Organize a healthy competition to find the right consultants for your project |Podcast

Key Takeaways

The number of providers invited to the competition is directly linked to the level of priority and the budget of your project.

For larger projects, you can broaden the first round (briefing/proposal phase) to up to ten consulting firms (depending on the project and the stakes) but keep at most four-five companies for the final round (pitching phase).

It is important always to protect your confidential information. Don’t hesitate to make your candidates sign a confidentiality agreement at the beginning (even at RFI or RFP stage) to protect proprietary information and make sure the consulting firms will not be sharing your project’s details with your competitors.

If your project is particularly confidential, you should even consider working with a third-party sourcing company, like Consulting Quest, that will handle the process anonymously.

Make sure that your RFP process is adapted to the scope and the budget for your project.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the sixth episode of our podcast: Smart Consulting Sourcing, THE podcast about Consulting Procurement.

My name is Hélène, and I’ll be your host today.

Each week I’ll give you the keys to better use, manage and source consulting services.  In this sixth episode, I’ll give you some pointers to organize a healthy competition to find the right consultants for your project..

Last week, we saw the importance of defining your needs and expectations. Now you have your RFP in hand, where do you start?

Find the right consultants in the competition.

Finding the right consultant is not a swipe-right, swipe-left process.

Look closely at the scope of the project, the budget, and the internal procurement policies to define your criteria of selection for the short-list. Be mindful of your time and adapt the length of your short-list to the level of priority and the budget of your project.

When you have a very tight timeline or for small projects with limited impact on your business, choose a small short-list so that you can spend enough time on the proposal and checking references. We recommend not going beyond three prospective providers.

For larger projects, you can broaden the first round (briefing/proposal phase) to up to ten consulting firms (depending on the project and the stakes) but keep at most four-five companies for the final round (pitching phase).

Send your RFP to your potential suppliers

When your short-list is ready, contact your suppliers and check their interest by sending your RFP.

It is important always to protect your confidential information. Don’t hesitate to make your candidates sign a confidentiality agreement at the beginning (even at RFI or RFP stage) to protect proprietary information and make sure the consulting firms will not be sharing your project’s details with your competitors.

If the proposal includes collaboration and sub-contracting, make sure that all the contributors to the project are legally bound by an NDA.

If your project is particularly confidential, you should even consider working with a third-party sourcing company, like Consulting Quest, that will handle the process anonymously. They will keep your company and your project confidential until the short-list stage.

Unless you are handling a multi-million dollar project, don’t organize extravagant tenders. Looking through proposals and listening to consultants’ pitches can be extremely time- consuming. It will also considerably slow down your project.

Make sure that your RFP process is adapted to the scope and the budget for your project.

If you only have a small number of consulting firms, or if the project is specifically complex, you might want to organize briefings to discuss the details of the project and make sure the consultants have well understood what is at stake.

If you have a large number of candidates, a clear RFP, and little time on your hands, you can just send the RFP and assess the written proposals to identify the most promising one for the next step.

That’s it for today. Next week I will explain how to assess the written proposals for a consulting project.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, or want to learn more about what we do at consulting quest, just send me an email at helene.laffitte@consultingquest.com

Bye and see you next week! Au revoir!

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