GASB 45 - Chapter 1: The Request for Proposal
The first step in the process may be to write a Request for Proposal, or "RFP". The easiest way to do this is to mark up an old one; however, if this is the first time your organization has done an RFP for actuarial services, you may not have this luxury. In that case, you could try one of the following approaches:
(1) mark up an RFP that your agency has used successfully in the past;
(2) search on the internet for an RFP that's similar in scope to the one you're writing, then borrow the appropriate language and cut and paste into your format, customizing the content as necessary for your specific requirements;
(3) find a consultant to help you write the RFP;
(4) some combination of the above: for example, start with one of your agency's old RFPs, cut and paste actuarial scope language into it, customize it, and then have a consultant peer review the results.
Bigger isn't always better
Speaking from the point of view of the consultant, it's refreshing to find a short, concise RFP. It's time-consuming to wade through 50 pages of legalese and boil it down to two or three paragraphs of vital content, and the less time the consultant spends responding to the RFP, the more time he/she can spend doing a great job on the project itself.
Shortening the RFP can also make your life easier because you'll spend less time answering questions raised by the proposers. Most of the firms responding to your proposal may already have a good idea of what results the report should contain. An obvious exception to this would be any reporting or disclosures that are unique to your agency, and would need to be completed as part of the scope of services. This is frequently best handled by including the disclosure form(s) in the RFP as an attachment.
Leave some wiggle room
A final word of advice: leave the proposers enough flexibility to show their stuff - to explain what differentiates them from the competition, and leave yourself enough flexibility to go back and add questions and requests you can't foresee - because they always come up.
The RFP lays out the blueprint for the ultimate consulting contract, and a good consulting contract will have enough wiggle-room to allow you to get all your questions answered, as well as enough structure to clearly define the finished product.
