In today’s episode of “IT in Plain English,” Tammy Ven Dange answers, “When should you use a RFT process to procure IT equipment or services?”
First of all, what is an RFT?
It stands for Request for Tender. You might also hear about different versions of these, such as Request for Quotes (RFQ) or Request for Proposals (RFP). Regardless of what it’s called, it’s basically a document that tells vendors or service providers what your requirements are so that they can submit a proposal.
The RFT process is very popular in large organisations when they’re buying IT services or products, and many Not for Profits use them too.
I used to be someone who wrote RFTs for a living. And I’ve also been the vendor who responded to them. And I can tell you that from those experiences, I’m not a fan of the RFT process for Not for Profits.
They’re incredibly time-consuming and costly to write, and it takes forever before the organisation has indicative prices to know if they can even afford the solution.
So, when should you use a RFT process for IT purchases? I recommend only using them for commodity services and equipment that can be easily compared to each other – something like computers or leases on printers.
Anything else that involves some level of configuration or customisation can be better procured through a different process that allows you to get to the “how much will it cost” question sooner.
If you want more information about these alternative processes, just let me know.
So, there you have it in plain English.
If you have an IT question you want answered, feel free to connect with me here on my website or on LinkedIn and send me a message. I just might answer it on this show.
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Tammy Ven Dange is a former charity CEO, Not for Profit Board Member and IT Executive. Today she helps NFPs with strategic IT and data decisions.