REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)

GUIDELINES AND OUTLINE

 Deciding how to use resources can be one of the most strategic decisions a training manager makes.
Successful training managers effectively leverage a blend of internal talent with the capabilities of
external training suppliers. Regardless of the industry or size of your organization, you will likely need
to source some form of service, product or technology at some point.

A product is an object or item, such as a learning management system (LMS) or fully developed
course. A service is a process or action, such as a custom content development project or
the process of managing a training function itself. Understanding whether you’re looking for a
product, a service or both will help you find the right training partner.

Training is not a commodity. All training is not alike, and nor are the suppliers that manage them. That’s
why the request for proposal (RFP) is so important: It provides you valuable information about what
differentiates one supplier from another.

The goal of the RFP is to solicit enough information from a variety of suppliers to determine which
can best manage the processes and/or products you need for the right price and within the right
time frame to make your organization successful.

TYPES OF PROPOSALS

The type of proposal you request in an RFP will depend on the type of sourcing engagement you’re
seeking. When a company wants to acquire a commodity, it typically uses a request for quotation
(RFQ), because there it does not expect any differentiation among the products. Training managers
generally do not purchase commodities, so a combined RFI and RFP process is often better. The RFQ
is then often combined with the RFP.

A request for proposal is a 10- to 20-page document that provides suppliers with all the
necessary information to submit a comprehensive and definitive approach to supplying
part or all of the training function.

A request for information (RFI) is a three- to five-page document with an executive

summary of the operation(s) the buyer is seeking to outsource. Its primary objective
is to determine which suppliers should receive an RFP. Use it if you aren’t familiar with
prospective suppliers or if you have a multitude of potential bidders.

A request for quotation (RFQ) is a one-page document that requests cost information from
a supplier or suppliers and should only be completed after some level of due diligence –
i.e., following the completion of, or during, an RFP.

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 THE SEVEN STAGES OF OUTSOURCING

There are seven stages to the training BPO process:

1. Assess your training needs: Determine precisely what you want from a supplier and how good
you expect them to be at delivering it.
2. Submit an RFI, RFP and/or RFQ.
3. Gather and evaluate information about each supplier’s capabilities, while the supplier does the
same, to form a structured and solid relationship.
4. Negotiate terms, and sign the contract (typically an MSA or SLA).
5. Begin transitioning resources and responsibilities to the supplier.
6. Manage the business and your working relationship with the supplier.
7. Transfer resources and responsibilities back to your organization.

The Seven Stages of Training Outsourcing

Assessment

Transfer Proposal

TRAINING
BPO
Due
Governance
Diligence

Transition Contracting

TYPES OF SOURCING ENGAGEMENTS

Choosing the type of engagement you want to have with your supplier is an important early step
in identifying your internal needs. Each type of engagement requires a different set of contractual
documents, such as:
• Master Service Agreement (MSA): a comprehensive contract that details the responsibilities of
each party, including detailed rates, services and terms for each functional area of the partnership
• Service Level Agreement (SLA): a contract that defines the quality and volume of specific
deliverables and service level requirements for both parties, including performance metrics
• Statement of Work (SOW): a contract that defines the scope of a project, specific deliverables,
scheduling and additional responsibilities as required by the buyer; generally a binding contract
that can be specialized or generalized depending on the needs of each company or the project

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 • Purchase Order: a contractual document that transactionally defines deliverables, quantities, and
agreed-upon pricing terms for products and services; also referred to as a purchase agreement

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Models

Out-tasking Models

In BPO, the supplier manages a broad set of training processes and activities. There are two types of
BPO engagements:

Comprehensive BPO: The supplier manages all of the buyer’s training processes
and activities

Selective BPO: The supplier manages training content or services within one functional
area or across several functional areas – but not in all functional areas

Note: BPO engagements use each of the contractual documents.

Out-tasking

In out-tasking, the supplier manages a single, or a very few, training processes, products or technologies.
There are two types of out-tasking engagements:
Licensing: The buyer buys, or licenses, the right to use the supplier’s intellectual property.
The contract typically defines the number of users, number of uses, length of time for
licensing and how the buyer can use the intellectual property. Licensing agreements
typically use purchase orders.
Contracting: The supplier performs a set of tasks or manages a set of processes. The
contract typically defines the use of labor on an hourly, weekly, monthly or annual basis, and
the length of the engagement is typically less binding than in other forms of outsourcing.
Contracting agreements typically use statements of work and purchase orders.

