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SEARCHING FOR AND FINDING RFPS: A RESEARCH BASED APPROACH FOR EVALUATORS
Matthew Von Hendy MA/MLS
Green Heron Information Services
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WELCOME!
Owner—Green Heron Information Services
Professional Librarian—National Academies of Science, EPA, NASA
Birder, cyclist, runner—recent Alaskan adventurer
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SESSION GOALS
Discuss some general background and challenges about RFPs
Look at FedBizOpps as a tool to discover federal RFP opportunities
Examine a range of commercial RFP services that cover state, local and non-profit RFPs
Talk about resources to monitor RFP websites and organize RFP results
Questions and answers
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DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DO THIS?
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TOP 3 REASONS NOT TO PURSUE RFPS
Relationships matter more than ever Competition is twice as fierce Time spent vs. results For other reasons see
http://www.inc.com/john-warrillow/death-by-rfp-seven-reasons-not-to-respond.html
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WHAT WE WON’T COVER
Technical details of responding to RFPs Tips for writing winning proposals Registration requirements for FedBizOpp and
other vendor registration systems
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REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS (RFPS)
Announcement that organization is looking to hire business/individuals to provide services
RFPs issued by all levels of government—federal, state and local governments
Increasingly they also issued by non-profit organizations, businesses and other groups.
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A RFP BY ANY OTHER NAME
Apologies to Shakespeare – RFPs are sometimes referred to as ‘request for services’ or ‘request for program’
Perhaps some minor technical differences but essentially the same
Focus on the US and North America where RFP dominates
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USING GOOGLE TO TRACK RFPS
Not my starting point but if you are going to do this…
Use double quotation marks for phrase searching
‘and’ and ‘or’ boolean operators to link key ideas
Use the site filter to limit results to government sites
For example, "request for proposal" or rfp and evaluation "energy efficiency" site:gov
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GOOGLE TRACKING (CONT.)
Under the search box, click on the ‘Search Tools’ link to bring up more options for filtering your results
Filters will include time and location Use the time filter to limit your results to a
specific period such as the last week or last month
If you find a search that brings good results, set it up as a ‘Google Alert’ – this will require you having or creating a Google account
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USING OTHER SEARCH TOOLS
Other search engines can be used for this purpose
Yahoo, Bing --- fairly similar to Google but enough differences that you may to consider this option
Again use search techniques and filters to get better results
If the results are good both Yahoo and Bing allow you to create alerts
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FEDERAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES(FEDBIZOPPS)
https://www.fbo.gov/ Central place for all government RFPs worth
more than $25,000 Theoretically, all federal RFPs are supposed
to make it here…also check individual agency sites
Powerful but complicated tool to search Can be publically searched but to bid on RFPs
you need to be registered in SAM and have a DUNS number
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SUGGESTED WAYS TO SEARCH FEDBIZOPPS
Search options include keyword, posted date, agency, solicitation number
Use ‘Advanced Search’ Under “Keyword or SOL#” type in ‘evalua*’
asterisk is truncation symbol and finds anything that starts with that root–
Leave NAICS code blank, under ‘Classification Code’ choose ‘R-Professional, administrative and management support services”
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FEDBIZOPPS (CONT.)
Searches can also be restricted to a specific agency
If you are registered as a vendor, searches can be saved and run at later dates
Also check the agency website and look under ‘procurement’ or ‘contracting’—you never know what you might find there that didn’t make FedBizOpps
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STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT RFPS
Sheer number of state and local government RFPs is one challenge
Quality of state and local government RFPs sites vary widely—
Also, many local and state governments have contracted out this service to private companies
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COMMERCIAL RFP FINDING SERVICES
Find RFP http://www.findrfp.com/default.aspx
One of the oldest and largest of these services. Clean searchable interface with results not seen elsewhere. Free risk-free trial– relatively low rates. The RFP Database -
http://www.rfpdb.com/A crowd-sourcing service so to speak where RFPs are added by requestors at no charge. Free to search but small charge to download results. Mixed results
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COMMERCIAL RFPS SERVICES #2
Bidnet https://www.bidnet.com/ Focused solely on government RFPs and contracts. Seems geared towards larger companies. Onvia http://
www.onvia.com/solutions/onvia-advantage/daily-government-contract-opportunities
Well-known and respected company. Concentrates solely on government sector for RFPs. RFPs are just part of their business. Excellent product with prices to match.
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COMMERCIAL RFPS SERVICES #3
Bidsync http://www.bidsync.com/ Another service focused on government RFPs. Also provides services to RFP responders. Very good at capturing items on the county level. Evaluators have reported good results. Moderately priced. Government Bids com http
://www.governmentbids.com/Well established. Free to search but looking at results requires membership. Seems to concentrate on supply services and perhaps not so much on consulting services.
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COMMERCIAL RFPS SERVICES (#4)
Government Navigator http://www.governmentnavigator.com/
Concentrates on the IT sector of government RFPs. Not sure how relevant it would be for evaluators. Free trial. Public Purchase
http://www.publicpurchase.com/Free registration although you have to pay to see much. Includes some school districts.
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NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION RFPS
Philanthropy News Digest RFPshttp://www.philanthropynewsdigest.org/rfpsWell respected source. Typically funding programs seeking applications.
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KEEPING TRACK OF RFPS
Most government agencies and non-profit organizations have specific pages where RFPs will be posted
If you have a finite number of organizations that you are keeping your eye on for RFPs…
Software can help you save time by letting you know when any content is changed on a particular page or site.
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A FEW FREE TOOLS FOR DOING THIS.. Track Engine
http://www.trackengine.com/servlets/com.nexlabs.trackengine.ui.Login
Hard on the eyes but recommended for good results and it is also free. Change Detection
https://www.changedetection.com/Not a pretty interface but easy to use with decent results and it’s free.
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SOME LOW COST MONITORING RESOURCES
WebSite-Watcher http://aignes.com/ Low cost subscription service that allows for unlimited number of websites to be tracked and delivers results in customized easy to read format. Green Heron Information Services can also
do website RFP monitoring for you
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DON’T LET YOUR RFP NOTIFICATIONS LOOK LIKE THIS…
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ORGANIZING YOUR RFP NOTIFICATIONS
Create a file or folder (whatever works for you) for RFP notifications –remember to look through it regularly as RFPs are time sensitive
Citation managers that can handle web documents and images can be good tools for this purpose as well
Zotero https://www.zotero.org/ Excellent resource—easy to use and free
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IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS LATER…
Always happy to chat about research questions and research resources
Monthly newsletter on research resources and tips for evaluators – if you are interested in getting it – email me: [email protected]
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QUESTIONS?
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CONNECT WITH ME
Matthew Von Hendy Green Heron Information Services (240) 401-7433 [email protected] www.greenheroninfo.com LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/vonhendy Twitter @GreenHeronInfo
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THANK YOU!
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