How to Easily Craft an RFP Solicitation to Attract the Best Vendors to Your Business - The Writers For Hire

HOW TO EASILY CRAFT AN RFP SOLICITATION TO ATTRACT THE BEST VENDORS TO YOUR BUSINESS Oftentimes, getting the right vendors to work with your company is a critical part of your business success. But how do you attract high-quality vendors to provide you with the services and supplies you need? An RFP solicitation can be key in attracting the right suppliers to help your company achieve its goals. And whether it’s for your own business or the company you work for, at some point an RFP procurement process might be considered and an RFP document will need to be written. I need to write an RFP and I’ve never done one before. HELP! What Exactly is an RFP? A Request for Proposal, known as an RFP, is a document issued by a private company or public agency to potential vendors for products or services they need. It is a detailed, formal, and specific process to award a contract to procure these products and/or services based on the scope of work and, in many cases, the best price. The process is transparent and competitive in nature, and in the case of government agencies, they are required to issue such bids publicly to ensure fairness and prevent biased or insider bidding. An RFP is typically issued when the project requirements have a value of $25,000 or more and when the selection of a vendor cannot be made completely on the lowest price but must also consider the most cost-effective solution to the company’s needs. It is important to note that unless explicitly stated otherwise within your RFP solicitation, an RFP is binding and functions as your intent to make an award and the selected vendor’ s intent to sign a contract. 5 Core Factors to Identify Before Writing your RFPBefore you even start to write your RFP solicitation, you need to decide some key points. Deciding on these points will make the writing easier and give you a better understanding of the reason for the solicitation. 1.What is the purpose of your RFP? What does your company need? Once you’re clear on this, you can articulate the purpose behind the solicitation and write the first pages of your document. If you can write this purpose in a paragraph, then it will be easy for potential vendors to determine if the RFP is worth their time and effort. Doing it in a sentence or two is even better. Some examples of this could be: â€Å"XYZ Company needs to purchase 1,000,000 processors that will help us in the manufacturing of our new supercomputers that will be sold to ABC company. These processors must be at the best price of no more than $1,000 per unit.† â€Å"XYZ Company needs to construct 1,5 00 new high-end, high-efficiency housing units on currently owned property. These units will be a mix of single-family homes, duplexes, and apartment complexes. We will be hiring a well-established, local contractor to construct these units.† 2.What is the main scope of work you want accomplished once the contract is awarded? Understanding this will help you know exactly what your expectations are and will help you write the actual â€Å"Scope of Work† section of your RFP. These are the details of what needs to be done within the job itself. The more details you can identify in this section, the easier it is to explain what is expected of potential vendors who apply. Will the vendor be providing for the whole project or just parts of it – and what part? Will there be subcontractors, or will you be doing a sole-source award where you are hiring only one vendor vs. several vendors? 3.What is your companys timeline?When figuring out the timeline, you need to project from when you want to get the project started to when you want it finished. You also need to factor in time for writing and releasing your RFP and time for applicants to respond. The best way to plan out your timeline is to work backward from the project completion date. If you need the project to be completed within a year, then you need to identify how long the project will take once you hire a vendor; how long the RFP application process will take, including any preliminary vendor meetings and question/answer periods; how long the evaluation and award period will take; and how long it will take to write and publish the RFP. It’s critical that you give applicants adequate time to receive, review, and respond to your RFP. If your deadline is unrealistic, then you run the risk of not getting the quality vendors and responses you need. 4. How in-depth or detailed do you need the responses from applicants to be? What is the bare minimum of information you need from applicants to allow your company to make the best, most-informed decision to award the contract? Identify what information is critical for your company to know about the vendors and don’t get bogged down in information that is not necessary. If your project is smaller or is based mostly on the cost of service or goods vs. quality, or what scope of work is being provided, then the information you need from potential vendors might be minimal. But if you have a large project or need, or if you are looking to hire more than one vendor, then you will need more information to make an informed choice. Figuring this out first will help you explain within the RFP what information applicants need to provide. 5.The responses you get to your RFP will differ greatly in the information applications provide. Each responding vendor will have different strengths and weaknesses. Some will focus on lowest cost. Others will focus on the best quality. And others will offer a complete set of features the oth ers didn’t. Some vendors will be new and others will have more experience in the services or products you need. It helps to decide up front what youre looking for in a vendor. Is it the lowest cost, the fastest delivery, or some combination of the two? Do you want a vendor you can work with long-term beyond the contract period? What’s their experience level? Decide what a successful vendor looks like to your company and your project’s needs. Doing this will help you understand more of what is important to you and will help you identify your evaluation methods once you get to that stage of the RFP process. 