The Request for Proposal (RFP) Process

When purchasing a large scale software you will need to write an RFP. The RFP is a very detailed description of what you need the software to be able to do. The RFP is used in many industries (such as building construction) and is a valuable tool in selecting the company that will either build, sell, or customize the software to your needs. Here is an article with more information on RFP - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Request_for_proposal 

As an IT professional you must understand the RFP process from both the side of a company writing an RFP and responding to an RFP. The process of responding to an RFP is sometimes called bidding as you must show you can meet the needs of the client, and you must also be able to do this at a good price.

Writing an RFP

A successful project will often start with writing a good RFP. There are hundreds of guidelines on writing an RFP ( https://fivepaths.com/resources/writing-request-proposal ) and many companies even have their own template. A larger company will have a team work on this and may even hire a consulting firm to do the business process analysis and write the RFP.

Bidding

If you are bidding on an RFP you must determine if your company can meet the needs of the client and prepare a response. There are also tremendous number of resources on how to respond successfully to an RFP - the objective is to win the bid by being the highest value bidder (which is often lowest cost). There are hundreds of articles and guides on how to do this - here is one:  http://blog.quoteroller.com/how-to-respond-to-request-for-proposal/ 

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