rfp creation

U-reka Broadband Ventures (651) 967-7196

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U-reka Broadband VenturesRFP Creation

“Preparing a document that gets you the information you need without burning your eyes out”


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Why do we know anything?

• Have created and responded to Requests in the Telecommunications Industry including:– Infrastructure– Equipment– Telecom Services– Consulting Services– Operational Support Systems


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RFI, RFP,RFQ

• RFI-Request for Information-document that requires respondents to provide information on their product, service or solution and typically provide budgetary pricing

• RFP-Request for Proposal-typically used for service type requests; consulting, engineering, project management and the like. Firm numbers and commitments made by respondents

• RFQ-Request for Quotation-typically used for equipment, hard-assets and services to furnish and install


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Asking the Right Questions

• Ask open questions that require respondents to provide more than a yes or no response

• Provide a space for response that keeps questions in an order that makes it easier to analyze

• Place your questions in an order that mimics your decision matrix


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Examples of Open Ended

Please describe other projects where your company has provided financial analysis of competing telecommunications providers; describe the process you utilized to create pro-forma’s and gather financial information?

Response:


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How about Close-ended questions?

• Definition: Question is specific and must be answered with a yes or no, or with details as appropriate.

• Good to utilize when asking basic questions such as:– Insurance Requirements– Licensing Requirements– Other “check-off” types of requirements


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Decision Matrix

• Determine your Desired Outcome• Understand the components to get there• Rate which are most important to least

important and provide a weighting to each• Utilize this matrix to then craft questions

for the RFP that will allow you to analyze the respondents

• Make decision on how percentages will be assigned


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Example MatrixCategory/Sub Category % Weighting Rating 1 Rating 2 Rating 3 Rating 4 Rating 5 Total

Expertise 50%

Network 15%

Operations 15%

Financial 20%

Sales/Marketing 15%

Regulatory/Legal 15%

Services 20%

Process 25%

Timeline 25%

Description of Process 50%

Previous Experience 25%

Pricing 25%

Price 80%

Insurance Requirements 10%

Licensing Requirements 10%


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Go to Haves!

• Description of Project– Community Information– Previous work completed

• Expected Outcomes/Requirements• Three Broad Categories to cover in an RFP:

– Expertise of Vendor– Process Vendor will use to complete project– Pricing and Legal

• Evaluation Criteria and Rating


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Expertise

• Network-what knowledge and experience does the vendor have regarding fiber-to-the-premise networks

• Operations-operational knowledge and experience operating fiber-to-the-premise networks

• Financial-ability of vendor to create Performa's and analyze financials regarding capital, operations and financing options

• Sales/Marketing-ability of vendor to create and analyze sales and marketing objectives

• Regulatory/Legal-ability of vendor to analyze and interpret the Regulatory and Legal landscape and provide guidance on the Regulatory hurdles of differing solutions

• Services-ability of vendor to provide guidance surrounding services to be provided over the network including voice, data, video and other ancillary services


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Process

• Timeline– How long will it take the vendor to complete the project– Asking for a project chart to represent this is always a good idea

• Description of Process– How will the vendor gather information, work with you, compile

the information and provide a final product– Another important piece is what expectations the vendor has

regarding your involvement in the process– What you are looking for here is good project management

practices and thoroughness of the process

• Previous Experience– References of Previous Projects– Other telecommunications background and projects


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Pricing

• Scope as Understood by Vendor

• Pricing for the project– Not to exceed?– Change orders?– Other Hourly services?

• Insurance coverage

• Other financial qualifications-want to make sure they will be around


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Analysis

• Utilize the team you have put together for creating the decision matrix

• Each member should do an independent evaluation utilizing the decision matrix and provide ratings

• Combine these ratings to determine the ranking of your vendors


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Vendor Matrix Tally SheetCategory/Sub Category % Weighting Rating 1 Rating 2 Rating 3 Rating 4 Rating 5 Total

Expertise 50% 1-10 1-10 1-10 1-10 1-10

Network 15% 6 8 7 5 4 30

Operations 15% 7 8 3 5 6 29

Financial 20% 5 7 6 6 3 27

Sales/Marketing 15% 4 6 6 2 4 22

Regulatory/Legal 15% 5 6 2 9 5 27

Services 20% 6 4 5 4 5 24

Process 25%

Timeline 25% 8 6 7 9 5 35

Description of Process 50% 8 7 6 8 5 34

Previous Experience 25% 8 6 6 8 4 32

Pricing 25%

Price 80% 6 6 7 5 8 32

Insurance Requirements 10% 10 10 10 10 10 50

Licensing Requirements 10% 10 10 10 10 10 50


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Vendor Matrix TotalsCategory/Sub Category % Weighting Vendor 1 Vendor 2 Vendor 3 Vendor 4 Vendor 5

Expertise 50%

Network 15% 30 22 26 16 35 35

Operations 15% 29 26 23 18 28 29

Financial 20% 27 20 19 17 29 29

Sales/Marketing 15% 22 24 21 14 25 25

Regulatory/Legal 15% 27 22 19 12 26 27

Services 20% 24 19 17 13 25 25

Process 25%

Timeline 25% 35 28 26 18 32 35

Description of Process 50% 34 25 26 16 34 34

Previous Experience 25% 32 26 22 16 31 32

Pricing 25%

Price 80% 32 35 30 28 32 35

Insurance Requirements 10% 50 40 45 35 50 50

Licensing Requirements 10% 50 40 45 35 50 50


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Vendor Matrix RankingsCategory/Sub Category % Weighting Vendor 1 Vendor 2 Vendor 3 Vendor 4 Vendor 5

Expertise 50% 47% 39% 36% 27% 49%

Network 15% 13% 9% 11% 7% 15%

Operations 15% 15% 13% 12% 9% 14%

Financial 20% 19% 14% 13% 12% 20%

Sales/Marketing 15% 13% 14% 13% 8% 15%

Regulatory/Legal 15% 15% 12% 11% 7% 14%

Services 20% 19% 15% 14% 10% 20%

Process 25% 25% 19% 18% 12% 24%

Timeline 25% 25% 20% 19% 13% 23%

Description of Process 50% 50% 37% 38% 24% 50%

Previous Experience 25% 25% 20% 17% 13% 24%

Pricing 25% 23% 24% 22% 20% 23%

Price 80% 73% 80% 69% 64% 73%

Insurance Requirements 10% 10% 8% 9% 7% 10%

Licensing Requirements 10% 10% 8% 9% 7% 10%

TOTAL 100% 95.2% 82.5% 76.6% 58.4% 97.0%

rfp creation

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