Creating an RFP

When you're looking to start up a new project to tackle complex spend, look no further than RFP in Fairmarkit.

 

 

From any page within Fairmarkit, simply click the Create from blank RFP button on the left-hand menu to start a new draft request.

 

 

The first field you will encounter is the RFP Title.

 

Once a title is filled in for your RFP, the system will automatically begin saving your request as a draft as you continue to make changes.

 

Fill in the RFP Event Description to give the suppliers a little information as to why you are pursuing a Proposal for this project.

 

You can schedule the Publish Date and Time for this event in the future, or choose to publish it once you have finalized all of the sections of the outline.

 

If you choose to publish this request in the future, it will be saved in your drafts until the scheduled date is reached, or you choose to manually publish it early.

 

The Close Date and Time will dictate the end of the period during which you will accept responses from the suppliers.

 

Optionally, you can also set a date and time by which suppliers should submit any questions they have for you about the request and inform the suppliers of the date you intend to make your purchase or begin your project.

 

You can provide additional information about the Department or Business Unit making this request and the currency in which the purchase will take place.

 

 

For more accurate shipping information, you can add up to five locations or facilities at which the purchase or project will be undertaken.

 

Using the NDA language provided by your organization to Fairmarkit, you can require that the suppliers sign off before viewing your RFP using the checkbox above.

 

Selecting the Industry and Subindustry in which you are sourcing will aid the system in making accurate supplier recommendations for your project.

 

 

The Internal Details are to provide insight within your organization, and will not be shared with suppliers. 

 

This section allows you to note the justification for this Request for Proposal, as well as the projected value and savings associated with the project.

 

Once the required fields have been completed, you can click the Next button to begin crafting your line items.

 

 

The Header section is typically used to ask suppliers general questions about their experience and overall proposal.

The supplier-facing title and description of a section can be changed by clicking on the three dots to the right of the title.

Here you can add Item Questions to request pricing for specific items, or more flexible Service Questions with multiple components.

 

When creating a Service Question, you have the option of using a number of different response types from the suppliers in the UOM field, such as a text response, date, yes/no question, or even an attachment.

 

 

You can build these lines within Fairmarkit, or use the Import Questions feature to download the template for import to build your RFP in Excel for future upload to Fairmarkit.

 

 

By dragging and dropping, you can reorder the lines as needed, or even delete an unnecessary line using the trash can icon to the right of each component. 

For the service items with the UOMs marked with the branching arrow symbol  you can create conditional questions, allowing you to gather additional details for review. Supported UOMs for conditional questions are: Yes/No, Compliance, Number, Percentage, Date, Date Range.

 

 

With conditional questions, you can ask suppliers to answer additional questions based on their answers to a question. You can add one condition to each parent question.

 

 

With the multiple choice UOM, you can create a question with up to 50 options for suppliers to respond to, using the Add Answer button to add more options as necessary. Each response can contain up to 255 characters and you can also allow suppliers to select multiple answers.

Once you have completed your questions for the Header section, click on the Next button to move on to the Detail section.

Detail questions are typically used to ask specific questions about the suppliers’ proposal scope and the pricing of specific components.

 

 

The Header and Detail sections are included as standard when you create a new Request for Proposal, but can be renamed to suit your needs.

You can also add more sections to your request using the Add Section button in the Outline to the left.

 

If you need to delete a section, you are able preserve the questions you have created by moving them to another section if necessary.

 

You can add Item and Service Questions, as well as Import Questions, in the same manner in which you did in the Header section.

 

Once you have completed all necessary sections, use the Next button to move on to the Appendix docs.

 

 

Any additional information you would like the supplier to have outside of what is contained within the questions section can be added here in the Appendix.

 

You can also upload any files for the suppliers to review alongside the questions you have crafted for your request.

 

After entering any additional information and importing your files, click the Next button to move to the supplier list.

 

In the Supplier List you can add suppliers to the request by searching for them, selecting from commonly used groups, or by accepting the system’s recommendations based on the industry you are sourcing in.

 

 

You’ll be prompted to update the system recommended suppliers any time a change is made to the Location, Industry, Subindustry, or an Item Question.

 

 

The Add Suppliers button will allow you to search your existing suppliers or create and invite a new supplier. When searching for existing suppliers, you can search by Title, Email, Group, Tag, or Business Classification.

 

 

Then mark the checkbox next to any suppliers you would like to invite and click Add.

 

 

Select any commonly used supplier groups to add the suppliers associated to those groups to the request.

 

 

You can also accept the data-driven recommendations from the system by clicking on the Refresh Suppliers button.

 

Once you are satisfied with the suppliers you have selected, click the Next button to review your Request for Proposal.

Here you can review each section of your request before publishing.

 

You can also download a PDF of your request for use outside of Fairmarkit.

 

After finalizing your review, click the Publish button to either schedule a future publish date or publish the Request for Proposal now. 

 

Once published, your Request for Proposal will be sent to the suppliers for their review.

 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at support@fairmarkit.com.