Lights, camera, action: City video seeks to explain RFP process to local businesses
It’s not quite as eye-catching as, say, watching a woman get hit in the face by a watermelon on YouTube.
But the city of Colorado Springs has produced a new online video designed to provide businesses with a tutorial on city government’s request-for-proposal, or RFP, process — seeking to dispel some of the mystery surrounding how businesses are chosen to provide professional services.
When the city needs to buy a specific product such as widgets, vendors submit bids and the city looks to buy based on the lowest price, said Curt DeCapite, the Springs’ procurement services manager.
The RFP process, however, is based on best value, and price isn’t the primary factor in selecting a vendor or business, he said.
Generally speaking, an RFP invites businesses to submit proposals to provide products and services for everything from the architectural design of a fire substation to construction of the Academy Boulevard and Woodmen Road overpass, DeCapite said.
As part of the process, the city develops criteria to determine whom it will choose for a product or service, and ranks and evaluates respondents who want to do the work, DeCapite said. Each RFP is different, but a company’s experience, its employees’ expertise and its strategy or approach in providing the product or service are some of the criteria that might be a part of the selection process, he said.
“There’s some confusion as to the RFP process and a feeling that there’s a lot of subjectivity in it,” DeCapite said. “But we try, and we do, effectively quantify the criteria. It becomes objective in our selection.”
After choosing a business that meets the criteria, the city negotiates the cost of the service.
The city’s RFP process is open to qualified companies, but occasionally the city might need a local firm or one with a local presence. To build a fire substation, for example, the city might need to talk daily with an architect on site.
The nearly seven-minute, RFP video is posted on the city’s website — www.springsgov.com — in several places, including Procurement Services, Financial and Administrative Services and Public Communications.
In addition, the city will host a workshop for local businesses from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Sept. 28 at the Leon Young Service Center, Pikes Peak Room, 1521 Hancock Expressway. Staffers from the city, Colorado Springs Utilities, El Paso County, Colorado Springs School District 11 and the state will discuss their procurement processes.
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Contact the writer at 636-0228
