Submitting requests for proposals (RFPs) is a common process that all organizations looking to partner with government agencies undergo. But despite the ubiquity, they are not keeping up with the rapid pace of technology.
According to a newly released report, “State of the RFP 2019,” by procurement software provider Bonfire, IT RFPs take the longest to proceed from posting to award — 70 days — compared to construction and professional service projects. The long process can affect agencies’ and vendors’ abilities to implement solutions and deploy services quickly and securely.
Below we’ve highlighted 10 statistics from the report to help you better understand and improve the RFP process.
- The average RFP took 57 days from posting to award in 2018.
- Of the three categories analyzed, IT RFPs took the longest — 70 days.
- Additionally, IT RFPs have the most evaluators compared to construction and professional services — 5 to 6.
- The average public-sector organization runs 18 RFPs per year, as of 2018.
- The average municipality runs 19 RFPs per year, as of 2018.
- Municipalities receive 5 submissions per RFP on average.
- A submission to an RFP is, on average, 116 pages long.
- Municipalities receive 427 pages of vendor information per project.
- In 2018, the average disqualification rate of RFP submissions was 4%, which has steadily decreased from over 14% in 2014.
- The average public sector RFP achieved 22% cost savings, which is calculated as the difference between the winning supplier’s price and the average proposal price for that RFP.
To get the full story on the RFP process in 2019, read Bonfire’s report here.