12 Sections of a Quality RFP Solicitation While 12 sections to an RFP may seem like a lot, you want to provide each applicant with enough information, leaving no room for their own personal interpretation. Your document should be structured in a way that clearly and concisely presents your needs to the applicant. Of course, each type of solicitation will be different, depending on your company’s needs, but the following outlines the standard sections that should be included in most RFPs. Formatting your document using these 12 key sections will get you organized, keep you from forgetting any important information, and help you write your RFP with ease. 1. Introduction and Background: Very similar to an Executive Summary, this is where you explain who your company is and the reason for the RFP solicitation. Give a brief overview to potential vendors, not just of your company’s background, products or services, and your target audience/market, but also the requirements of your needs. If you have any budget or service number requirements, you can also include them here. 2. Company Contact Information: Potential vendors who want to apply for your opportunity will need all the necessary contact information for your company. Provide your company’s mailing and/or delivery address, phone number, and the name of the person managing the RFP process. You want to make it easy for applicants to reach your company, and the right contact person, with any questions they have. You also want them to know where to submit their RFP response. Include this information early in the document, both on the cover page and at the front of the solicitation, so it is readily available. 3. Timing: Often, there are several timing issues involved in the RFP solicitation process. These could include the date the solicitation is published, any informal meetings you will offer to potential vendors to discuss the process, a question and answer period, the deadline for response submissions, and when the decision and award will be made. Create a timeline and make it easy to read and understand. Also, place this early in your solicitation so applicants can gauge how quickly they must respond and if they have the time and resources to actually apply for your opportunity. Remember to make your timing reasonable and try to give your prospects enough time to prepare a well-thought-out response. Your timeline could look like this: 4. Pre-Bid Questions and Answers: Will you provide a question and answer period to potential applicants? Will you offer an informational meeting or an application workshop to go over the process in-depth? Or will this all be left up to the interpretation of each vendor? This section tells applicants what support they can expect from you during the process. Depending on the nature of the RFP solicitation and what your company needs, you may or may not offer this to applicants. If you do, explain the how, when, and why here. An example of what you might say: â€Å"An informal RFP meeting will take place on Wednesday, October 25, 2018, at City Hall to discuss the process. XYZ Company will also be open to written questions about the RFP process submitted to [emailprotected] from October 20 to November 7, 2018, no later than 5 pm.† 5. Format of Responses: Explain here exactly how you want proposals to be formatted and organized for submission. If you don’t clearly explain this, you run the risk of getting responses in many different formats, making it harder to evaluate them. Highlight items like font size, margin width, the total number of allowed pages, the number of copies to submit, and how to organize the components of the document, including any attachments. This way you get a cohesive response from each applicant. It is actually quite common for applicant proposals to get disqualified from evaluation for not following these simple rules. While it is certainly at your company’s discretion, many larger companies or government agencies do this regularly because it helps identify the vendors who follow directions, which is important if they end up being the awarded vendor. You could potentially get dozens of proposals, so disqualifying applicants for not adhering to the requirements lessens the number of proposals to evaluate. Emphasize within your solicitation that applicants pay close attention to identified formats and requirements and mention the chance of disqualification in case of non-compliance. 6. Submission of Information: Think of this as the how, where, and when that potential applicants need to know. While some of this information was already included at the beginning of your document, you want to reiterate this information so there is no question about the submission process. Will you only accept online submissions? Hand delivered? Where do the responses have to be delivered to and by when? Include an actual day, date, and closing time and whether you will accept any late submissions. Have a way to track submissions that come in. Be clear so there is no disputing a late application and the process is fair to all applicants. You might write in this section: All RFP responses are due on [the day and date specified] and may be hand-delivered or mailed to [your identified address] addressed to [name of person managing the RFP process]. The date and time of all received bids will be noted and then all bids will be reviewed to ensure they meet all requirements and are responsive. All responsive bids will be scored according to the categories below. Successful applicants will be notified by [confirm the timeline date].