Heaven knows there’s no extra money floating around these days, so what you spend, you must spend judiciously. Making the wrong decision on choosing an office supply company could be a disaster, but making a poor choice for a critical IT project can be catastrophic. That’s why requests for proposal are more critical today than ever before.

This week’s Management Strategies story in Network World outlines some excellent dos and don’ts when it comes to crafting, managing and selecting an RFP. One key truth to keep in mind is that you have the upper hand these days. IT spending is down and vendors are hurting. They’re clamoring for your technology dollars, especially if you’re spending a lot on a major project.

Follow some of these tips to ensure you get the most out of the RFP process:

* Involve every affected department. By including representatives from those areas impacted by the project, you’ll avoid surprises later.

* Abandon the idea that the RFP must generate the best product at all costs. You have to balance the costs with the business needs.

* During vendor presentations, have project members write down the names of the vendor’s premier customers when they’re flashed on the screen. Designate members to take down names in specific quadrants of the screen so you get as many as possible. These customers may not be on the vendor’s reference list, and if not it’s important you find out why.

* Don’t reveal too much. Keep the specifics of your project budget and other vendor candidates confidential. Without that information, you’re more likely to get a true presentation, not one geared toward what you intend to spend or to undercutting the competition.

* Make vendors fit their proposals and presentations to your specification. Limit the time they have for their presentation, as well as the format you want proposals sent in, (CD, paper, PDF) page length and even minimum font size. This will save you and others from wading through unnecessary information.

* Develop a point system for rating the RFPs. Limit the scoring options to one, three and five points based on individual requirements. That will spread the numerical value so when you calculate the average, you get a bigger difference between competitors.

Check out this week’s Management Strategies for dozens of tips in improving the entire RFP process: http://www.nwfusion.com/careers/2003/0519man.html