RFI

• RFI Document

1. Create a draft list of points for evaluation.
2. Confirm those points with the Sponsor.

• RFI Checklist

By going through the request document, extract the key points that are going to be used for evaluation. Use a rating system to identify how well the vendor meets the requirements. It is suggested there are two ratings. The first is compliance:

• Meets requirements
• Does not meet requirements but has another approach that will work
• Does not meet requirements
• Unsure

The second rating is for how well they can potentially meet requirements. This applies only to the first two categories on the first rating. If the vendor does not meet requirements or you are unsure, they are not rated on the second rating. Use a scale of 1 to 10.

• 1 Very poor match for our needs
• 10 Exceeds our needs

The 'Deal Breakers' are of course automatic criteria. Beyond that, you should have between 10 and 20 other criteria.

This is not intended to be a mathematical calculation of the best vendors. Once the criteria have been decided, you need to look at each vendor and see how well or badly they fit. If the vendor who gets the most ticks cannot meet half the 'Deal Breakers' they would probably be dropped.

The second worksheet is used to record impacts identified through the RFI response. These may be changes to the requirements or ideas that emerged that you had not considered in the past.