This is an example of an assignment undertaken within the last two years. I am a versatile consultant with capabilities in procurement, negotiation and proposal management.
C

Situation

When the RFP responses were opened eyebrows were raised. Yes, everyone knew that inflation and supply chain disruption would affect pricing, but no one expected the numbers that were submitted. The challenge was that 'traditional' post-offer negotiation would not close the 20% gap between expectations and actual pricing. What could be done?

Task

The task was twofold; firstly to design a process to align RFP responses with the client's budget expectations. This would require parallel negotiations with a number of respondents, and revisions to the approved procurement and evaluation plans. Secondly, the process needed to be executed in a way that secured the support of bidders and other stakeholders.

Actions

I recognised that the scale of the changes needed required flexibility about scope and standards. I proposed a modified competitive dialogue process that involved quarantined and parallel negotiations with respondents to identify opportunities to release value. Once approved, I led the competitive dialogue process so that both client and respondents could jointly explore opportunities to release value. Once the suggestions were captured, a 'best and final offer' process allowed the bidders to re-quote against revised scopes of work.

Result

The process resulted in final offers that were better aligned with the client's expectations and were financially sustainable for the respondents. Critically, the bidders felt comfortable that any 'commercial in confidence' proposals would not be leaked to their competitors, and that their suggestions for improvements in specification, service levels and scopes of work were listened to.