Template: Busting Your RFP Assumptions Toolkit

A purchasing office can be a valuable partner in collaborating with departments or agencies on solicitations by providing strategic support, whether through helping staff write effective and clear specifications, guiding them to use correct procurement processes, or by informing them of existing contracts that meet their needs. This quick read introduces PEN's toolkit for getting solicitations started on the right foot, including a procurement intake form, a kickoff meeting slide deck, and an RFP getting started worksheet.

A purchasing office can be a valuable partner in collaborating with departments or agencies on solicitations by providing guidance to save departments from going too far down the wrong path, wasting time and causing delays in getting solicitations out the door. This Getting Started Worksheet is designed to jumpstart your brainstorming about the important questions that will guide the development of your RFP or other major procurement. We encourage you to use this worksheet as a brainstorming tool with the team working on an RFP, before you put pen to paper to start drafting your solicitation document.

The resources contained in this guidebook will help public sector organizations leverage procurement to improve the outcomes of government-funded programs and services, including by writing results-driven requests for proposals (RFPs) and by better managing the RFP development process. Through the eight modules, procurement professionals can walk through the RFP process step by step, from early planning through managing a contract. Each of the modules contains best practices for that specific topic area and examples from other jurisdictions as well as discussion questions and planning prompts.