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 Intellectual Property: Who Owns What?

In legal terms, intellectual property (IP) is any creation of human intellect, tangible or intangible.
In learning and development, content such as course materials (online or in person) and
technologies (i.e., LMS, delivery platforms, etc.) are forms of intellectual property. The person
or company that owns the IP is generally the one that creates the content or contracts with
another party to create content on their behalf.

If your company pays you to create content, then the company owns the IP rights to that
material. When your organization contracts with a supplier to deliver a course for you, you are
essentially licensing the rights to view its course materials for a given period of time. When you
contract with an instructor to deliver a course on your behalf, you are not giving away the IP
rights to that instructor or the company he or she works for. Similarly, viewing or participating
in a course does not give learners implied rights of ownership to deliver the same materials or
information in that form to another party.

Organizations can license their IP for use for a specified period of time, which is expressed and
agreed upon in the contract.

CREATING AN RFP

There is no one template that can meet the needs of every RFP document. If your organization requires
you to use an e-procurement platform, your approach should be to submit a series of questions that
asks suppliers to provide information about your request in as clear and succinct a format as possible.
If your organization allows you to submit written RFPs to suppliers, you should put your request into a
clear and articulate document. Both of these methods serve their purpose well, and both require that
you have a clear approach to defining your need, request and bid proposal expectations.

The RFP is generally organized into three parts:

Part 1: Background/Information

In this first part of the RFP, communicate to the suppliers the current state of your organization. Help
them understand your culture, your learners and what makes your organization who you are. This part
includes three sections:
• Section 1: Executive Overview
A high-level overview of your organization
• Section 2: Background Information About Your Company
A summary of what you do, where you are located, the nature of the audience the supplier
will support, why you need the supplier’s services/products, how you will use those services/
products, how your learners will consume them, and the processes you currently manage now
• Section 3: Definition of Needs
A description of what you need from a supplier in process or product terms: what processes,
technologies or products you are wishing to source and what services you expect the supplier to
provide that are associated with those processes, technologies or products

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 In this part, include a responsibility matrix such as the sample below.

PROCESS PROCESS OWNER TIMING/FREQUENCY QUALITY OF SERVICE

Supplier provides overall instructional

design services based on buyer
Instructional Design Supplier On-demand requirements. Measurable deliverables
and timing for each project will be scoped
based on specific needs of the client/buyer.

Provide the supplier with a course design

document that clearly articulates learner
Course Requirements Buyer On-demand
requirements and expectations of course
design and development.

Proposal document to include modality,

Course Design Proposal
Within one month of
content elements, format and pricing for
Supplier communication of the
course development; assume pricing based
learning requirement
on approved pricing framework.

Following approval of Course development will follow course

Course Development Supplier
supplier to begin project design document.

Supplier will design and develop media

needed for final course product; supplier
Media Design Supplier As needed
may use sub-contractors for media
development on as-needed basis.

Add rows to this table as needed.

Prequalifying Team Resources

Contracting with suppliers often involves the use of its resources for delivery, instructional
design or administrative services. The best way to ensure that these resources meet your needs
is by properly defining your requirements and expectations in advance. The most objective
and measurable prequalifying requirements are generally relevant experience, education and/
or certification credentials. There are also many subjective prequalifying requirements, such as
communication and behavioral skills, which you can measure during screening (interviewing). It’s
important to understand that the more stringent the prequalifying requirements, the more costly
the resources will be. Be sure to align your requirements with your performance expectations.

Part 2: Your Request

Articulate what you expect the supplier to do on your behalf. Be clear about which processes they will
manage and which you will manage, and articulate the level of quality and speed you expect.

Make sure that your service level expectations are aligned to your cost expectations. If you want superior
quality, or a specific time frame, expect commensurate costs. This is also a good place to a provide a
responsibility matrix, if possible, to outline the processes, tasks and performance expectations for both
you and the supplier.

