across the internet on the websites of the issuing organizations, making it difficult for service and product companies to effectively find them in time to submit a bid; because of their scattered locations, many RFPs only receive a scant number of bids, defeating the purpose of the competitive bidding process.
Since its launch in 2006, RFPdb.com has become a premier online location for matching businesses with agencies that are searching for vendors. “The site was conceived to create a marketplace where projects could easily be found, shared, and posted,” said David Kutcher, creator of RFPdb and President of Confluent Forms LLC. "Confluent Forms built the site to harness the power of the collective by working with other sales people to locate and share opportunities through the internet."
According to Daniel Nyquist, Business Developer at Artemis Solutions Group and a member of the site, the RFP Database "has generated a number of additional prospects and leads into our pipeline. The deals closed after bidding on the sources provided by RFPdb.com have amounted to around $160,000 in revenue. As our small business drives forward, we will continue to utilize the RFPdb community to hunt down attractive government-based projects."
"I have been using the RFP Database to identify RFP's in my field and have had continued success in not only making the finals, but winning bids I have found through his service" says Graham Stinchcomb, Partner and Chief Marketing Officer at White + Partners, "I consider RFPdb an instrumental tool and valuable resourse in my new business prospecting."
As the economic climate grows more fierce, savvy salespeople are looking for cost-effective ways to learn about projects that are out for bid; at the same time, municipal governments, businesses and non-profits are trying to hire the best companies to fill their needs. Using the site for free, organizations of all sizes and specialties can broadcast their RFPs to a huge audience of interested service and product companies. The RFP Database brings the two together as a destination for finding and distributing RFPs.
The RFP Database can be found at http://www.RFPdb.com
About Confluent Forms LLC:
Confluent Forms LLC is a boutique branding, graphic design, web design and custom software development firm based in Northampton, MA. Incorporated in January of 2002, Confluent Forms has provided technology consulting, branding, graphic design, web design, PHP and MySQL development, Web 2.0 software development, application development and hosting services to customers from the Fortune 100 to local non-profit organizations, startup businesses and academic institutions.
For More Information:
David Kutcher
President
Confluent Forms LLC
+1-413-303-9612
info@confluentforms.com
http://www.confluentforms.com
The Power of the Virtual CTO
You're the Executive Director of a non-profit organization, or maybe the Business Manager of a small company, and you want to initiate a technology project. Maybe you want to launch a redesign of your website with a content management system, or maybe you want to have a custom piece of software developed with the hopes of making your business more effective. The only problem is you're not the most technologically inclined and feel that when you talk to software vendors or web design vendors that they're speaking a different language. You have a feeling that you're not going to get what you think you're paying for.
You're not alone, and you're not wrong for thinking that way. Over 50% of technology projects fail.
Don't become a failure statistic!
What you need is someone to fill the role known in larger organizations as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The CTO is the C-Level executive whose job is to be the organization’s senior technologist, responsible for overseeing current technology assets, and more important, for developing a technology vision for the organization. Most small businesses and non-profits have little need for this position as a full-time executive, but when you're talking about an investment in technology, the lack of someone in this role can be detrimental, strategically and monetarily.
The Chief Technology Officer can provide valuable resources before, during and after any technology project. For instance, before a project is even initiated, the CTO would work with the company to determine:
Can't afford a full-time CTO? Put a Virtual CTO on retainer!
Our company offers a "Virtual CTO on Retainer" service to businesses and non-profits that can not afford a full-time CTO, but have identified the need in order for the success of their organization's endeavor. The clients that have hired us for this service came to us after realizing their need one step into the process, but it's never too late to stop and seek assistance.
For example:
A non-profit hired us during a project for a redesign of their website and membership management system. They had written a RFP and received proposals but couldn't determine whether the proposals they received were the right solutions for them. We helped them evaluate the proposals, write a new RFP, broadcast the RFP to select vendors as well as an open call, establish an evaluation criteria, and review the final proposals.
A startup company hired us after having spent a fairly large amount of money building a system that was no longer supported by the original developer and they were having trouble figuring out the next step for completing their project, getting the project live, and next steps. We helped them take stock of their current system, determine the criteria for potential new firms, and provided guidance on next steps for the growth of their platform.
In all cases our first step is to do three things:
It is a requirement that we recuse ourselves from providing any service to the organization beyond the CTO role as we need to be able to provide 100% unbiased technology advice. If our advice can be questioned in any way, specifically in the decisions that we recommend for or against a vendor, we're no longer an effective CTO for the organization.
