Gov Purchasing
Discourage Supplier Protests
By Michael Asner
May 19, 2005, 15:45

Your policy and procedures should incorporate features designed to convince suppliers of the fairness of the process and thereby discourage them from launching a public protest. There are many ways of discouraging supplier protests since purchasers, in general, and most certainly public buyers, have great power to affect a supplier's economic well-being.

Provide Information to Suppliers

Up-to-date, accurate information helps suppliers understand how to compete effectively, and reduces the demands on purchasers for explanations and presentations. There are three documents which, when available, benefit the suppliers in terms of supplying more information and benefit the purchasing organization in term of its credibility and professionalism:

1. RFP Policy -- a concise statement of your organization's principles and major policy items related to RFPs.
2. RFP Handbook -- a book identifying your major procedures and practices. This handbook typically has sample RFPs and the forms used in the process.
3. "Doing Business with Us" -- a booklet containing essential information about the organization's purchasing practices. These booklets typically include the following topics: role of the purchasing department, what they buy, who can tender, purchasing policies, how to be on the supplier list, preparing your tender, awarding contracts, payment, supplier assistance, and a telephone directory for purchasing staff. They often include the supplier registration forms as well.

Prepare an Evaluators' Guide

An Evaluators' Guide is a handbook which contains key policy items, evaluation procedures, weights, criteria, and scoring mechanisms. It also contains the actual worksheets which will be used by the evaluators for the RFP under consideration and detailed scoring instructions. While sections of this handbook are generic and apply to all RFPs, other sections are specific. Obviously, the evaluation criteria and weights change from RFP to RFP. Also, details of the evaluation process itself can be different.

Here are the contents of a typical Evaluators' Handbook:

Overall Approach
Evaluation Categories
Evaluation Process
Master Evaluation Table
Scoring Mechanism
Explanation of the Evaluation Criteria
Completing the Evaluation
The Scoring System
Evaluation Worksheet

Some jurisdictions have an evaluation meeting prior to opening the proposals. At that meeting, the RFP expert reviews the process, the procedure, and the specific worksheets with the team.

Include an RFP Officer in the Process

Have an RFP officer -- an expert -- as part of the process. This person plays two major roles: to protect the integrity of the process and to assure suppliers of a fair and open competition (and thereby discourage complaints).

First, the RFP officer will protect the integrity of the process with the following actions: (1) by editing and reviewing the entire RFP document, particularly the terms and conditions section: (2) by briefing the project team on the process; (3) by answering questions; (4) by monitoring the process; (5) by attending the evaluation meetings; and (6) by producing an audit report once the contract has been signed.

Second, the officer will ensure that issues, as they arise, are addressed from the supplier's perspective as well as the purchaser's. The RFP officer will maintain a log of key events, produce an audit report and attend debriefing meetings with suppliers.

Typically, this person's role is identified in the RFP. This person is introduced at the suppliers meeting and responds to questions about the process. Finally, the terms of reference for this work are stated at the suppliers' meeting and noted in the minutes.

Provide Debriefing Information to Suppliers

Purchasers should identify both the information and documents which will be available after an award is made. Since much of this information is available under access to information legislation, the purchasing organization should be proactive and release this information automatically.

Typically, the following information is available under the legislation after the award:

• evaluation criteria, weights, scoring mechanism
• evaluators' handbook
• names of bidders
• winner's total score
• each bidder's own scores
• each bidder's own evaluation
• RFP officer's terms, events log, final report

The state of Florida goes one step further. Their standard RFP contains a "Bidders Request for Notification of No Award" for suppliers who want to receive written notice that they didn't win. If the supplier wants to receive the actual bid tabulations, they can indicate this on the form and submit $5 to cover the cost of mailing and copies.

Publish the Protest Policy in the RFP and Other Supplier Documents

The RFP should identify the existence of a policy and how a supplier can obtain a copy. In many jurisdictions the supplier has a specific legal right to protest actions related to public procurement. These rights are often identified in both the RFP and in booklets provided to the supplier community by the organization.

Excerpted from THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL HANDBOOK
By Michael Asner