What is an RFP?

In simple terms, a Request For Proposal or RFP, is your request for a detailed proposal from one or more project vendors. But more importantly, it's an opportunity to put in writing your website needs, goals, vision and to tell potential vendors what specifically you need their help with.

An RFP allows you to describe what you need to change about your website, from specific tasks such as replacing static page updating with a content manager, to making the pages easier to navigate, to suggesting general design goals to make your site resonate with a specific audience or have your site more easily found by search engines.

Ideally, your RFP will have the following:

• An overview of your business or organization
• An overview of how the website is currently being utilized
• An overview of what is lacking or not working well
• Your vision of what the website should be
• Your expectations for what a proposal should include

Sample RFPS

Here are two sample Request For Proposal documents which you can download and adapt for your project:

Basic Website RFP Sample - .doc file, 3 pages, best for very basic website projects

Complex Website RFP Sample - .doc file, 8 pages, best for more complex website projects

Do your homework first

Redesigning a website is more than giving the website a graphic "face lift."

Overhauling or redesigning your website is an opportunity to include additional features and capabilities and to fix what isn't working-including search engine optimization, poor navigation and a lackluster design that does not invite customers back.

Before drafting a simple RFP, meet with several staff members or fellow employees and make a list of what are the shortcomings of your current website.

Ask everyone the following:

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  • What aspects of the website have customers and staff complained about?
  • Is the website difficult or time-consuming to update?
  • How does the website fit in with your current marketing plans?
  • Are there new capabilities you would like the website to have such as polls, knowledge base or surveys?

Next, prioritize the your list into two groups. Group one would be, "Must have-that which we can't live without." Group two would be, "It would be nice if-things that will make our jobs easier."
Having your website Requirements grouped will make it easier to decide what items you're willing to budget for now, and what may need to wait for a later date.

In addition to talking to your staff, it is a good idea to ask your customers what they like or don't like about your website. Many great suggestions for improvements will come from those who use your website frequently, and it's a great way to show your customers you care enough about them to include them in your website redesign process.

Content Management

Most corporate websites tend to grow in size over the years a press release pages and customer service documents are added to the site, along with documentation, sub-pages and the like. If you have more than 50 pages in your website, keeping the site updated can be a real challenge, especially if you rely one person to make the changes for you or an IT department that doesn't want to be bothered with the website.

Having a built-in content management system or CMS as it is called, can be a great way to tame a wild beast of a website. Content management systems are great because they separate the text or content of a page from the page design, and use a database to "marry" content with design templates. Changing the look of the entire web site can be as simple as changing one or two template pages, instead of changing every single page in a "static" web site.

A CMS will also allow you to easily add pages through an Administration login, usually accessible via the Internet, so you can make changes from just about anywhere. If you have several people contributing content to your site, you can approve content before it's published, and without having to know anything about HTML or website design.

If you are redesigning your website anyway, and if a CMS makes sense, it may be worth adding this requirement to your RFP. Be sure to ask that all proposals included details regarding the application to be used for the CMS, as there are many different systems available including both commercial applications and open source applications.

Expectations for your vendors

An RFP is also your opportunity to discuss what your expectations are for a vendor, in terms of reviews, status updates, references and working on similar types of projects. If you are in a time crunch and need a major redesign of your site in a couple of weeks, your project may be better suited for a larger vendor who has some excess capacity.

Some questions to ask yourself would include:

• Are you expecting your website vendor to manage the project or will you provide some project management?
• Who will determine the project's time-frame for completion?
• Who determines what progress has been made throughout the project?
• What are the project milestones?

If you are expecting your website vendor to do all these things, make sure you state this in your RFP so potential vendors know what is expected of them when creating the budget for the project. 

Honesty is the best policy

Leaving out vital or important project information and details from your RFP, to be purposely vague in describing a project in the hopes of getting more out of your project budget, will simply lead to a disaster.

This approach is really a waste of everyone's time.

Proposals based on vague RFPs are usually padded by the vendor to cover for many unknowns or assumptions. Vendors who win the project may try to always second guess the client or assume the client is not telling them all they need to know throughout the project, undermining the working relationship.

