Public Sector RFP tips

Question

Selling a rip-and-replace IT toolset. We are a good fit functionality/price wise for public sector and have some reference clients. All these purchases must go through RFP for public sector- so we aren't being invited in to fulfill due diligence.

We've participated in about 12 RFPs during the past year (with just a couple exceptions uninvited) and were only once invited to present afterwards. We pre-qualify based on specs/reqs of course but not much else.

Aside from what is generally well known (if no previous relationship or relationship with stakeholder then RFPs are a waste of time). Any tips on drafting our responses? Or just resources out there in the interwebs?

Accepted Answer

IF you haven`t had the chance to build a relationship with the LOB prior to the RFP, then you`ll have to "catch" their attention with something in your proposal, for a rip-and-replace tool - price and related cost reduction seems to work best in this kind of situation. That`s just my opinion though.

Answer

@LordOfWarare you still around you RFP 👑

Answer

If you aren’t tracking these rfps months, if not years, In advance, you have no chance of winning them. Seriously. If you’re just seeing them pop up and then responding you have less than a 10% chance of winning them.

Answer

There are many nuances to public sector RFPs - it's not just spec/reqs but pricing and other considerations. In some cases, it's FedRAMP. Mostly, RFPs are a toss up until you start winning in the vertical - then you have a chance.

Answer

Ive seen similar items. You need to find the decision maker for these public jobs. Try to get in ahead of time. The RFP is a formality a lot of times to cover the requirement. OR you buy a couple jobs. Basically give it away for Pennies to get yourself in a building with a successful job that you can use as reference and case study later. This doesn’t change the fact you need to find the stakeholders, but it can help once you do to show success.

I assume with IT there would be regular service afterwards? You might need to get aggressive on the initial project to get you in the door and make up for it on the back end once you’re in the building.

Answer

RFPs are a waste of time unless you're the one speaking to the organization crafting the RFP yourself. Okay...that's a bit of a stretch, but RFPs are generally tailored towards a specific company/use case, so it can be difficult to win one going in blind.

Ushikawa

Public Sector RFP tips

9 comments

Ushikawa

Public Sector RFP tips

9 comments

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