Responding to Requests for Proposals - YouTube

Thank you for your interest in doing business with the city of

Palm Bay. Today I will review the city's process for request

for proposals. The most important step any vendor must

take in order to do business with the city is to register for

Vendorlink. Vendorlink is the software partner we use to

broadcast our opportunities to do business with the city. It is

absolutely free to register Vendorlink is a user friendly

portal on our website. simply provide your contact

information, identify what goods and services you offer, and get

notified whenever we have a matching request. We use the

system to broadcast notices of any solicitation we do valued at

$25,000 or more. All the documents can be viewed and

downloaded instantly with no fee. To register go to

myvendorlink.com. check out our video with step by step

instructions for more information. If you watched our

other video on competition thresholds and procurement

requirements, you know that we use requests for proposals for

purchases over $25,000. The request for proposal or RFP

process is not about getting the lowest price. It's about getting

the best value for the city. The city requires vendors to be both

responsive and responsible. A responsive proposer is one that

has included all the material requirements with their

proposal. Examples include proposal on time, proposer is

insured and all of our required forms are completed. The city

determines whether a vendor is responsive to a request for

proposal. Be mindful that common ways to be deemed non responsive

include a late submittal adding unacceptable terms and

conditions to your proposal, and altering the price for a

responsible vendor is one that has the capability to perform

the work. In a request for proposal, this is usually

submitted as part of the proposers summary of

qualifications and objectively scored. Criteria to be

considered may include the ability capacity in skill the

proposer, whether the proposer can perform the contract

promptly, the character integrity, reputation, judgment,

experience and efficiency of the proposer, the quality of

previous services, the ability of the firm to provide future

maintenance, and the number and scope of deviations. Check out

our other video on using Vendorlink to see how to

download the documents. Before you begin read the entire

document, including the checklist of submittal

requirements, intro instructions, standard terms and

conditions, special conditions, scope of work, anticipated

timeline, evaluation criteria, proposal form, and a few

required forms. We also include a draft contract for your

review, pay special attention to the due date, and is almost

always a Tuesday by 5pm and late bids will not be accepted. For

the point of contact, make sure you ask questions in a timely

manner, the sooner the better. don't participate in what is

called ex parte communication speaking to anyone other than

procurement about the solicitation. More on that

later. Be sure to understand our payment terms the scope of work

and minimum qualifications and our insurance departments listed

in every document. Each proposal includes an anticipated timeline

again, be sure to note the due date and time the city does not

accept late submittals. Let's look a little closer at each

section. The front of the RFP has a checklist to guide you on

what to submit. The intro and instructions are detailed

information on when to submit where how, how many copies, if

there is a pre proposal meeting and your procurement point of

contact. Let's take a closer look at each section. Our

standard terms and conditions are the same for every

solicitation and include clauses like conflict of interest, and

public records and include the term of the contract. Special

terms and conditions vary, but always contain a provision about

our contractor security ID badges we sometimes require

mandatory site visits. If a purchase is federally funded,

those clauses are contained here have a clear understanding of

the scope of work and an RFP. The scope is often performance

based and outlines the background of the problem and

what we want the final product or service to do, but not

necessarily how to do it. In response, the vendor provides

the best proposal approach to a solution. This is done by

demonstrating their qualifications and their

technical response. The format for response is provided in the

evaluation criteria section. Read and understand this section

carefully. There are usually two to four categories that your

proposal will be scored against. We will look at some examples in

a moment. Provide what is requested in the tab in

sequential format it is requested in this makes it

easier for the evaluation team to review your proposal against

the criteria. Include everything requested, but don't add fluff

some proposals even have page limits the accurate and concise.

Let's look at some examples of evaluation criteria in this

scenario, qualifications are worth up to 40 points out of 100

and technical is worth 30 points out of 100. For summary of

qualifications, you may be asked to provide a brief overview of

your company, including the company location and number of

employees, your expertise, biographies of key personnel,

licenses and references. For technical response, you may be

asked to provide the business plan proposed approach, current

and projected workload, timeline and methodologies to meet the

city's budget. Continuing our example, the remaining 30 points

would be scored based on your price, which is presented on the

proposal form. Remember, and an RFP price is only one element

that will be scored out of a possible 100 points. Provide

your price as requested. Do not make changes to the form which

could result in your package being considered non responsive

and not reviewed by the evaluation team. The proposal

form is at least two pages on the first page, acknowledge any

agenda the city issued. acknowledge your agreement to

submit a proposal and indemnify the city provide full company

information. The remaining pages are for your price. Do not alter

the city's form, or use your own quote form. If you are unsure,

ask your procurement point of contact listed in the document.

Submitting a proposal especially for the first time can be

challenging, but we're here to help. Just make sure you're only

communicating with procurement. Ex parte communication means any

oral or written communication relative to a proposal that

occurs outside of an advertised public meeting. City staff

except procurement staff cannot talk to vendors and vendors

cannot talk to or email city staff about the RFP once issued

until it is awarded. This includes department directors,

city council members, the Mayor or any city employee outside of

the procurement department. This keeps a level playing field and

ensures all vendors get the same information. When in doubt call

procurement. Here's some final reminders. Read the entire

document. Attend a pre proposal meeting if there is one. Look

for a submittal checklist. Ask questions of the listed

procurement contract in writing. Include the required number of

copies, promptly deliver and address your submittal, seal it

don't wait until the last minut and ensure it arrives on time

Please check out our website fo more information PalmBay

lorida.org/procurement or click on business on the city's

omepage and navigate to do ng business with city. There yo

'll find even more informati n about the procurement de

artment. There's also a list of our active bids quotes and pro

osals and a direct link to register with Vendorlink. On

behalf of the procurement dep rtment. Thank you for taking

he time to learn more about the ity's request for proposal pr

cess.