Successful Projects Start with Better RFPs

Published paper: Successful projects start with better RFPs

Writing an RFP is daunting to many. The process to request proposals from firms or contractors to begin a new digital project is not in most museum professionals’ job descriptions. The RFP presents a number of problems to the person tasked with writing it: the document is protective due to fears on both the side of the museum and the side of potential firm; it is bloated due to neglect or a multitude of stakeholder requests; and, submitting an RFP alone incorrectly attempts to automate a process built on good museum-to-firm relationships. We suggest solutions to fix this broken process, improve the RFP document, and ultimately help staff start digital projects from a better place. Shifting the RFP process and document to focus on building the right foundation for a successful relationship between museum and firm will ultimately lead to a more successful project.   

Bibliography:
Christian Knoebel, (2016) How We Picked a Web Design Agency (Hint: We Threw Away the Usual RFP).
http://re.princeton.edu/blogs/how-we-picked-web-design-agency-hint-we-threw-away-usual-rfp

Carolyn Royston, (2015) Critique: Leadership Meet Digital, Digital Meet Leadership.
https://mcn2015.sched.org/event/3tN9/critique-leadership-meet-digital-digital-meet-leadership

Alyson Webb, (2015) Designing digital services: getting from visitor needs to RFP.
http://mw2015.museumsandtheweb.com/proposal/designing-digital-services/

Morgan Holzer, (2012) From Proposal to Payoff: Three Museums Get It Done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xu4PgdYFjU

Diane Andolsek, (2004). The RFP Process: From Request Through Proposal
http://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw2004/papers/andolsek/andolsek.html