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 Part 2 includes three sections:
• Section 4: Detailed Project Scope and Deliverable Timeframe
• Section 5: Service Level/Performance Expectations
• Section 6: Geographic Requirements (if any)

How long should your contract last?

The tenure for a contracting engagement is variable based on the type of engagement. If your
engagement is an out-tasking contract for the delivery of a course, then your tenure is for the
time of the delivery. If it is a licensing agreement to access online content, it is based on the
amount of time you expect to have access. If you commit to a comprehensive BPO engagement,
the tenure may be longer term – generally for a minimum of three years, with some as long as
five years or more.

It’s important to note that the duration of an engagement is highly correlated to your risk
tolerance and the level of risk you assume versus the level of risk you expect the supplier to
assume. Typically, the longer the contract term, the more risk you are assuming, and the lower
the price should be per unit of service. This is true because the supplier can amortize fixed
overhead costs (such as the cost of customer acquisition) over a longer period of time and pass
those cost savings on to you. This approach is a common strategy used in pricing for large-scale
BPO engagements.

Part 3: Proposal Expectations

In part 3, outline your expectations of how the suppliers should propose their solutions. Communicate your
expectations, including all the questions they must answer, when the proposal is due, whom they should
contact if they have any questions, whom they should not contact during the proposal process, how you
will evaluate the proposals and how they should submit the proposal (online or in a written document).

Ask the suppliers to describe their media and delivery modalities, to describe their instructional design
methodology, to provide client references, and to describe the capabilities you would be sourcing from them.

Part 3 includes four sections:

• Section 7: Proposal Requirements
This section should include specific requirements about how to prepare and deliver the
proposal, such as the format (print and/or digital) and where (and to whom) to send
the proposal.
• Section 8: Due Date
These terms should define when the proposal is due and conditions related to what happens
if the proposal is delivered early or late.
• Section 9: Contacts
These terms define whom the suppliers can contact during the evaluation and proposal stage.
Including these terms limits suppliers from contacting employees who may not be familiar with
the RFP.

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 • Section 10: How You Will Evaluate the Proposals
Include terms that articulate how you will evaluate the proposals and the variables that will be
most important.
• Section 11: Special Terms
There are a variety of other special terms your organization may want to communicate in the RFP, with
the expectation that they will also be included in the contract. Terms may define or limit confidentiality,
rights of assignment, termination for convenience and termination for cause, limitations of liability, IP
protection rights, and limitations related to courseware and software. There may be a number of other
special terms your procurement officer may want included as well. We advise to consult with your
procurement officer to ensure that you include all terms required by your organization.

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

The specific objectives you identify will determine the sourcing and information-gathering
processes used. Because no single guide can encompass all possible scenarios, you should
use the information in this guide to build the best process for your particular business needs
and circumstances.

Additional Resources Available from Training Industry

Training Industry compiles a wide range of information that can help your sourcing processes. The Certified
Professional in Training Management™ program, for example, teaches strategies for sourcing training and
managing vendor relationships. In addition, you may find these services valuable:
• Free referral services to help you align your vendor sourcing and RFP development with suppliers
who best match your needs and objectives: https://trainingindustry.com/RFP
• Free searchable supplier directory of more than 3,800 companies providing products and services to
the corporate training and customer training sectors: https://directory.trainingindustry.com
• Free searchable database of Top Training Companies™ lists, including the Training Industry Top 20™
and Training Industry Watch Lists™ for companies providing products and services in key industry
sectors: https://trainingindustry.com/top20
-- Leadership Training
-- Authoring Tools
-- Assessment and Evaluation
-- Information Technology (IT) Training
-- Gamification
-- Learning Portals and Learning Management Systems (LMS)
-- Health and Safety Training
-- Training Delivery
-- Online Learning Libraries
-- Content Development
-- Training Outsourcing
-- Sales Training
• Free live and recorded product demonstration webinars, to explore capabilities and features of vendor
companies and products: https://trainingindustry.com/webinar
• Consulting services, research and similar engagements to guide vendor selection, partnerships,
sourcing decisions and more: For more details, contact info@trainingindustry.com

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