AEC definitions
An RFP is a request for proposal. The owner asks firms to propose how they would do the work and what they would charge. Selection can weigh qualifications and approach, not only price. The same words are also used for a proposal request that prices a change during construction.
Definition
At procurement, an RFP is the solicitation when the owner is not buying a fixed design at the lowest bid. Design-build and CM at risk are often awarded this way. During construction, a proposal request, sometimes loosely called an RFP, asks the contractor to price a described change before a change order. Those are different documents. The first selects a company. The second prices a revision to a contract you already have. An invitation for bid asks for a price on documents that are complete enough to build. An RFQ often asks for qualifications, or for a quote on a defined product.
In depth
A public notice titled RFP is a solicitation. A form from the architect during construction titled proposal request is a pricing exercise under an existing contract. Using one log for both will confuse procurement with change management.
This page uses RFP for the solicitation. The pricing form is covered as a proposal request.
Scope, schedule, contract form, evaluation criteria, and the information the proposal must include. If price is only part of the score, publish the weights. Hidden criteria become a protest.
Attachments matter: geotechnical reports, bridging documents, and Division 01 drafts are part of what the proposer is relying on. List them.
Best value means a published method for scoring experience, approach, and price. Lowest price means you wanted an invitation for bid. Do not mix the slogans.
Interviews and proprietary meetings have to follow the rules you published, especially on public work.
The owner states performance and program. The proposer states design and price. Vague criteria produce proposals that cannot be compared. Over-prescribed bridging documents turn design-build back into a bid on someone else's design, with the risk transferred anyway.
Say what the owner will review after award, and what was already decided in the RFP.
Winning language that is not attached to the agreement is a brochure. Incorporate the proposal, the clarifications, and the RFP amendments on purpose. Amendments during the RFP period are the bid-period cousin of addenda.
A proposer who qualifies the offer in a way the RFP forbids has not submitted a conforming proposal. Decide that before you average the scores.
Examples
An owner issues an RFP for a design-builder. Criteria are 40 percent price, 30 percent team, 30 percent approach. The weights are in the RFP.
During construction the architect issues a proposal request to price a lobby revision. That form is not the solicitation RFP that awarded the job.
An addendum to the RFP, issued before proposals are due, changes the schedule. Proposals are based on the amended RFP.
FAQ
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