As you prepare to go to bid for a contingent workforce solution, you likely have already addressed building your internal governance team and engaging those key stakeholders, and done homework to effectively pre-manage your potential bidders. Now, it’s time to look at how to craft an effective RFP from a perspective of content. I’ll give you a hint! The phrase “K.I.S.S.” (Keep It Simple, Stupid) will be mentioned more than once.
From a client perspective, an RFP is hopefully going to allow you to gather all of the answers to your burning questions that you might ever want. After all, your goal is to gain insight into how companies will support you with their technology of service offering, what their industry credibility is, how the solution would be priced, and what an implementation might look like. You get the idea. However, the mistake too many firms make is they ask generic questions that don’t really play a factor in the decision-making process, or they build a questionnaire that does not have a scorecard built in advance so that the bidders can be evaluated with integrity.
With this in mind, this article hopes to provide some tips as you prepare for your RFP launch, relative to the content and structure of the information you hope to gather from your bidders.
1. Provide the information needed for bidders to actually answer your questions with integrity. Remember the movie “Wall Street” with Michael Douglas? (Douglas won the Oscar portraying the character Gordon Gekko.) There was a quote from the movie that resonates powerfully nearly 40 years later. “The most valuable commodity I know of is information.” If you want to conduct an effective and efficient RFP, this is as true a statement as there is. But it starts with sharing the key information about your business needs, your vision, and your priorities with the bidders if you want to obtain real information that allows you to make a decision on your future business partner.
Michael Douglas won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Gordon Gekko in "Wall St."
Data + Visibility is key. Be sure to convey the corporate elevator pitch. . .
· Your industry sector and your firm’s position within it (revenues, employee count, etc.)
· Your geographic footprint
· Product/service offerings
This is the starting point, but now you have to tell the story behind the RFP. . .
· What are the business challenges related to contingent labor?
· What categories of third-party labor (contingent, SOW) do you utilize today, and which will be in scope for this RFP solution?
· Are you seeking a payrolling and IC Compliance solution as part of the bidder’s response?
· Is Direct Sourcing in scope?
· Will the bidder be allowed to staff the openings themselves, or do you seek a pure vendor neutral model?
· What geographies and skillsets are in scope?
· Are you committed to a “big bang” implementation approach, or a phased deployment by region or skillset?
· What are the headcounts and spend by geography and skillset? If you have the data already, share it. If you don’t, provide estimates that can be used to provide models.
· What percentage of your incumbent headcount was sourced by agencies, and what percentage is client-identified as payrollers or IC’s?
· What cost factors should be taken into account? (Pre-screenings, background checks, equipment, management fees, conversions, etc.)
· If you have pre-determined a pricing model, state so and include that model in the RFP content. If you are open to other models, state so and allow space for bidders to respond accordingly.
· How will RFP responses be scored?
· What are the contract terms? Include an MSA with Exhibits, Schedules, etc. (If the terms are non-negotiable, state that up front. This may eliminate some bidders from the mix quickly.)
Finally, convey timelines for the RFP activity such as . . .
· Release date
· RFP intention to bid confirmation Date
· Q&A submittal date for bidders
· Q&A responses date from client to bidders
· Down selection date
· Finalist presentation
· Award date
· Targeted GO LIVE date
I know that there are a lot of bullets above, but just as your organization is likely data driven in their business approach, RFP respondents are going to rely on data and clarity of expectations to best respond to your proposal request for talent solutions. Some firms shy away from this but then come to realize that all the bidders will come back asking for these data points and expectations. It’s easier to address it up front and reduce the time dedicated to repeatedly addressing the same inquiry multiple times in the Q&A portion of the process.
2. Break your RFP questionnaire into sections. As someone who has been both on the sourcing side of RFP’s and the sales side responding to them, clients establish credibility when the RFP is well organized. This will make it easier for your team to manage and review internally, as certain members of your governance team may be assigned to certain sections or topics based on their internal role and expertise. The same applies to the bidders, who will likely engage a combination of sales, operations, implementation, pricing teams, supplier relations, etc. to speak to the various sections.
3. Include Case Study Scenarios. Chances are if your firm is going through an RPF process for contingent workforce solutions, there are specific challenges that you are facing. Address some of those challenges specifically! Present scenarios and ask the bidders to convey their approach to solving the problems. For example. . . .
