This is an excellent question and one that every Buyer would like the easy answer to. A RFP aka Request for Proposal are becoming more technical by nature and sometimes are even challenged in the legal arena. This issue alone is reason enough to  improve your content to:

a) mitigate risks,

b) improve bid responses and

c) to simply provide clarity.

The easier your RFP is to understand, the fewer vendor inquiries you will receive. The fewer vendor inquiries you receive, the more efficient your department is. This factor alone is further justification to invest in improving the quality of your out-going RFP presentations.

The first way to improve your request for proposal is to ensure you have clearly defined all the requirements the Vendors will need to meet in order to be awarded your business. Laying this out in a standardized format will allow you as the buyer the ability to evaluate multiple responses effectively or across the board ensuring you are analyzing all the benefits independently and without flipping between pages from different proposals during the evaluation process.

If your Vendors respond correctly to your standardized format you will be steps ahead in preparing your recommendation on award.

Part Two on How to Improve your RFP Presentation is located HERE.