Best Practices in Competitive Bidding: Create Effective and Efficient RFPs

Access this expert-led webinar instantly, available anytime on-demand.

4.0
Included in All-Access Membership
Live Webinar - no upcoming date
Customer Satisfaction Guarantee Learn with confidence. If you're not happy, we'll make it right. That's our guarantee.

Purchase Options

Select an attendee quantity to add to cart.

Recorded Webinar Only

$219.00
or

All Access Membership

The Aurora All Access Membership is designed to provide you with the training that you want when you want it. You will have 100% access to every live webinar, on demand webinar, professional alert, and podcast that Aurora Training Advantage offers with no additional cost.

Learn More About Our All Access Membership
$599.00
All Access Membership
One of the most important elements of delivering savings to an organization is the competitive bidding, or sourcing process. The request for proposal (RFP) drives this element. What is often overlooked in building an RFP is the collaboration needed to ensure that the winning proposal delivers the best overall strategic value. When done right, the RFP is much more than a cost savings exercise. Whether you use an RFP tool or other methods, this webinar will explore best practices in creating the optimal bidding scenario and a comprehensive request for proposal. Your Benefits of Attending:
  • Understand the importance of the RFP as a strategic tool.
  • Learn what you should include in your proposal to ensure maximum value.
  • Gain insight in RFP formats - best practices for efficient and effective responses.
  • Learn how to set expectations for both stakeholders and suppliers and why that is critical.
  • Understand timelines and guidelines for a winning RFP.

An extensive list of spend categories means that one RFP template won’t be sufficient. However, with consistency in approach to building an RFP, you will not only develop a sustainable, efficient process within your company, but you will create broader opportunities to capture the best overall strategic value from supplier bids. You will leave this webinar knowing how to more effectively create RFPs based on requirements and areas of impact.

  1. Introduction
  2. Kevin Giblin - Biography 00:02:11
  3. Today’s Agenda 00:03:14
  4. Today’s Learning Objectives 00:04:49
  5. Best Practices In Competitive Bidding: Create Efficient and Effective RFPs - Types Of Bidding, Advantages, Potential Issues  00:07:21
  6. Types Of Competitive Bidding 00:07:42
  7. Why Competitive Bidding? 00:13:14
  8. Advantages Of Competitive Bidding 00:16:37
  9. Why Do Some RFPs Fail? 00:18:30
  10. Why Do some RFPS Fail ? Continued 00:21:43
  11. Problems Created By Poorly Executed RFPs 00:31:29
  12. Best Practices In Competitive Bidding: Create Efficient and Effective RFPs - Keys To A Successful RFP 00:40:44
  13. Keys To Ensuring A Successful RFP 00:41:39
  14. Keys To Ensuring A Successful RFP Continued 01:01:08
  15. Steps To Ensuring A Sustainable RFP Process 01:09:13
  16. Best Practices In Competitive Bidding: Create Efficient and Effective RFPs - Process Flow, Practical Examples, Guidelines 01:14:40
  17. RFP Process Steps 01:15:24
  18. Content Matters - Building A Successful RFP 01:18:17
  19. Content Matters - Building A Successful RFP Continued 01:21:42
  20. Content Matters - Building A Successful RFP Continued 01:22:49
  21. Project Tracking For RFPs 01:24:20
  22. Building Consensus Decisions 01:26:33
  23. Building Consensus Decisions Continued 01:27:24
  24. Best Practices In Competitive Bidding: Create Efficient and Effective RFPs - Takeaways 01:30:05
  25. Key Takeaways 01:30:47
  26. Presentation Closing 01:40:59

  • Kevin Giblin

    Kevin Giblin

    Career Highlights: Ranked #23 in Thinkers360’s Global Top 50 Thought Leaders in Procurement 2017 EPIC Award for Career Excellence, Indirect Purchasing 2012 SDCE Green Supply Chain Award  2011 recipient IACCM “Collaborate to Innovate Award”  2009 CTB Achievement Award 2005 Corporate A [...]

    View Full Profile

ATAPU Credit

Aurora Training Advantage is offering continuing education points designed to recognize dedication to training and excellence in purchasing.

ISM Credit

Institute of Supply Management

This program may be used for Continuing Education Hours (CEH) toward recertification for programs offered by the Institute for Supply Management®, including the Certified Professional in Supply Management® and Certified Professional in Supplier Diversity®.