Integrate technology into your stategic planning
It is important that information is being shared each week, that technology is not being pushed to the periphery. Technology and its place within the organization needs to be an active discussion and a have a consistent role in the organization. While you might not have the budget for hiring a full-time Chief Technology Officer, retaining a company to act as your Virtual CTO can be a valuable resource to turn to in times of tech-need as well as during every day strategic planning.
You're not alone, and you're not wrong for thinking that way. Over 50% of technology projects fail.
Don't become a failure statistic!
What you need is someone to fill the role known in larger organizations as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The CTO is the C-Level executive whose job is to be the organization’s senior technologist, responsible for overseeing current technology assets, and more important, for developing a technology vision for the organization. Most small businesses and non-profits have little need for this position as a full-time executive, but when you're talking about an investment in technology, the lack of someone in this role can be detrimental, strategically and monetarily.
The Chief Technology Officer can provide valuable resources before, during and after any technology project. For instance, before a project is even initiated, the CTO would work with the company to determine:
- the strategic goals of the organization and how technology can contribute to them
- the long-term technology planning of the organization
- insight into solutions or technologies used elsewhere that could provide advantages to the organization
- performing needs asssessment and documenting requirements
Can't afford a full-time CTO? Put a Virtual CTO on retainer!
Our company offers a "Virtual CTO on Retainer" service to businesses and non-profits that can not afford a full-time CTO, but have identified the need in order for the success of their organization's endeavor. The clients that have hired us for this service came to us after realizing their need one step into the process, but it's never too late to stop and seek assistance.
For example:
A non-profit hired us during a project for a redesign of their website and membership management system. They had written a RFP and received proposals but couldn't determine whether the proposals they received were the right solutions for them. We helped them evaluate the proposals, write a new RFP, broadcast the RFP to select vendors as well as an open call, establish an evaluation criteria, and review the final proposals.
A startup company hired us after having spent a fairly large amount of money building a system that was no longer supported by the original developer and they were having trouble figuring out the next step for completing their project, getting the project live, and next steps. We helped them take stock of their current system, determine the criteria for potential new firms, and provided guidance on next steps for the growth of their platform.
In all cases our first step is to do three things:
- recuse ourselves from ever providing any other role besides the CTO for the organization
- schedule a long information gathering session to get up to speed
- establish a fixed retainer schedule, whether that is 1 hour a week or 10 hours a week
It is a requirement that we recuse ourselves from providing any service to the organization beyond the CTO role as we need to be able to provide 100% unbiased technology advice. If our advice can be questioned in any way, specifically in the decisions that we recommend for or against a vendor, we're no longer an effective CTO for the organization.
Integrate technology into your stategic planning
It is important that information is being shared each week, that technology is not being pushed to the periphery. Technology and its place within the organization needs to be an active discussion and a have a consistent role in the organization. While you might not have the budget for hiring a full-time Chief Technology Officer, retaining a company to act as your Virtual CTO can be a valuable resource to turn to in times of tech-need as well as during every day strategic planning.
Filed under: advice, best practices, business, strategic planning
You need to publicize your Requests for Proposals!
If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, did it make a sound?
Organizations, whether they are non-profits, corporations or municipal governments, spend a lot of time defining a project's requirements, crafting a detailed 100 page Request for Proposals (RFP), and then announce the project on their website, or possibly advertise in a local newspaper, and set a 3 week deadline for submissions. They then sit back and wait for the proposals to come rolling in. If they're lucky they get a small handful of proposals.
What happens is that only a small group of local vendors, or vendors known by individuals within the organization, are notified of the RFP. While the process started out with good intentions of an impartial competitive bidding process and finding new solutions, the process is essentially derailed by the inability to promote unsolicited bids.
Procurement officers, whether official or unofficial, need to understand that advertising their RFP and getting a number of unsolicited competitive bids is an essential element to the success of their bidding process.
Publicizing your RFP doesn't need to cost lots of money or be time consuming.
A quick way to advertise your RFP is to publish it on the Request for Proposal Database, you can list it on your local Craig's List site, or you could set up a project blog using sites such as Blogger or Wordpress. Since these sites get higher search engine placement and have good content distribution, announcing your RFP through these venues will likely significantly increase the number of competitive bids that you receive. Other sites are associations or portal sites for the service providers you are seeking.
