RFP Evaluation Time? Here’s How to Pick the Right Vendor

An RFP evaluation is the process of scoring the proposals you received against the criteria you published, and only against those. Everything that makes an evaluation defensible happens earlier, while the RFP is still being drafted: naming the factors, setting their weights, building the scoring sheet and choosing the panel. Once bids are open, adding a consideration you never disclosed is how a sound decision turns into a contested one.

What Are the Steps in an RFP Evaluation?

1. Screen for compliance first. Check every proposal against the mandatory submission requirements before anyone reads for quality. Separating pass/fail from scoring keeps the panel from unconsciously forgiving a missing form from a bid they liked.
2. Score independently. Each evaluator scores each proposal alone, against the published rubric, and writes a short justification per factor. Justifications are what make the record survive scrutiny later.
3. Reconcile as a panel. Meet to discuss divergences. A two-point gap usually means one evaluator saw something the other missed; a five-point gap usually means the rubric was ambiguous.
4. Verify what you can. Check references, confirm licenses and certifications, and look for material public information about the firm.
5. Shortlist if it will change the answer. Presentations and interviews are worth running when finalists are genuinely close, and a waste of everyone's time when they are not.
6. Document the decision and debrief. Write down why the winner won, and tell the losing bidders. Both cost an hour and save far more.

Can You Score Something You Did Not Publish?

No - and this is the most common way a well-intentioned evaluation goes wrong. Panels routinely reward a polished layout, a familiar brand or a local address that appeared nowhere in the criteria. In federal procurement the rule is explicit: under FAR 15.304, all factors and significant subfactors that will affect contract award, and their relative importance, must be stated clearly in the solicitation. Price or cost has to be evaluated in every source selection, and the solicitation must say whether the non-cost factors combined are significantly more important than price, approximately equal to it, or significantly less important. Most state and local codes echo the same principle. If presentation quality genuinely matters to you, make it a published, weighted factor with a stated definition - then you can score it honestly. What you cannot do is let it move scores silently.

How Do You Build a Scoring Rubric?

Write it before you publish the RFP, because the rubric and the solicitation have to agree. For each factor, define what earns a top score, what earns a middling one and what earns a failing one, in language specific to this project - "demonstrates comparable experience" is not a rubric, "describes at least two completed projects of similar scope with measurable outcomes" is. Keep the scale short; five points with defined anchors produces more consistent scoring than a hundred-point scale where evaluators invent their own meaning for a 73. And decide in advance how price converts to points, since a formula settled after you have seen the prices is difficult to defend.

How Should You Check References?

Ask for variety, then actually call. A vendor with five references from one long-standing client has demonstrated something narrower than a vendor with three references across different regions, project sizes and technical environments - so ask for that spread explicitly in the solicitation rather than hoping for it. When you call, ask what went wrong and how it was handled; every project has a problem, and a reference who cannot name one either was not close to the work or is not being candid. Confirm the reference still works at the organization, and confirm the named project team is the team you would get.

When Are Presentations Worth Running?

When the written scores are close enough that the answer is genuinely open, and when you have specific questions the proposals did not settle. A finalist round adds two or three weeks and real effort on both sides, so it should be a decision-making step and not a courtesy. Send your questions in advance, give every finalist the same time and the same format, score against the same published criteria, and insist that the people who would actually do the work are in the room rather than the sales team. If the written evaluation already produced a clear winner, award it.

What Do You Owe the Losing Bidders?

A prompt notification and, if they ask, a debrief explaining how their proposal scored against the published criteria. Public entities are often required to offer one; private buyers rarely are, and should anyway. A candid debrief is the cheapest way to get better bids next time - the vendor who learns their technical approach was thin comes back stronger - and it is also your best protection against the impression that the decision was made before the RFP went out. That impression, more than any single scoring error, is what turns a lost bid into a protest or an audit request. It is worth knowing what your bidders are told about whether the lowest bid wins - if your award goes to a higher price, the debrief is where you explain why.

See What You Will Be Evaluating

Reading live solicitations in your category shows how other buyers word their criteria and weights. Search open RFPs on Bid Banana.