And, when additional requirements are discovered after a project has begun, someone will have to pay whether it's the client paying for additional hours or the vendor cutting corners in order to keep the project within a limited budget.

By providing as much detail as possible in your RFP, you are telling potential vendors that you take the project seriously, you value their time, and that you have a vested interest in the success of the project.

Vendor selection

• Don't be afraid to include in your RFP what your criteria will be for the selection of a vendor.

• Will it be lowest price? Will it be quick turnaround? Will your selection be based on a vendor's experience with organizations similar to yours? Or all of the above?

• Consider a two-step process for selection. Often you will get several proposals with very different approaches in terms of website architecture and technical solutions.

• After reviewing and choosing between a number of proposals, invite three of the strongest potential candidates in for an opportunity to meet with you and key people on your staff involved with the project.

• Have your staff ask each vendor questions about their proposal, their methodology and how they will deal with problems that may arise.

• While you want to work with someone who is technically competent and experienced, having good comunication skills and a good understanding of customer service will help your project to be successful.

• Be sure to check your vendor's references and that they have worked on comparable projects.

Twelve Tips for a Better RFP

1) Get help with your RFP

If you are not comfortable creating your own RFP, consider hiring this out. Many website design companies will, for a fee, assist you with an assessment of your current site, and help you to walk through the process of writing requirements which can be a part of of the RFP. Spending a few hundred dollars on an RFP can save you thousands of dollars.

Here are two sample Request For Proposal documents which you can download and adapt for your project:

Basic Website RFP Sample - .doc file, 3 pages, best for very basic website projects

Complex Website RFP Sample - .doc file, 8 pages, best for more complex website projects

2) Be a part of RFP process

Even if you do not have a detailed requirements document to include with your RFP, provide some input or basic information of what your vision is for your website and how you see a website vendor fitting into the process. Think of the time you invest in creating a great RFP as an investment in your website's success.

3) Determine a budget

Determine a low, middle and high budget number you can spend for your website project. If you do not have a well defined RFP, chances are you will need or want more features once you get into the project. Having some additional budget set aside for contingencies is always a good idea.

4) Consider building in phases

If it's been a few years since your last website updating or overhauling, and if your budget is moderate, consider phasing in the highest priority items first and working on lower priority features later.

5) Be realistic

If your RFP is asking for a lot of new features and capabilities, but your budget is based on your website cost from several years ago, consider putting some of your requirements into an "Optional" or "Phase II" section and focus on just what is most needed at the moment.

6) Survey your website users

Do not assume that just because you aren't getting complaints about your website that is working for your visitors. Your website may not have an obvious way to for users to complain or give you feedback. A survey of users combined with studying your website statistics can give you insight into how your website is really being used, now just how you think it is being used.

7) Research competitors' websites

It's not that you should copy what your competition is doing, but it's always a good idea to know what your competition has going for it and to stay one step ahead of them. Look at what others are doing in your industry and look for features which would make your website stand out from the crowd and serve your customers well.

8) Review your marketing plan

How does your website figure into your overall marketing plan? When redesigning your website and working on your RFP, include requirements for features which help you meet your marketing goals.

9) Balance the technical with the practical

Often, complex website features may mean a lot of application customization or original programming, resulting in a complex website. Spending thousands of dollars only to save a few hours updating your site may be as practical as spending thousands of dollars to save you even more over a year or so.

10) Set expectations for your technology vendors

Be sure to state in your RFP the level of detail you require in their proposal. If you are just interested in getting some pricing information based on your RFP, a one or two page proposal from vendors may be fine. If you have a detailed RFP and you're looking for a comprehensive proposal, state this in your RFP.

11) Allow vendors adequate time to respond

Your RFP should allow at least 10 working days for vendors to ask questions about your RFP and submit a proposal. While your RFP may be detailed, there may be several different ways to achieve your RFP goals, with different price tags and implications for the project. Potential vendors need enough time to fully understand your RFP and goals before putting together their proposal.

12) Share questions and answers about the RFP

When you receive questions from vendors about the RFP, it's a good idea to share both the questions and answers with all the vendors you have invited to participate in the proposal process. This way all vendors will have the same information in order to have proposals that are based on the same information.

Additional Information

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