Many large companies are required to go through a procurement process for goods and services beyond a certain cost threshold. This often includes a Request for Proposal (RFP) that asks potential vendors specific questions and helps to shape their responses.
A well-constructed RFP will get you on the same page with your compliance poster provider; however, many large companies use a “boilerplate” RFP template that isn’t built for a specific vendor industry (like labor law postings). This can yield confusing proposal responses and pricing that can make comparing compliance poster vendors difficult.
Build an RFP based on your specific poster compliance requirements and objectives. A simple outline for a poster compliance RFP might look something like this:
Section 1. Program Overview
Briefly describe your compliance project requirements and ask vendors to provide information about how they would meet those requirements (and other options you may not yet know about). The overview may include subsections for:
- Product. Laminated or non-laminated posters or electronic versions for intranet viewing? Do you need Federal contractor posters? Do you have visually impaired workers? Locations in Canada? Locations in cities with required posters?
- Service. Subscription service for automatically updated posters or a “just-in-time” purchase notification?
- Customization. Do you want to brand your posters or include company policy documents? Do you want custom shipping labels or memos to your company locations with each shipment?
- Ordering and Invoicing. Will you want your locations to order directly from the vendor? Do you need to have customized invoicing or integration with your existing e-procurement system?
- Implementation Timeline. This section should also provide a schedule for the completion of the project and identification of major project milestones.
- Compliance Tracking. If you have a poster auditing process, this would be the right place to mention it. After all, your vendor may have tools to help you make the compliance auditing process faster and easier.
- Delivery/Distribution. Shipping and fulfillment affect vendor pricing, so spell out your specific requirements. Will you want to receive all labor law postings at one central (or several regional) locations for internal distribution, or do you want posters shipped directly to each location?
- Compliance Guarantee. Will you require your vendor to offer a guarantee for posting violations fines?
Section 2. Contract Information
Indicate the length of the contract period for which you are seeking vendor-supplied compliance services. If you are open to discussing other contract period lengths that may result in pricing more favorable to you, state that in this section. Compliance service providers want your business for the long haul and may offer your company price breaks for extended contracts.
Section 3. Directions for Submission
Your RFP should note the due date for responses. Typically companies permit electronic file submission instead of “physical” print proposals. You could also identify your evaluation timeline and notification process so that your vendors know when to expect word from you whether they won your business.
Section 4. Clarifying Questions
If you have a designated time range to answer vendor clarification questions before the proposal due date, state it here, as well as the contact person’s information and the date you expect to provide answers to the vendor questions. Often, all vendor questions and your responses to each are provided to all vendors to keep a “level playing field.”
Section 5. Vendor Information
No two poster vendors are built alike, and the industry has a few “bad apples”. Ask them for:
- Number of years in business.
- Ownership and company structure.
- Better Business Bureau rating/number of complaints.
- Number of employees.
- Specific person at the vendor’s company who will manage your account.
Section 6. Pricing
Develop a matrix or another simple format that gets you pricing for your specific poster compliance requirements that make sense across vendors.
This simple outline will help to keep your compliance poster vendors on track and save you
Good news! You can download an editable RFP for labor law posting compliance ready for you to tweak and send out to potential vendors! It’s part of the free GovDocs Poster Compliance Outsource Kit that can help you make your outsourcing process fast, easy, and effective.
Once your RFP is ready for distribution, which vendors should you send it to?
Click here for a short list of the 5 top labor law poster vendors.