[Sigia-l] Finding and Choosing a Consultant

[Andrew Boyd]

On 2/2/07, Ziya Oz <listera at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I find the current "best practice" of RPFs fundamentally broken. To
> reiterate, the orthodoxy assumes that the problem is already framed by the
> company seeking the solicitations. More often than not that just isn't so.
> And therein lies the bottomless pitfall.

Here is my best practice for writing an RFP:
- work out what your needs are (or framing it in Ziya's language, at
least work out what your problem is);
- categorise your needs and group them so that they make sense;
- prioritise your needs so that the respondents have half a chance of
getting it right; and
- write the whole lot in plain language, except where legalese or
technical constraints apply.

These should go without saying, but it is surprising how bad the
average RFP is.

Follow these, and you have some chance of getting what you asked for.
Which may be, granted, not what you really need.

Alternately, find the best designer you can afford and get them to
work out what your problem is and propose solutions at you until one
makes sense.

Cheers, Andrew