· Perhaps you have operations that involve international logistics where materials are being transported via international waters. How might the solution handle invoicing when the work being done varies from location to location during the trip itself? Can the provider remit payment to the suppliers in multiple currencies? Do they do all the work themselves or are partners required?
· How might the solution address supplier engagement when there are limited agency options in a small market, but you have 24/7 operations?
· Identify your invoicing process requirements and inquire if and how the solution is able to accommodate those requirements.
Case studies may get difficult to grade, depending on the subject or solution described by the bidder. However, the goal is to define if the bidder has the capabilities to meet your requirements, conveys a viable strategy worth deeper examination, and is able to do the work themselves or relies on partners to achieve the desired end result. As you down-select finalists, then your team can dig deeper into the viability of their proposed solutions - and case studies should definitely be part of the agenda for finalist presentations.
4. Include job titles and descriptions for most common roles. It sounds like a no-brainer, but plenty of RFPs that I have seen do not include this key information. Apply the 80/20 principle – 80% of the headcount sourced is based on 20% of the job titles in scope. This information will be critical if you are seeking potential rate card submittals from the bidders. (NOTE: This will also be impacted by some of the other data points such as tenure policies, conversion frequency and timelines, etc. that we spoke to in point 1 above.)
5. Build out the pricing worksheet to address each pricing element. As you look for pricing, you will want to have a clear “apples to apples” comparison among the bidders based on the services/solutions that you are seeking to acquire. Therefore, you want to address each item that is in scope. In the case of an MSP solution, this could include the following:
· Rate cards or proposed markups for sourced talent
· MSP management fees for contingent talent, SOW, Direct Hire, Prime Vendor and other headcount
· VMS management fees
· Markups for payrolled workers (potentially at different risk categories such as professional vs. light industrial vs. heavy industrial). This may be a single rate model, a state-by-state model, or something in between (low, medium, and high statutory regions).
· Markups for independent contractor compliance
· Rebates
· Direct Sourcing management fees
· Implementation / Integrations fees
Next, it is important to remember that the bidders don’t have to see all the modeling on their end, so hide and lock down some of those fields from their sight. Allow them to focus on their response to your price point inquiries. (Remember the “K.I.S.S” concept.)
6. Allow for exhibits to be attached in the bidder responses to certain questions. This will be a valuable but simple way (“K.I.S.S.” again!) to capture information such as project plans, support models, process flows, etc.
7. Allow at least three weeks for RFP submittals from the bidders. Keeping timelines realistic helps ensure you get quality proposals from quality players. Short timelines put pressure on sales and proposal teams and may force them to make a decision on which opportunities they really want to invest in pursuing. And trust me, in the contingent workforce solutions world, there are “RFP seasons” that come into play to occupy the bandwidth of proposal teams and sales. Your RFP will be scrutinized for the depth of information shared by your firm, and the complexity of the proposal required of the bidders. (No “K.I.S.S” concept here – just common courtesy and realistic expectations.
8. Review the RFP document as a whole for duplicate inquiries or questions that don’t really matter. All too often, I have seen RFP’s that ask the same question three different ways. This only leads to creating extra work for the bidder, and potential confusion for the governance team reviewing and scoring the proposals. Also, make sure there is consensus among the governance team that asking a particular question truly matters and that the potential answers will differentiate the bidders. If the answer is “no”, then get rid of the question.
9. If you don’t know what you don’t know, engage a consultant familiar with the space. This admittedly may seem like a self-serving statement, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a viable one. If your organization is looking to stand up a contingent workforce management program for the first time, a consultant is going to add tremendous value, provided that they have lived in the talent solutions space during their career. Ideally, they have been involved in multiple client programs and implemented or managed complex solutions with various technologies. In the contingent workforce solutions sector, having an employee or consultant who has managed one program for one client for 20 years does not necessarily constitute a breadth of experience. Rather, they have deep experience with a specific solution model or platform. It is up to you to determine if that is what your team really needs at this stage.
I hope this reinforces some of the sourcing tactics that you have already implemented in your business, and perhaps even gives you a different perspective to think about as you seek to drive engagement from the bidders who are already high on your list.
