OK, so you decided to submit an RFI response. Great! But your company only allocated 15 hours for this. So how can you make the most of the opportunity?
Reading through the ASDEFCON suite of RFI documents ‘blah’ can be a bit overwhelming. But just keep in mind the purpose of the RFI, which is for Defence to find out potential solutions to a problem, and help to define that problem.
Firstly, Defence 100% understands the expense in time and money it is for companies to respond to RFIs. I worked as project support in a Systems Program Office (SPO) within CASG, assisting projects in various stages of the Capability Life Cycle (or whatever it’s called now). When a project team prepared the paperwork (as based on ASDEFCON templates), always we were thinking ‘do we really need to know that now?’ and ‘can we leverage existing sources’? The paperwork then goes to the Materiel Procurement Branch, who are legal experts in contracting and can advise what is reasonable to ask from industry. There is a fine balance between not being too prescriptive (we want information, not a solution at this stage) and not being too vague as to confuse the respondents.
So the approach we took was to provide as much information about the situation/problem as possible and ask questions as per themes, like what is your technical approach to this problem, what are the constraints, what are the advantages, how is it interoperable with other equipment.
The way you respond to these themes absolutely makes a difference to the people reading and analysing the response. So, how to answer efficiently and effectively?
Answer the questions as requested
If the RFI asks to present the response in sections, then do so in exactly that manner.
For example, a question about ‘Explain how your solution can/could neutralise the threat’: you could use bullet points, facts, specifications and diagrams. It is not the section where you write about intellectual property requirements.
Why? It’s for the poor schmucks on the project team who need to wade through the pages and pages of information from umpteen responses and sort the apples to compare with apples. I’ll explain more in another post about what happens after you submit the RFI.
Use clear file naming and management
Keep your confidential content (if any) in one file if at all possible, and mark that clearly in the headers, footers front page and file name. This makes it easier to ‘lock down’ in the Defence document management system. For other documents that don’t contain confidential information, then that’s great. The more documents a project team can share around, the better. Such as with the customers (eg Army), and other project teams. And if you say we can use your images (attributed), then that’s great too.
Also, name your files clearly. It’s a lot easier to check we have all of your response if we can cross- reference file names. From the Defence side, a file name like ‘3a_RFI1234_Technical_Confidential.pdf’ makes more sense than ‘flt575747733.pdf’
Keep it real
Be truthful: no matter what kind of content, be it technical or to do with Integrated Logistics Support (ILS). A project team usually liaises with at least one technical expert in the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) who will say if something is bollocks. Making shit up makes you look unprofessional and untrustworthy. For example, if you say your widget’s design can withstand pressure at 6,000 metres deep and yet it’s made out of 3mm thick zinc, well, there will be some raised eyebrows at the very least.
Write clearly and avoid word-schmoozing
Let’s avoid the game of ‘ATM response bingo’. I had the joy of doing first-read of responses, tasked with checking all files arrived and were filed in the correct repository. Any time there was mention of ‘world-leading’, ‘gold standard’, ‘cutting-edge’, then it all just blends together into a vortex of blah. By all means go all schmoozy in your optional cover letter, but in the meat of the response, stick to the facts. If you say ‘award winning’, well, which award? ‘Experienced’, where, with who in which circumstances? Motherhood blah just wastes everyone’s time.
Include some warm and fuzzies
The RFI might not ask some questions, because of the push not to burden industry with excessive paperwork so early in the procurement process. But more content helps the project team to plan ahead. Here are some key points that always matter and score hypothetical brownie points:
· Explain how your solution is future proof – even if not asked. Are there regular software updates, who can control the software, are parts as per a standard?
· Australian industry aspect – OK so maybe you’re a US company. No worries. Maybe you can partner with an Aussie maintenance service, or outsource software development to an Australian company. Read more about Australian Industry Capability at the Defence website.
· Provide rough costs. Yes it’s very difficult to do this if your proposed solution is not off the shelf. But at least list the contributing factors and assumptions that could affect your future pricing, for example: buying licenses, facility set-up, personnel training, insurances, materials -- and over what time period. This helps the project team to have a vague idea if a solution will cost 10 million over 5 years or 200 million over 10 years. A big difference that needs at least some kind of rough estimate before government agrees to pursue further investigation and procurement.
Communicate before you submit a response
Absolutely, if you need clarification about content in the RFI, use the provided Point of Contact, which is usually an email address. The project team can then prepare a response and post it on AusTender as an anonymous clarification. Note that your email will be saved in the document management system.
Caution: don’t get carried away with communicating for the sake of it. Public servants in Defence are overworked. In my program area in the SPO, there were three public servants to at least 30 contractors. Contractors cannot approve anything to do with purchasing. They do not have the delegation. But they do prepare documents that go out in an RFI, and do a lot of the subsequent analysis. And the Point of Contact for the RFI may be a contractor. So if you get all uppity about WTF is happening, and how much time and money you spent on the RFI, please note we DO REMEMBER THIS. It won’t affect what goes in the RFI analysis report, but it doesn’t bode well for future communications. Rude and arrogant people are NOT tolerated in Australia. No matter how big is your company. I have a story about the other side of the coin too, when communication can get a little too personal. But that’s for another post!
Even if you have minimal time to spend on an RFI response, you can make the most of it be using these tips. In the next post, I’ll explain what happens to your response when it arrives with the project team. It actually doesn’t disappear into a black hole, I swear!