Requests for Proposals (RFPs) come in many forms, from a broad range of organizations with the ultimate goal being to procure the best-valued contractor.  The evaluation criteria is also quite variable, and responses to RFPs mimic this variability. What about Lowest-Price-Technically Acceptable (LPTA) criteria?  What about incumbent bidders and potential advantages?  Small business of all shapes, sizes, and forms sometimes (generally) view RFPs as onerous with low conversion or win rates…but they still pursue them.  Some folks, including Seth Godin mention that “The RFP is an organization punt, it’s way of saying, it’s all a commodity, we can’t decide, the cheap guy wins.  The cheap guy, of course, never wins.”    

So what does that mean for small environmental businesses? 

·       Small businesses can be the “Cheap Guy” and they sometimes can win; however,

·       Understand and know who and where the RFP is coming from,

·       Be wary and selective of all RFPs, Request for Qualifications (RFQs), etc...as you’re being judged on your credentials and cost,

·       The time investment responding to an RFP could be significant to the business, and negatively impact the projects for your other good “paying” clients,

·       Be wary of the organization that severely and consistently underbids RFPs (these organizations undermine the intent of selecting “best-value”),

·       Do a relatively painless “go / no-go” analysis beforehand, and,

·       Know your firm’s competitive advantages over others (including costs) beforehand.

Low-bid contracts can sometimes be disastrous to small businesses, but the biggest success stories (for both the business and organization that puts out the RFP) are from those where there is a mutual understanding of the “goals” of the project, and an understanding that there are many environmental variables that oftentimes aren’t presented until a project is initiated.  That being said, don’t fear the RFP, but know when to pass on an opportunity…and if you do pass, send it along to someone with more interest; you never know when the favor will be returned. Happy hunting!

We hope that you find these posts informative, and relatively useful, and your feedback is always welcome. For further information regarding environmental investigations, due diligence, and/or environmental business practices, please don’t hesitate to contact us at tfrancis@cardinalLSRP.com or www.cardinalLSRP.com.