For instance, if you are a non-profit seeking "Association Management" services, you could post the project announcement under your city's "Non-Profit Jobs" category on Craig's List, on the RFP Database's "Management" category, or perhaps submit it for distribution to the Center for Association Leadership.
All of these possibilities would be free or inexpensive, but would get your RFP in front of the people that would be interested in bidding on the project, bring you a wider range of project proposals, and provide you with a better chance of finding the right solution for your organization.
Organizations, whether they are non-profits, corporations or municipal governments, spend a lot of time defining a project's requirements, crafting a detailed 100 page Request for Proposals (RFP), and then announce the project on their website, or possibly advertise in a local newspaper, and set a 3 week deadline for submissions. They then sit back and wait for the proposals to come rolling in. If they're lucky they get a small handful of proposals.
What happens is that only a small group of local vendors, or vendors known by individuals within the organization, are notified of the RFP. While the process started out with good intentions of an impartial competitive bidding process and finding new solutions, the process is essentially derailed by the inability to promote unsolicited bids.
Procurement officers, whether official or unofficial, need to understand that advertising their RFP and getting a number of unsolicited competitive bids is an essential element to the success of their bidding process.
Publicizing your RFP doesn't need to cost lots of money or be time consuming.
A quick way to advertise your RFP is to publish it on the Request for Proposal Database, you can list it on your local Craig's List site, or you could set up a project blog using sites such as Blogger or Wordpress. Since these sites get higher search engine placement and have good content distribution, announcing your RFP through these venues will likely significantly increase the number of competitive bids that you receive. Other sites are associations or portal sites for the service providers you are seeking.
For instance, if you are a non-profit seeking "Association Management" services, you could post the project announcement under your city's "Non-Profit Jobs" category on Craig's List, on the RFP Database's "Management" category, or perhaps submit it for distribution to the Center for Association Leadership.
All of these possibilities would be free or inexpensive, but would get your RFP in front of the people that would be interested in bidding on the project, bring you a wider range of project proposals, and provide you with a better chance of finding the right solution for your organization.
Filed under: announcements, b2b, best practices, business, procurement, publicity, request for proposal
Not all Requests for Proposals are worth a proposal
In an earlier article we wrote about how you could increase your RFP win percentage by being selective about the Requests for Proposals that you choose to respond to. Writing a good proposal can take an inordinate amount of time, and when time = money, proposals can be expensive propositions.
So how do you know when is the right time to sit down and start writing a proposal response to a RFP?
Motivation, Motivation, Motivation
Organizations can issue a Request for Proposal for a variety of reasons; understanding the motivation behind the issuance can provide valuable insight into the RFP process. Each of the reasons below offers its own challenges, but some situations are preferable to others:
Situation 2 typically comes when they have a solution already in place, but either are not happy with the vendor, outgrew their existing solution, or have money in place to replace it. The prospect will be more knowledgeable regarding their specific needs, but make sure to learn about the solution that they're looking to replace as it might turn into a headache for you down the road. Again, be wary of the Situation #3 in hiding.
Situation 3 is every vendor's worst nightmare since organizations will never tell you this is what's happening, yet you're wasting your time to help them justify a decision that has already been made to go with someone else's services. An honest organization will answer you if you ask them innocently "Is your existing vendor being invited to submit a proposal?"... analyze the answer carefully. Existing vendors will always have a leg up on the competition, dramatically reducing your chances of winning the project since they'll most likely not want two separate vendors supplying them with similar services or want to learn how to work with a new team.
Situation 4, while it might not seem ideal, can sometimes be the best option. By pushing the "education of the client" and a bit of personal legwork connecting with the organization, you might be able to help shape the resulting second issuance of the RFP which would be to to look for a solution that makes you the ideal vendor or even get the organization to bypass the competitive RFP process in favor of your services.
Sometimes you can determine which of the four situations it is by the questions asked and information sought in the RFP, but we prefer the direct approach: contact them! Establishing a personal connection is the first step to winning a project in a competitive procurement situation which is why it is regulated, at which point you will be limited to emails. Don't let this stop you from asking as many questions by email as you need.
Unreasonable Demands
Organizations can ask unreasonable questions or make unreasonable demands for what information is required in your proposal. A common request in our field is is to ask for design comps; they want us to give them a mockup of the site that we are pitching them, called "spec work". Besides it being recognized within our industry as a bad idea, organizations continue to ask for them. We refuse to provide designs on spec; will that put us at an insurmountable competitive disadvantage, even if we educate the client on this issue?
