Child Care Administrator’s Improper Payments Information Technology Guide

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C. Developing and Evaluating a Request for Proposal

Many States are seeking to add significant, new information systems functionality to support the prevention, identification, and rectification of improper payments in their subsidized child care programs. This type of significant investment typically requires the use of a Request for Proposal (RFP), a written solicitation that conveys to vendors a requirement for materials or services that the purchaser intends to provide. Given this likelihood, the following section offers in-depth guidance for procuring IT goods and services through the RFP process, including an overview of RFPs, a list of key success factors, and a discussion of common mistakes.

1. RFP Overview

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a written solicitation that conveys to vendors a requirement for materials or services that the State intends to purchase. Many States use a traditional RFP process to solicit IT solutions from vendors and select the proposal that best maximizes the value of State and Federal dollars. Though often time-consuming and labor-intensive, the RFP continues to provide States with the most straightforward process for the acquisition of large-scale IT purchases. Often viewed as a restrictive emblem of government bureaucracy, when carefully articulated and expedited, the RFP offers vendors and solicitors a great deal of flexibility and fairness.

Two strengths of the RFP process are its procedural clarity and flexibility in soliciting innovative, value-added solutions to complex business/service needs and problems. Procedural clarity is especially important in the current, sometimes caustic, public procurement environment. Additionally, today’s benefit systems, including those that support child care programs, often involve complex and varied technical and design aspects, many of which are essential to the functionality of business/service processes and cannot be decided on a purely objective cost basis. The RFP and its associated process offer a structured manner in which vendors and the State can work to understand and propose solutions to these complex requirements and avoid low bids that result in unsuccessful implementations.

Successful RFPs are those documents that:

• Contain the input of relevant stakeholders;
• Provide a well-conceived vision of the client’s desired outcome and business needs; and
• Define the criteria on which the State bases its acceptance or rejection of the vendor’s proposal.