"Successful RFPs in Construction"

What We Liked

• Concision of the book—115 pages based on hands-on experience, and flanked by a 49-page RFP sample.
• Discussion about key differences between the negotiated approach—that is, based on RFPs—and the lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) approach—namely, competitive bids.
• The construction industry RFP format.
• Analysis example of submitted competitive proposals, including:
  • cost estimate analysis based on the UniFormat ⁽¹⁾ construction RFP work breakdown structure (WBS)—i.e., derived from the A111 form recommended by the American Institute of Architects (AIA);
  • general requirements analysis—e.g., project staff and support, safety/security, engineering, facilities, utilities, equipment, cleanup;
  • fee and markup analysis—e.g., construction costs, contractor's proposed financial terms, state and local taxes; and
  • final proposal analysis—e.g., total construction estimate costs, adjusted construction budget, contractor's responsibility determination and comparison.
• Identification of the 16 critical sections (out of the total 25 presented in the book) to be included in the request for proposal for small construction projects.

What We Would Have Liked to See

• Better visual clues to help readers navigate back and forth between chapters—merely providing readers with chapter numbers along with the chapter titles in the footer would have helped.
• Supporting visuals—real ones, we mean—that would greatly help understand the thinking process. Seems like the editor had no access to professional graphics tools. In that regard, we're raving fans of the method called Graphical Representation of Work (GROW) since we discovered it years ago in the book Proposal Preparation—which we deem, as a side note, one of the best books on how to properly respond to an RFP solicitation.
• An RFP response evaluation matrix featuring a weighted average (WA) method to better identify the contractor best matching requirements set forth in the RFP solicitation package.
• Further details on RFP writing techniques that would hit the nail on important specificities of the construction industry like security concerns, and compliance to construction standards.