PushingSnowballs

Sites like Elance and the Freelance Switch job board are well known sources for freelance design, writing, programming, and consulting jobs. But larger projects, and those aimed at firms, rather than individual freelancers, often use a more formal RFP process. An in cases where the client is a public institution, these RFPs must, in most cases, be publicly posted and open to anyone who is interested in bidding on them.

Because these RFPs are issued by such a broad range of organizations, and cover so many different types of projects, the right assortment of tools are essential to finding the opportunities that are appropriate for your business, and finding enough of them that you will have a reasonable chance of actually winning some.

Here are a few of the methods that I have experimented with over the years, and the strengths and weaknesses of each.

1. Onvia

Onvia was my go-to RFP monitoring tool for a few years, until I tested it against Find RFP (below), and then switched over to that service completly. Even the cheapest Onvia package is far more expensive than other RFP monitoring services, and the charge goes up dramatically if you want nationwide coverage.

Like the other, less expensive, services, Onvia gets most of its information by scouring all of the websites that state and local governments use to post RFQs and RFPs. Onvia’s justification for their higher price is the extra research and market analysis services they provide, and the fact that they also include some private (non-government) bid opportunities. Both of these extra features, however, seemed to be aimed primarily at contractors and other companies in the construction industry, so unless you sell parabolic light fixtures, rent construction barricades, etc., it’s probably not worth the extra money.

2. Find RFP

As I mentioned above, I tested Find RFP against Onvia for several months before canceling my Onvia subscription, and I didn’t see any relevant opportunities on Onvia that weren’t also on Find RFP. Combine that with the fact that Find RFP was a lot cheaper ($29.95/month for national coverage) and it wasn’t a hard decision.

Governmentbids.com is similar to FindRFP, but I haven’t tested it before. FedOpps.com is another option that I haven’t tried, but it seems to have some additional features, and they don’t provide pricing on the website, so I am assuming that it is more expensive. Most of these services have free trial periods, so it might not be a bad idea to try more than one and see what works best for your business. If possible, try them simultaneously so that you can see if one is picking up opportunities that the others are missing.

One thing that I will suggest about any of these services is that you consider using a keyword search to tailor the RFPs you receive, instead of using industry codes. The industry codes are pretty vague in many cases, and it is very common for RFPs to be categorized incorrectly. And the more specialized or obscure your service is, the more important it is to use this approach. Don’t just pick an industry code that sounds close and hope it works, because if RFP writers select other codes then you won’t see those opportunities.

3. RFP Database

RFP Database is different from the other RFP services in that it relies on users to supply RFPs and RFQs, rather than pulling information from government sites. Members earn “credits” for submitting RFPs they have found in other places, and then use these credits to view RFPs submitted by others.

The good thing about this system is that it isn’t limited to government RFPs. Users can submit opportunities they find anywhere, so you will occasionally find things that don’t show up in the other services. The downside is that the coverage is not at all thorough, and opportunities can occasionally show up very close to the due date, which combine to make this mainly useful as a tool to augment another service such as Find RFP.

4. RFP Postings on Professional Organization Sites

Depending on your specialty, there is a chance that there is a professional organization out there that posts RFPs of interest to you on their website. I won’t try and list any here, since you probably know which organizations are relevant to you, but just as an example, here is the American Planning Association’s RFP/RFQ database.

Most of these sources aren’t going to notify you by email when a new opportunity is posted, so you’ll either have to set up a system to remind yourself to check these regularly, or use a tool like ChangeDetection.com to alert you when something is added to the page.

5. Local or State Government Purchasing Sites

The hundreds of sites that services such as Find RFP troll for their listings can also be accessed directly, generally for free. So if you have a particular geographic focus, it might be worthwhile to track down the RFP/RFQ areas of websites run by the state, city, and county governments for that area, as well as universities, hospitals, etc., and sign up to be notified of new opportunities that meet your criteria. Just go to these sites and root around looking for language like “doing business with us” or “resources for businesses.” The actual list may be called “bid listings,” “procurement opportunities,” etc., so don’t just look for “RFP” or “RFQ.”

The same rule about using keywords instead of industry/commodity codes that I mentioned in item 2 also applies here. Don’t set up a situation where you are depending on the RFP creator to categorize the RFP correctly.

6. Google Alerts

Setting up Google alerts for keywords such as “graphic design” and “RFP” or “interactive exhibits” and “RFQ” seems like a great idea, but my experience is that it really doesn’t work. Things seldom appear, and when they do it is often months, or even years, past the due date.

7. Twitter Search

No post these days would be complete without mentioning Twitter, and in this case it actually does seem to be more useful than Google for generating timely market intelligence. Most of the mentions of RFPs on Twitter seem to be people looking for them, but there are occasionally tweets with info about new opportunities.

You should probably have a standing Twitter search for phrases related to you industry anyway, and this should pick up any tweets about RFPs or RFQs. You might also try testing some RFP-specific phrases to see if that is worthwhile. There are a variety of options for creating these searches. My current favorite is TwitterSearch for iGoogle.

Putting it Together

My  recommendation is that you use a combined approach in order to see the maximum number of opportunities and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. Start by picking one of the inexpensive paid services like Find RFP to do most of the work for you, and then set up all of the free tools as you have time in order to provide some extra coverage. Since these RFPs are by definition “public,” there is a lot of competition, so you’ll need to see a lot of them to find the few that you really have a chance at. Taking a look at a large number of RFPs also gives you an chance to share the opportunities that aren’t right for you with friends and colleagues, which can be a great networking activity.

If you have other tools or tricks for finding public RFPs, feel free to share them in the comments.

Photo by rvaphotodude.