QPANJ Credit

Qualified Purchasing Agent - New Jersey

  • Bid 00:09:21, 00:20:02, 00:22:24, 01:06:53, 01:17:44, 01:25:42
  • Contract 00:28:09
  • Negotiated Bidding 00:10:38
  • Open Bidding 00:08:02
  • Procurement 00:09:17, 00:10:30, 00:13:22, 01:01:20
  • Request For Proposal (RFP) 00:02:02, 00:03:44, 00:06:20, 00:11:08, 00:17:44, 00:31:54, 00:36:21, 00:41:39, 00:45:56, 00:49:08, 00:54:45, 01:05:12, 01:15:22, 01:22:54
  • Selective Bidding 00:08:34, 00:10:08
  • Single-Stage Bidding 00:12:00
  • Sourcing 01:25:01
  • Spend Analysis 01:09:18
  • Supplier 00:09:32, 00:16:44, 00:21:10, 00:28:40, 00:32:50, 00:35:38, 00:40:27, 00:45:41, 00:54:36, 01:02:07, 01:17:31
  • Two-Part Bidding 00:11:09
  • Two-Stage Bidding 00:12:19
  • Vendor 01:01:08

Bid: A bid is an offer made by an investor, trader, or dealer in an effort to buy an asset or to compete for a contract.

Contract: A written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning employment, sales, or tenancy, that is intended to be enforceable by law.

Negotiated Bidding: The negotiated bid is the most common method of bidding for commercial construction projects. It is a more straightforward, less formal process that is applicable for most projects.

Open Bidding: A procurement method for acquisition of goods, works and services which involves an invitation to submit a bid in a competitive bidding process to all interested economic operators.

Procurement: Procurement is the process of finding and agreeing to terms, and acquiring goods, services, or works from an external source, often via a tendering or competitive bidding process. Procurement is used to ensure the buyer receives goods, services, or works at the best possible price when aspects such as quality, quantity, time, and location are compared.

Request for Proposal (RFP): A request for proposal (RFP) is a document that solicits proposal, often made through a bidding process, by an agency or company interested in procurement of a commodity, service, or valuable asset, to potential suppliers to submit business proposals.

Selective Bidding: A process of soliciting competitive bids for the award of a contract for construction; the owner selects the constructors who are invited to bid to the exclusion of others, in contrast to the process of open bidding.

Single-Stage Bidding: The main aim of the single-stage approach is to generate a firm price at the outset through a competitive tendering process. Bidders submit bids in one envelope containing both the price proposal and the technical proposal. The envelopes are opened in public at the date and time advised in the bidding document. The bids are evaluated.

Sourcing: A process to obtain the best overall strategic value, as a subset of the overall Category Management Framework.

Spend Analysis: A spend analysis is the process of cataloging business spend data and reviewing it in order to identify inefficiencies, root out unnecessary costs, remove waste and redundancies, and find gaps within the supply chain to make changes that will ultimately reduce costs.

Supplier: A supplier is an entity that supplies goods and services to another organization. A supplier is usually a manufacturer or a distributor. A distributor buys goods from multiple manufacturers and sells them to its customers. Similar Terms. A supplier is also known as a vendor.

Two-Part Bidding: Two part Bid means the technical and financial bids, each put in a separate cover and their evaluation is sequential and in that order.

Two-Stage Bidding: Bidders first submit their technical proposals, in accordance with the specifications, but without prices. The technical proposals are opened at the date and time advised in the bidding document. The technical proposals are evaluated and discussed with the bidders.

Vendor: A vendor is a person or business that supplies goods or services to a company. Another term for the vendor is the supplier. In many situations, a company presents the vendor with a purchase order stating the goods or services needed, the price, delivery date, and other terms.

Customer Satisfaction Guarantee
Invest in your future with confidence! Our Customer Satisfaction Guarantee eliminates all risk, letting you focus purely on mastering new skills and advancing your career. If you're not completely satisfied, we'll ensure you are. Your satisfaction is not just a promise; it's our guarantee.

Webinar Survey Overall Rating

This webinar received a total of 1 survey responses. Attendees have given an average rating of 4.0 stars out of a possible 5, reflecting the quality and value of the content presented.

Average rating

4.0 / 5
Webinar Presentation
How many of the objectives of the event were met?
5.0 Stars
How useful was the information presented at this event?
2.0 Stars
Overall, how satisfied were you with this event?
4.0 Stars
Speaker Performance
Overall, how satisfied were you with this presenter?
4.0 Stars
How closely did the presenter follow the schedule?
5.0 Stars

Reviews From Webinar Survey

Our webinars are crafted to deliver exceptional value and insight to business professionals. Below, you'll find genuine feedback from attendees.

Amy L.
April 2, 2025
4.0 / 5
Webinar Rating:
3.7 Stars
Speaker Rating:
4.5 Stars
Do you have any other comments, questions or concerns?
.