† 7. Scope of Work: In the introduction section of your RFP you touched briefly on your company’s needs and why you’re hiring a vendor, so here you would go into more detail about the scope of work to be provided or performed as well as the quantified service or product deliverables. This would be the place for your clearly stated technical specifications and service or product requirements. Examples of what you might include in the scope of work section could be the service or product outputs or service levels, delivery information, timelines for the deliverables, what costs are reimbursable, travel expenses, equipment provisions, licensing rights, upgrade or modification costs, necessary reporting, and any other requirements to carry out the contract by both your company and the awarded vendor. 8. Requested Information: This is the bones of your RFP document. This is the section that needs to detail clearly what information you need and want from your applicants. This section could include: †¢ The applicant’s basic information (name, contacts)†¢ Their background/history/accomplishments/experience as it relates to the RFP’s stated work and goals†¢ The work the applicant plans to perform as outlined in your RFP†¢ Their goals/objectives/deliverables for the project†¢ How they will perform the work†¢ Their timeline as it relates to the project and scope of work†¢ Their evaluation methods and reporting for the work they will be performing†¢ Their proposed budget, costs, pricing formats, and budget narrative for the project or work to be performed†¢ Any other information or attachments that you may want to include as it relates to the project Of course, you can include less of this information, all of this information, or other identified items related to your project. Use this as a guideline and you’ll find it easier to outline and write your RFP to attract the best responses to your company. 9. Evaluation Methods: Once you receive the RFP responses from qualified applicants, then what? This is where you detail to potential vendors how you will evaluate their responses and how you will, in essence, â€Å"grade† them and select the winning proposal(s). The evaluation criteria are the factors you identify to judge the proposals as to how they would best meet the needs of your company. Ultimately, there are three reasons to include your proposal evaluation methods within your RFP: It gives applicants an equitable way to have their proposals reviewed without a question as to fairness; it allows applicants to see the most important areas of the RFP; and it allows your proposal evaluators to have a clear method for reviewing applicants’ offers and easily ranking the proposals accordingly. While you can write your RFP solicitation to have whatever clear and reasonable evaluation methods you deem best, most RFP evaluation criteria are weighted by a point or percentage system, decreasing to the least important factors. They also should be clear and realistic as they relate to the solicitation. Percentage Method Example:Project Design and Implementation 33 percentCollaboration 13 percentLogic Model 18 percentBudget 15 percentAgency Experience and Expertise 15 percentSite Visit 6 percent Point Method Example:Project Design and Implementation 40 pts.Collaboration 15 pts.Logic Model 15 pts.Budget 15 ptsAgency Experience and Expertise 10 pts.Site Visit 5 pts. It is also a good idea to include a sentence such as, The winning vendor will be selected solely by the judgment of XYZ Company and XYZ Company reserves the right at its sole discretion to reject any and all proposals received without penalty and to not issue a contract as a result of this RFP. 10. Notification of Award to Applicants: Let your applicants know when and how they will be notified of the award decision. You can offer a simple award/decline letter to each potential vendor who responded, or you can publish a more formal letter announcing the winners of the RFP to all applicants. Include when that letter will be published or sent out to applicants. 11. Contract Information: This section can include the more technical and legal items associated with your RFP. Consider including a sample contract that you intend to use with successful applicants; the terms, conditions, and monitoring of the project; and timelines associated with the actual project itself once an award is made. Include anything the applicant needs to know to make an informed choice on whether or not your project is a good fit for them. This could also include information on insurance and bonding requirements, penalties for late performance, invoicing, payments, and reimbursements. 12. Cover Page and Letter: Finally, compose a cover page and a cover letter (optional) summarizing your RFP and including all contact information before publishing it online or sending it out to potential vendors or applicants. Use company letterhead and make it professional. Add a table of contents as well. Examples of good cover pages and cover letters can be found at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/downloads/word/Sample_RFP_Cover_Ltr_2011.doc http://imgjkw.co/ideas/ Wrapping It All Up There are many ways to write a good, clear, and concise RFP that will attract quality vendors to your project. But use this as a guideline to help you write it faster and with ease, especially if you’ve never written an RFP solicitation before.And one final reminder: Be sure to give yourself plenty of time in your procurement process to start the RFP document and give applicants time to review your RFP, collect their information, and prepare a response.If you’re unsure if an RFP solicitation is the document that will suit your company’s needs, read about how to write an RFQ or RFI as well.