Other proposal requirements that we've come across and balked at have included:
Critique the Criteria
Organizations go into a RFP process with an evaluation criteria or, worse, undocumented preferences for what they are seeking. Take a good long look at the criteria and be critical and objective about how you'd score in their criteria. If the criteria is not specified, ask. And if you don't receive an answer, go with the basics:
Investing in the Odds
At any given moment we typically have a number of RFPs that we're considering for a proposal. Evaluate them all and apportion your time effectively so that you're not spreading yourself too thin to respond to a proposal that you have a lesser chance of winning. Spend that time more profitably and redouble your efforts by writing a killer proposal for the project that you have a good chance of winning.
Don't let the potential dollar signs blind you by putting a longshot project in front of a sure thing.
So how do you know when is the right time to sit down and start writing a proposal response to a RFP?
Motivation, Motivation, Motivation
Organizations can issue a Request for Proposal for a variety of reasons; understanding the motivation behind the issuance can provide valuable insight into the RFP process. Each of the reasons below offers its own challenges, but some situations are preferable to others:
- looking for a first-time solution
- to replace an existing solution
- lower an existing (and preferred) vendor's price
- background research and justification
Situation 2 typically comes when they have a solution already in place, but either are not happy with the vendor, outgrew their existing solution, or have money in place to replace it. The prospect will be more knowledgeable regarding their specific needs, but make sure to learn about the solution that they're looking to replace as it might turn into a headache for you down the road. Again, be wary of the Situation #3 in hiding.
Situation 3 is every vendor's worst nightmare since organizations will never tell you this is what's happening, yet you're wasting your time to help them justify a decision that has already been made to go with someone else's services. An honest organization will answer you if you ask them innocently "Is your existing vendor being invited to submit a proposal?"... analyze the answer carefully. Existing vendors will always have a leg up on the competition, dramatically reducing your chances of winning the project since they'll most likely not want two separate vendors supplying them with similar services or want to learn how to work with a new team.
Situation 4, while it might not seem ideal, can sometimes be the best option. By pushing the "education of the client" and a bit of personal legwork connecting with the organization, you might be able to help shape the resulting second issuance of the RFP which would be to to look for a solution that makes you the ideal vendor or even get the organization to bypass the competitive RFP process in favor of your services.
Sometimes you can determine which of the four situations it is by the questions asked and information sought in the RFP, but we prefer the direct approach: contact them! Establishing a personal connection is the first step to winning a project in a competitive procurement situation which is why it is regulated, at which point you will be limited to emails. Don't let this stop you from asking as many questions by email as you need.
Unreasonable Demands
Organizations can ask unreasonable questions or make unreasonable demands for what information is required in your proposal. A common request in our field is is to ask for design comps; they want us to give them a mockup of the site that we are pitching them, called "spec work". Besides it being recognized within our industry as a bad idea, organizations continue to ask for them. We refuse to provide designs on spec; will that put us at an insurmountable competitive disadvantage, even if we educate the client on this issue?
Other proposal requirements that we've come across and balked at have included:
- $10,000,000 in liability insurance
- Multiple years of our company's financial data
- Stakeholder social security numbers, presumably for a background check
- Extensive project details and fixed pricing for a poorly defined project
- In-person interviews of the entire project team before a finalist(s) is chosen halfway around the country
- Guarantees and warranties lasting up to a year on all work performed
Critique the Criteria
Organizations go into a RFP process with an evaluation criteria or, worse, undocumented preferences for what they are seeking. Take a good long look at the criteria and be critical and objective about how you'd score in their criteria. If the criteria is not specified, ask. And if you don't receive an answer, go with the basics:
- proximity to the client
- affordability to what you perceive as their budget
- portfolio project similar or identical to their project
- ability to successfully complete the project
Investing in the Odds
At any given moment we typically have a number of RFPs that we're considering for a proposal. Evaluate them all and apportion your time effectively so that you're not spreading yourself too thin to respond to a proposal that you have a lesser chance of winning. Spend that time more profitably and redouble your efforts by writing a killer proposal for the project that you have a good chance of winning.
Don't let the potential dollar signs blind you by putting a longshot project in front of a sure thing.
Filed under: b2b, business, contracts, procurement, request for proposal
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