Focus Areas

1. A similar scoring method is recommended for the RFP: a combination of score and weighting system should be employed. This is ideally suited for rating the different areas of the RFP that vary in importance, for example

   1. each RFP item can have a score from 0 to 10.

   2. each RFP item will also have a weight 0 to 5.

   3. weighted score is the product of (a) and (b).

2. Unlike the RFI, the RFP submissions from the vendors will have a cost component. This can be handled in two ways.

   1. If a two-envelope process is employed for the RFP (separate technical and cost submissions), then the technical submission can be valuated using the method suggested above. The cost proposals for those vendors whose technical bids are found to be acceptable are then ranked by dollar value and the lowest bid is selected. It is always a good idea to have your estimate to validate the soundness of the bids. (This can guard against collusion or ridiculously low bids that are a sure sign of problems in the future.)

   2. Another equally acceptable method is to convert the dollars in the cost proposal into a score. Here, you have to make a determination of the amount of money that would be equal to one point. (You can set a minimum total dollar value, e.g., $1 million qualifies for 10 points and for every $200K over this figure, the vendor loses 1 point.) Each cost should...