Enemy at the Gates, Fly Away Peter combination essay

Enemy at the Gates, Fly Away Peter combination essay Free Online Research Papers The two texts offer readers and viewers different insights into the nature of war. Both texts use very graphic imagery which is disturbing and often macabre to illustrate the confronting reality of war. Annaud utilises visual imagery and music to help create an effectively realistic mise-en-scene throughout the film. Annaud affirms the importance of hope and love whilst demonstrating the brutal political nature of war. In â€Å"Fly Away Peter† Malouf constructs characters to show how war affects people. He juxtaposes the violence of war against the calm sanctuary like, home of Jim. Malouf creates powerful scenes which convey how soldiers dealt with the tragedy of the slaughter of fallen comrades and which reveal the fear within each soldier. He also affirms hope and a positive sense of renewal in life which emphasises that the cycle of life continues despite the horrific and unnatural nature of war. The preface by G.K. Chesterton which Malouf uses applies to the intentions of both texts. â€Å"We can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head.† Both texts explore the way humanity goes â€Å"off its head† in times of war. This implies that people in times of war behave in an insane fashion. The graphic imagery used by each text is compelling and provocative. â€Å"Fly Away Peter† demonstrates this when Eric, Clancy and Jim were at base and were about to have lunch. A â€Å"Minnie† explodes near them and Malouf comments, â€Å"He found out that he was entirely covered in blood – his uniform, his face, his hair – he was drenched in it, it couldn’t all be Eric’s; and if it was his own he must be dead, and this standing up whole an illusion or the beginning of another life.† This description is powerful because it reveals that in war there were no safe places and anything could happen at any time. In â€Å"Enemy at the Gates† Annaud similarly shows this when Vassilij, Koulikov and Volodya left the base and Vassilij spots a German sniper. The sniper had his eyes clawed out and had no index finger while still lying there looking like he was still alive. This graphic visual image emphasises the savage nature of war and wh at people do for money in times of dire need. Both texts rely on brutally realistic moments like those above to illustrate the nature of war. Annaud uses a range of different music themes to create an appropriate mise-en-scene throughout the film. He utilises sombre music most frequently. This is used most powerfully when the German Major Konig hangs young Sasha Filipov to get Vassilij angry and lose patience to find him. This scene shocks viewers as it implies that in war people will do anything to win. The mood of the music helps develop the anger and sadness to help emphasise this idea. Annaud also intensifies the film’s element of suspense through the use of music. This is evident when Major Konig traps Vassilij behind a broken stove and Vassilij is trying to get his rifle with his pocket knife because the music turns from a slow rhythm to a quick tempo style, which makes the mood tense and suspenseful. Annaud also uses the juxtaposition of sombre themes with up-beat joyful music in certain scenes. This is most effectively used when Vassilij is sitting with Tania in the base while everyone in the sniper squad is drinking and celebrating being alive. Vassilij says, â€Å"All these men here know they are going to die. So, each night when they make it back, it’s a bonus. So, every cup of tea, every cigarette is like a little celebration. You just have to accept that.† This scene demonstrates for viewers that the soldiers know that it is very likely that they will not survive the next day and so when they get back each night, they party and celebrate while they can. Again the music is significant in conveying the despair of the scene and to cause the viewer to gain insight into the nature of war and how humans respond to its horror. Annaud affirms the importance of hope and love by having an optimistic ending where Vassilij and Tania meet after the war and live on happily. It is also evident in the sex scene, between Tania and Vassilij at the sniper base. This is powerful because the film demonstrates that people even in war can find love and beauty. The beauty of love is juxtaposed against the horror of the war scenes. It also gives the viewer a sense of hope that people can still be human in the inhuman situations of war. Annaud explores the political inequality of war when Koulikov says, â€Å"Nobody gives a shit about the telephone guys.† This is powerful because most of the â€Å"telephone guys† were poor citizens. As in most wars Annaud reminds viewers how war often oppresses and exploits the poorest members of society. Malouf constructs different types of characters to illustrate how war affects people even if they aren’t fighting. This is emphasised when Jim goes out to a pub with Clancy and Eric and Jim ordered Vin Blanc with syrup which was not what he usually drank, this is showed when it says â€Å"Jim craved the sweetness. For some reason, up here, he couldn’t get enough of it.† This is a powerful scene because it shows that Jim has changed because of his experience of the harshness of war. Malouf also explores this in Imogen’s description, â€Å"Jim, she moaned silently, somewhere deep inside. Jim. Jim. There was in there a mourning woman who rocked eternally back and forth; who would not be seen.† This moment is powerful because it shows that not only soldiers were affected by the war. It was also their family and friends who were affected and changed because of war. Like Annaud, Malouf employs juxtaposition as a device. He contrasts war with the tranqui l harmony of the bird sanctuary where Jim worked and lived before the war. He does this to show that a man can get thrown into the savagery of war no matter how peaceful a personality he had before the war. Malouf creates powerful scenes which convey how soldiers dealt with the tragedy of the slaughter of fallen comrades to examine the psychological fear this instilled in each soldier. This is used in two very powerful scenes, first when Clancy gets blown to smithereens. Malouf says â€Å"He tried to cry but no sound came out. He fell to his knees in the dirt and his screams came up without sound as a rush of vomit, and through it all he kept trying to cry out, till at last, after a few bubbly failures, his voice returned.