Building a Better Bid The Nuts & Bolts

1. Building a Better BidThe Nuts & Bolts Dave Leonard The World Bank

2. Capital Funding Strategy • Develop a 3-5 year plan for equipment and services • Must be consistent with organization’s strategic goals • Plan should have its own strategic goals with a “purpose to the purchase” • Work with your team and have buy in from management and any other key stakeholders, i.e. IT, Facilities, etc.

3. Capital Funding Request • Once a capital plan is in place, funding is requested for individual projects per fiscal year • Challenge is to determine how much to ask for • Can use consultants to get a statement of probable costs • Experience is the best teacher for accurate estimates

4. Capital Funding Request • Get help to fill out the form • Resource/Budget person for your unit • Procurement Officer • Be sure to document and estimate risks including: • The risk of not doing the project • Things that could happen during the project, both negative and positive

5. Bid Construction • Key to good solicitation is good specification writing • Be clear and as specific as possible – assumptions by bidders can cause huge variances in bid amounts • Include what contractor is and is not responsible for in project • Include list of necessary equipment and services

6. Bid Construction • If project bids are part of your regular work, develop templates • Scope of Work (SOW) • Schedule • Bid template spreadsheet • Consultants can help create these if you are new to project management • Be sure to read everything and decide if it is applicable to this current project

7. IFBs, RFPs and RFIs • IFB – Invitation for Bid • Lowest qualified bidder gets job • RFP – Request for Proposal • Bidders are evaluated and scored by a panel on both technical and cost merits and best overall score wins job • RFI – Request for Information • A way to see which firms are qualified to do your project based on the SOW and defined mandatory criteria

8. IFB • Simplest way to get project going and through Procurement • Good if scope and requirements are well defined • Danger in that lowest bidder can often cut corners in some areas – “you get what you pay for…”

9. RFP • Much more complex process requiring longer time to bid award • Need to develop valid scoring criteria • Review panel must be created to evaluate proposals and score • Panel can supply needed technical expertise • Best process for large and complex projects

10. RFI • A way to go out to market to see what firms are qualified or have unique solution • Must be done in collaboration with organization's Procurement department • Resembles RFP in form but with no specific project or monetary contract • RFI divided into Mandatory and Evaluation Criteria • Evaluation Criteria judged by panel, typically five persons

11. Vendor prequalification A process to create a “short list “ of bidders for your projects that will perform the work to agreed specifications.

12. Advantages of prequalification • Initial solicitation done thru RFI, not RFP or IFB • Limits number of bid responses to • Familiarity with company and key persons already established • Agreed pricing structure in place for goods and services • Enables buyer to move quickly with IFB, especially on smaller projects

13. Disadvantages of prequalification • Investment of time to create RFI and go through process • Vendors feel they put in much effort into a response with no guarantee of work, if chosen, it only gives them the opportunity to bid on future projects • Specifications can be restrictive to some unique projects

14. Final advice • Work closely with your Budget and Procurement team to give them what they need in the form that is required to get it through the process – usually they’ll help you if you ask them nicely…