Are You Ready to Find Out How Leading State and Local Governments and their Agencies Reduce RFP Risks, Save Millions and Avoid Litigation by Getting it Right the First Time!
| New Fourth Edition, Completely Updated, Released June 2010 |
 The Request for Proposal Handbook
By Michael Asner
The Fourth Edition of the leading RFP best practices handbook shows you how to construct RFPs that work! Being used by more than 4,000 public bodies.
370 pages of best RFP practices and examples of excellence. More Information
Hear what the President of NASPO says about this book . . .
“Michael Asner's book removes a lot of the RFP process mystery. It is one of very few RFP books that address the negotiation process. I refer to Mr. Asner's book often and it is recommended reading for public procurement officers.”
- John O. Adler, CPPO
State Procurement Administrator
State of Arizona
President, National Association of State Procurement Officials |
Hear what the President of NIGP says about this book . . .
“I have found the Request for Proposal Handbook by Michael Asner to be a great training tool for my buyer staff. Although I have an experienced staff, they have had limited exposure in their careers to RFPs. The best practices information, examples and checklists all have proven to be wonderful tools. Thank you Michael.”
- Ron Watkins CPPO, Purchasing Manager
City of Grand Junction , Colorado
President, National Institute of Governmental Purchasing |
Hear what one NAEB expert says about this book . . .
Dear Michael:
"Thank you so much for producing The Request for Proposal Handbook. The Handbook has served me well since I received it in 2000. Even though I consider myself an expert on solicitations, every time I embark on a difficult project I look to the Handbook for guidance and I also leaf through the RFP Report newsletters, just to refresh myself on some of the more esoteric issues and to review the processes --- invariably, I find valuable guidance and astute advice in both publications. I recommend the Handbook as a ready purchasing reference for both the novice and the seasoned professional.”
- Lloyd Rain
Lloyd Rain Lloyd Associates
Springfield, OR |
Hear what a leading court management consultant says about this book . . .
“I've had the pleasure of working with Michael on projects requiring expertise in procurement strategies and his skills are unsurpassed in this field. The RFP Handbook and RFP Report newsletters are valuable resource guides that belong on the desk of every procurement manager.”
- Chris Crawford
JUSTICE SERVED
www.justiceserved.com |
Creating an RFP is a risky business. Many RFPs have serious flaws: they don't structure the evaluation process so that its “fair and open”, and they omit major requirements, and they don't ask for risk management information. This book will help you create successful RFPs. This book contains the best RFP practices from more than sixty jurisdictions. It will help you avoid pitfalls and problems. Adopting only a few of these techniques will reduce the risks significantly.
More than 60 state and local governments and agencies have contributed to this text. Some have great RFP manuals; others, have introduced innovative approaches; and others have issued exemplary RFPs or templates. This information is not secret – it's just spread across hundreds of organizations. And now, it's all in one place.
This is the third edition. The first two best-selling editions cost $295 and sold out. This new edition incorporates lots of feedback, suggestions, and new topics provided by procurement managers and other readers. There is a brand new section on an increasingly important, often neglected and misunderstood issue – Negotiations..
Read what John Adler has to say . . .
“RFP/Competitive Negotiation is a very flexible and effective procurement process for complex buys. The process was developed in the 1950's for complex weapon systems and the space program. Unfortunately, many state and local government procurement officers do not understand the process or lack confidence in their abilities and do not take advantage of the features and flexibility inherent in the process.
Michael Asner's book removes a lot of the RFP process mystery. It is one of very few RFP books that address the negotiation process. I refer to Mr. Asner's book often and it is recommended reading for public procurement officers.”
- John O. Adler, CPPO
State of Arizona
President, National Association of State Procurement Officials |
What makes this book so valuable?
What makes this book so valuable? Simply stated, it is the compendium of best RFP practices. It will save you hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars. If you want to improve your current RFPs,
The Request For Proposal Handbook will help you “get it right”!
Six features will save you thousands of dollars in research on best RFP practices and reduce your RFP risks dramatically:
• Best RFP Manuals. Describes the five best RFP manuals and what makes them great. We've sorted through hundreds of documents and identified five that are easy to read, contain great ideas, identify best practices and provide practical advice on creating effective RFPs.
• Exemplary RFPs. Examines two exemplary RFPs and an excellent template. Read our review of what makes them great and how they attract better proposals.
• Strategic Issues. Presents current information about how other organizations have dealt with strategic issues such as Negotiations, Risk Management, and the Use of a Fairness Officer.
• Real Examples. Reviews real examples from practitioners. For example, Chapter 7 deals with the evaluation process and contains best practices and examples from 10 different jurisdictions.
• Checklists. Checklists can be used as a quality control device. This book contains 14 of the best, ones that are extremely useful in managing the process and reducing the risks.
• Web Links. Each reference is accompanied by a web link so that you can retrieve the entire source document and see for yourself why it's so valuable.
Real Complete Examples from Practitioners
This book provides concrete examples of best practices from US, Canada , United Kingdom and Australia. Many readers want to review the entire original source document, not simply the extract or a summary. This book provides the web address so that you can easily retrieve the complete original document.
For example, Chapter 7 deals with the evaluation process. It contains ‘best practices' and examples of excellence from 10 different jurisdictions:
- From Nova Scotia, What is an evaluation and why is one required?
- From Arizona , What is Best Value and how do you get it?
- From Oregon , What is an effective evaluation?
- From Alaska , composition of the evaluation team
- From North Arizona University , the Evaluation Committee Non-Conflict Form
- From Montana , their 22-step RFP process and their 9-step evaluation process
- From Massachusetts , the Evaluation Guide
- From Victoria, Australia, a template for a Probity Plan (Fair and open competition)
- From Federal Transit Authority, the role and value of debriefing
- From United Kingdom, Office of Government Commerce, how to handle a debriefing.
