The RFP doesn't agree with itself

Anyone who's bid on design services knows this. The RFP, the fee form and the agreement were written by different people, and the addendum that moves the due date leaves every other date alone. You find the contradictions the night before submission, or after award.

One case on our Try page: a city's RFP for road design services. Yesper traced every item to file and page and read the agreement against EJCDC E-500. The fee form has six lines and the RFP scores five. Proposal validity ends before proposals are due.

The go/no-go rests on what the RFP actually says, and the questions go in before proposals are due, not into a negotiation after award. Same for the rest of the Try page: a fee proposal against the staffing plan, résumés against the key personnel requirements, liquidated damages in a contract.

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