Dear Procurement Organization, Are You Making The Big RFX Faux-Pas?

Short answer: If you have an RFX due this month, you in all probability are!

Right now, many vendors have more RFXs due this month then they have had due the last two months, and the big question we all need to be asking is why.

Are these organizations really going to make a decision this month? Are they even going to evaluate these proposals this month? The answers are, of course, no and no! So why are the proposals due?

the doctor completely understands the desire to start evaluating proposals as early as soon as possible, but when as soon as possible is probably mid-January or later (when everyone returns from holiday vacation and deals with the fires that have been lit in their absence), why should the proposal be due this week?

Yes, vendor representatives take holidays too, but the best vendor representatives for the best vendors do not take holidays when you need them — or their best. And if you delayed your proposal due date until you actually needed the proposal in January, the best vendor reps would be back to work on the 27th spending even more time on your RFX to get you all of the details, value models, and other information you need to make the right decision.

But if you insist on a proposal weeks, or even months, before you are going to seriously evaluate it and make a decision, you are shorting yourself … and your supply chain peers (and even suppliers) who also have RFXs in to the vendor and need the vendor to put its best foot forward to make a proper decision.

So, don’t ask for an RFX until you are truly ready to review it when all you need is a confirmation of intent to submit and maybe a simple RFI with basic vendor information to (pre)qualify them. Ask for what you need only when you need it and you will get better responses, make better choices, and get better results!