The book contains selected material from each of these great resources. For each, the entire source document can be retrieved using the web address provided in the book.
Great Checklists Included In This Book
Checklists are a great quality control tool. They are simple to use and reduce the risks dramatically. This book contains more than 14 of the best that deal with the entire process:
- 27 procurement planning tasks
- 11 Potential Solicitation Problem Areas
- 22 pitfalls in running an RFP process
- 30 purchasing tasks that add value to the RFP process
- 40 tasks of a Fairness Officer
- 16 reserved rights to include in your RFP
- 29 Items to be included in every RFP
- 11 features of excellent RFPs
- 11 essential obligations of the agency to the offeror
- 24 items to include in the Procurement File
- 21 pre-RFP activities to ensure success
- 90 different contract clauses
- 7 Characteristics of High Risk Procurements
“The branch's approach to the treatment of risk in procurement was recently recognized internationally in May 2003, when a leading North American publisher of information on tendering issues reviewed hundreds of websites and organizations to identify best practice in risk management in public sector procurement . . . The resulting publication by Michael Asner Consulting, stated: Of the sites reviewed this was the best.”
- Victoria Government, Australia , Dept. of Treasury,
Annual Report 2002-03 |
The information found in this book about risk management and RFPs can be used to eliminate hidden dangers from your evaluation process. Chapter 3 promotes the inclusion of questions in your RFP to help vendors identify risks, their sources, and the steps that can be taken to eliminate or mitigate them. Imagine how your evaluation would be improved if you could base the selection on an analysis of the risks associated with each proposal.
Want to learn the “secrets” of successful RFPs? I call them “secrets” not because there are any magic pills but rather because they are established, effective techniques that are not in common use in the majority of state and local governments and agencies. That's right, the ideas are there and they are often easy to implement. There just not used.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN …
- When NOT to use an RFP How to reduce risks by using a fairness officer
- How to design an RFP process that works
- How to demand risk management information in the RFP document
- How to solve 20 commonly occurring RFP problems.
- The characteristics of two exemplary RFPs and three RFP templates and the reasons they are good.
- Features and innovations found in the 5 best RFP manuals we've found
- Hot to use Best and Final Offers to improve proposals
- How to get the proponent to sign the contract before opening the proposals.
- The duties and responsibilities of the person managing the entire RFP process
- How to conduct negotiations, discussions and clarifications
- What is best value and how do to build it into your evaluation process
- How you can sole source without generating complaints
- How to design an evaluation process that works
- How to structure and manage the evaluation committee and eliminate conflicts of interest of the evaluators.
- What to put in the recommendation report to support your decision
“The handbook has been a wonderful asset. Chapter 7, “The Evaluation Process” and Chapter 8, “Building Blocks of the Evaluation Process” have been particularly helpful. The sample scoring methods were just what I needed to help me develop a method to fit my particular situation.
- Noel Polanycia,
Procurement Specialist
City of Arvada, CO |
Unique to this book…. How to design an evaluation that works….. In Chapter 8 you will see how EVERY evaluation is constructed from only 9 building blocks. You will learn about the pitfalls, problems and best practices associated with these nine constituent elements of any procurement procedure:
- Establish Compliance with Mandatory Requirements
- Score the Proposals
- Evaluation Criteria
- Weights
- Scoring Systems
- Impose Upset Levels
- Evaluate the Cost
- The Different Ways of Handling Costs
- Other Cost-Related Issues
- Develop a Short-List
- Interview Suppliers
- Negotiate
- Request Best and Final Offers
- Check References
- Using References to Confirm a Selection
- Assigning Points to References
- Reference Questionnaires
This book deals with more than the RFP document, and more than the process. It discusses procurement and RFP policy, preparing for public inspection, and supplier complaints.
Click here to review the Table of Contents.
Recent Conferences and Workshops
I've been speaking about RFPs for twenty years. Over the last three years, I've spoken at conferences about procurement reform, best RFP practices and bullet-proofing your RFPs. I've also given workshops about these topics to more than 30 organizations. Sponsors have included:
- National Institute of Governmental Purchasers
- National Association of Educational Buyers
- Western States Contracting Alliance
- Florida Association of Public Procurement Officers
- Virginia Association of Governmental Purchasing Agents
- Oklahoma Association of Public Procurement
- Ontario Public Buyers Association
- Midwest Association of Public Procurement
- Government Technology Conference, Albany , NY
- Purchasing Management Association of Canada
- City of Philadelphia
- Government Technology Conference, Austin
- Orange County Sanitation District (CA)
- City of Brampton (Ont.)
Here are some comments from the participants:
"Michael is a great speaker. He provides valuable information while, at the same time, keeping the topic Interesting."
"Liked that his presentation was tailored to our issues with developing RFP's."
"Excellent program."
"Excellent speaker!"
"Great relevance of topic for the association! Please have him back."
"Most knowledgeable RFP speaker I have seen. Great member participation."
"Informative and entertaining. Kept your interest."
"I have a clearer understanding of what RFP's should be used for and the process of developing a system for handling them."
"Good practical information and I liked the format."
"Fun and informative."
"So much information, so little time."
"Excellent, made what could have been a sleeper topic fun and interesting?"
"Made a topic that can be boring interactive and fun, good information."
"Michael is very entertaining & knowledgeable. Great information."
"Risk analysis idea helpful. Enjoyed Mike's class."
"Learned new concepts that will improve our RFP process."
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