Step 1: Review the Procurement Process Procurement refers to the process of selecting vendors, establishing payment terms, strategic vetting, selection, the negotiation of contracts and actual purchas

Step 1: Review the Procurement Process

Procurement refers to the process of selecting vendors, establishing payment terms, strategic vetting, selection, the negotiation of contracts and actual purchasing of goods, services, and other work vital to an organization.

A request for proposals or RFP is part of the procurement cycle. It provides an overview and background of the company, the relevant financial information, the define the requirements section, including availability requirements and business requirements, and the administrative information about the bidding process. The RFP specifies the type of contract that you wish cloud vendors to respond with (firm-fixed-price, cost-plus, or cost-plus-award-fee).

A subset of the RFP, the statement of work (SOW), lays the groundwork for the project. It includes and defines all aspects of the project, such as activities, deliverables, and the timetable, and any relevant information on the existing technical environment.

Step 2: Review BallotOnline’s RFP for Web Services

For this stage of the procurement process, you will assume the role of the bid and proposal manager at a vendor providing cloud migration services for the AWS platform. Your final deliverable will be a proposal in response to the web application services RFP posted by BallotOnline.

Boilerplate language contains key legal provisions that can affect the enforceability of an RFP. It is important to have a basic understanding of boilerplate language and how it is used in an RFP.

You may want to review sample boilerplate language used in RFPs and RFP responses before moving on to the next step.

TAKE NOTE

Before beginning your proposal, fully examine the web services RFP posted by BallotOnline so you understand the project requirements, including security, financial, regulatory, and technical issues that will need to be considered in your proposal response.

Step 3: Identify the Key Components of the RFP Response

You have shared BallotOnline’s requirements with your colleagues, and your organization has decided to move forward with writing a proposal.

It is now time to identify the key components of an RFP response. Those components will include technical aspects as well as costs and personnel considerations. The financial proposal should outline all costs associated with implementing the technical proposal.

You should also keep the AWS features and offerings and cloud service provider (CSP) pricing issues in mind.

In the next step, you will start working on your draft RFP response.

Step 4: Mapping the RFP Requirements

It is important that your proposal addresses the specific details outlined in the RFP. You should create a two-column table breaking down your proposal to map to each component of the RFP.

Review the RFP from BallotOnline and prepare an RFP mapping document. Submit this document for review.

Two-Column Table Breaking Down Your Proposal to Map to Each Component of the RFP

This is an example of how you might map the RFP requirements to your RFP response proposal items. These are examples, and are not necessarily requirements that are in the RFP. You should review the RFP to obtain the actual requirements and create a table that is appropriate for your needs.

RFP RequirementRFP Response Proposal ItemThree years of experience performing cloud migrationsVendor ExperienceNo corporate bankruptcies, on-time vendor payment history, and audited financialsFinancial Qualifications99.99% availabilityService AvailabilityWeb servers with load balancing capabilitiesTechnical Proposal

How to Write an RFP

Every request for proposal (RFP) is unique, depending on the context and specific needs of the organization. However, most RFPs contain the following pieces of information (Peters, 2011):

Organizational Information

This brief overview can include information about your organization and its operations, mission, culture, marketing/branding eff…