Frequently Asked Questions

An effective RFP is a strategic document that does far more than simply solicit pricing—it defines the organization's requirements with enough specificity to enable meaningful comparison across suppliers while allowing enough flexibility for vendors to propose creative solutions that deliver superior value. The most critical element is clarity of requirements: vague specifications lead to incomparable proposals, as each vendor interprets requirements differently. The RFP should include the organization's evaluation criteria and their relative weighting upfront—this transparency respects vendors' time by helping them understand where to focus proposal energy and signals that the process is merit-based. Well-structured response formats enable efficient evaluation: asking vendors to respond to specific sections in a defined structure allows side-by-side comparison rather than reading 20 different narrative formats. Setting realistic and firm timelines demonstrates organizational competence and helps vendors assess whether they can respond at the required quality level. Including a clear process for clarification questions—with answers distributed to all bidders—maintains competitive fairness. Kevin Giblin, ranked among the top global procurement thought leaders, covers all dimensions of RFP excellence in Aurora Training Advantage's competitive bidding webinar.
Procurement professionals select among several bidding methodologies based on the nature of the purchase, the market characteristics, and organizational requirements. Open bidding invites all qualified vendors to submit proposals—maximizing competition and market coverage, appropriate for standardized goods and services where specifications can be clearly defined and the vendor pool is broad. Selective bidding invites a pre-qualified list of vendors—suitable for complex or specialized requirements where vendor capability must be verified before investing in the evaluation process. Single-stage bidding requests both technical and price proposals simultaneously—efficient for well-defined requirements where technical qualification can be assessed alongside cost. Two-stage bidding separates technical evaluation from pricing, issuing price solicitations only to technically qualified vendors—appropriate for complex projects where technical merit should drive shortlisting before price evaluation occurs. Negotiated bidding involves direct negotiation with selected vendors rather than a competitive sealed-bid process—common in commercial environments for complex, relationship-sensitive engagements. Each methodology involves trade-offs between competitive rigor, process efficiency, and suitability for the specific procurement context. Aurora Training Advantage's RFP best practices webinar provides detailed guidance on selecting the right approach for different spend categories.
RFP failures are typically traceable to specific, preventable process breakdowns. Insufficient stakeholder collaboration is the most common root cause: when the RFP is written by procurement alone without input from the business units who will use the contracted services, requirements miss critical operational considerations that only end-users can articulate. Unclear or overly prescriptive specifications either enable incomparable proposals or constrain vendors from proposing genuinely better solutions. Failing to communicate clearly about evaluation criteria leads vendors to optimize their proposals in ways that don't align with what the buyer actually values. Unrealistic timelines compress vendor response quality and discourage strong suppliers from investing in thorough proposals. Inadequate scoring consistency—where evaluators apply criteria subjectively without calibration—produces outcomes that reflect evaluator bias rather than proposal merit. Post-award issues often stem from specifications that were too vague to be enforceable as contract terms. Building consensus through a cross-functional evaluation team, establishing the scoring framework before proposals are received, and allocating realistic time for each process phase are the most impactful preventive measures. Kevin Giblin's Aurora Training Advantage webinar specifically diagnoses the most common RFP failure modes and provides structural solutions for each.
A well-designed scoring matrix is the cornerstone of objective, defensible RFP evaluation. The matrix should be constructed before proposals are received—establishing criteria and weights in advance eliminates the temptation to adjust criteria after seeing responses to favor a preferred vendor. Evaluation criteria typically span multiple dimensions: technical capability and approach, organizational qualifications and references, implementation plan and timeline, total cost of ownership (not just unit price), and risk factors. Weighting these dimensions explicitly—for example, 40% technical, 30% cost, 20% qualifications, 10% implementation—communicates organizational priorities and ensures evaluation reflects the full value equation rather than optimizing exclusively for cost. Each criterion should have defined rating anchors (a description of what a 1, 3, and 5 score looks like for that criterion) to calibrate evaluators and reduce subjective variation. Independent scoring by each panel member before group discussion prevents anchoring bias, where the first strong impression dominates the group's evaluation. Documenting score rationale for each rating provides an audit trail that supports debriefing unsuccessful vendors and defends the selection against protests or legal challenges.
A sustainable RFP process is one that produces consistent results across different spend categories, evaluators, and organizational contexts—without requiring expert-level procurement knowledge for every engagement. The foundation is a documented process framework: a step-by-step workflow with decision points, approval gates, required templates, and defined timelines for each phase. Standard RFP templates for common spend categories (professional services, technology, facilities, logistics) reduce reinvention while allowing customization for category-specific requirements. Tracking RFPs in a centralized project management tool provides visibility into pipeline, active solicitations, and award status across the procurement function. Building a library of past RFPs, evaluation matrices, and final contracts creates institutional knowledge that accelerates future engagements in the same categories. Training stakeholders who participate in evaluations on the scoring methodology and evaluation process ensures consistent application across different project teams. Post-award reviews that capture what worked and what should be improved—conducted after the selected vendor has been operating for 90 days—create feedback loops that continuously refine the process. Aurora Training Advantage's competitive bidding webinar includes a practical framework for building this sustainable infrastructure within organizations of any size.