† This is powerful because it shows that the soldiers made friends and became intimate comrades with the guys in their platoon. It also illustrates how painful it was for soldiers to see their mates die. The second powerful scene is when Malouf says, â€Å"Wizzer began to quake. His shoulders first, then his jaw. He had drawn himself up into a ball and was rocking back and forth, clenching his fists to his chest.† This is so shocking because it creates a portrait of the fear that devastated soldiers during the war. Malouf’s understanding of the psychological terror caused by exposure to violence is one of his most powerful devices to cause the reader to understand the nature of war. The ending is an affirmation that this insanity in war is only one aspect of life and living. This is also emphasised when Malouf says, â€Å"There was a garden in the clearing, neat rows of what looked like potatoes, and figures, dark-backed and slowly moving, were on their knees between the plants, digging. Falling on his knees he began awkwardly to knead the earth, and then to claw at it as the others were doing. It felt good.† Such moments of normality provide an important sense of relief from the abnormality when humanity goes off its head. The reader is reminded of the natural cycle of life, which continues despite the unnatural quality of war. Malouf creates a sense of the renewal of life and of hope at the end of the novel. This is evident when Miss Harcourt looks out at the sea and sees a surfer, â€Å"He rode rapidly towards her; then, on the crest of the wave, sharply outlined against the sky. She stood there. Fascinated. That too was an image she would hold in her mind.† This is powerful because it shows that life continues despite the brutality of war. Malouf’s preface is â€Å"We can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head.† This is powerful because it is saying that out of all the species of animals only one has gone insane and that is humans. Malouf’s novel allows us to understand how war by its nature shows humanity â€Å"sliding† into an abyss. In Jim’s words â€Å"He would slide with the rest. Down into the pit.† Annaud uses lighting most effectively in the film. Most of the film’s composition is so dark that you can just see the actors’ reactions. At the end of the film however, when Vassilij finds Tania, a bright light illuminates their reunion. This is evocative because, like Fly Away Peter it reinforces the concepts of hope and love in the film. Both texts use journey motifs to emphasise the nature of war, even though each text employs a different type of journey. â€Å"Fly Away Peter† has a journey of self discovery. Malouf explores this when Jim realises â€Å"If he didn’t go, he decided, he would never understand, when it was over, why his life and everything he had known were so changed, and nobody would be able to tell him.† While â€Å"Enemy at the Gates† explores the journey of not just one person, but of three people in the film. It is a journey involving love for a woman and also a journey of love for one’s country which has the pr otagonists fighting off the invaders. In both texts characters grow and become strong, brave and compassionate, who try to save the lives of their comrades. Again this sense of sacrifice and love for comrades is evident in both texts and is seen as the only positive quality to emerge from the inhumane nature of war. Each text offers a different insight into the nature of war. Malouf may not have as many ways as film to emphasise the nature of war but yet constructs a very powerful narrative that includes many different insights in its own right. Annaud is able to utilise cinematic techniques to emphasise the nature of war and its consequences and creates a very strong film about the Russian perspective of the Battle of Stalingrad. Both texts caused me as a reader to deliberate about how gruelling it must be for a soldier in any war. Both Malouf and Annaud have given me greater awareness of how sadistic the nature of war really is and yet how men maintain their human virtues. Research Papers on Enemy at the Gates, Fly Away Peter combination essayWhere Wild and West MeetAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementMind TravelHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsHip-Hop is ArtThe Hockey GameRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe

Facility Hazard Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Facility Hazard Analysis - Assignment Example As a hygienist I would recommend Acme International to improve their level of ventilation to avoid slow interference with the health of its workers and at the same time employ other forms of securing the health of their workers using various techniques (OBrien, 2011). The work area should be thoroughly ventilated with enough funds that pump out the chemical odor from the room, this is because these chemical odor when inhaled by the workers in the room they slowly react with oxygen hence after oxidation it becomes more hazardous and may lead to reduced breathing problems. That may later on reduce the work output since workers can never work correctly when their health is in bad condition. The same time the use of acetone on rags should also be avoided while cleaning the surfaces of the working bays. Acetone, when gets in contact with the skin, may lead mild irritation when it is inhaled it may lead to irritation of the throat and the nose and when is highly concentrated it may harm the nervous system. It also has a chronic effect since it can lead to the development of dermatitis a condition in which the skin cracks. The effects of Acetone can be controlled by properly storing, storage cupboard and shelves should be constructed which is out of rea ch of any child, the chemical in a cool and dry place away from any source of heat such as sunlight and electricity. During handling of this chemical, the employers should use the safety clothes such as veil and overall, which Acme International should provide for them to avoid contact with the skin, the containers containing this chemical should not be exposed to welding, not until all the traces of the products have been removed from the tanks, in the same areas where Acetone is found, smoking should not take place, hence posters containing warnings against smoking should be