The Written RFP

Why bother?

By Gayle Kern

The days of sealing a trade show service contract with a handshake are gone. As is the time when show specs could be scribbled on a cocktail napkin. Crowded show markets make competitive bidding on service contracts a fiscal responsibility for exposition managers of large and small shows alike.

These economic pressures, coupled with increasingly complex show requirements, have made a more thoughtful and professional approach to contracting show services necessary. Plus, a formal "request for proposal" often eliminates budgetary surprises resulting from misunderstandings or omissions. "If you don't have it spelled out, there could be a lot of confusion about what is or isn't included in the service package," says Dorothy Wilkes, Exhibit Services Manager for NMTBA, The Association For Manufacturing Technology. A concise RFP ensures that show managers and contractors have a mutual understanding on both price and responsibilities.

The RFP also helps you obtain "best value" pricing by letting contractors know your priorities, and the show's revenue potential. "My pricing is based on what we perceive the whole show to be worth," says Craig Smith Sr., Vice President of Andrews-Bartlett Exposition Services. "A 500-booth medical show generates more contractor revenue than a 500-booth educational show, for example. We need to know what the level of activity will be to determine our pricing.

In addition to the tangible cost benefits of a written RFP, show managers admit the document "sets the tone" for doing business. "A well-organized RFP shows the contractor the type of work you will expect," says Sam Lippman, Staff Vice President of Exhibits and Operations for Consumer Electronics Shows.

Details, details
The actual form of an RFP takes as many shapes as there are shows, since each represents needs unique to the individual event. A 50-booth hotel show may adapt a standard bid specification form provided by a service contractor, whereas a larger show may supply bidding contractors with a 30-page document. "A contractor once called to tell me I left something out of my 30-page RFP -- which was a disappointment, since I had spent several weeks preparing it," Lippman relates. "When I asked what was missing, he said 'The kitchen sink.'"

The best requests, according to polled service contractors, are those that indicate the extent to which each available service will be utilized. "It's difficult to prepare an intelligent bid if we don't know what we're bidding on," explains Larry Arnaudet, Vice President of The Freeman Companies. "If the show has a history for using a lot of rental furniture or displays, or if there's a lot of freight, we need to know. Volume is a big determining factor in pricing."

In order to prepare a thorough RFP, you must have a clear idea of not only what you need, but what you expect the service contractor to achieve. "It's a lot like writing a job description before you start interviewing," explains Lippman. This usually involves outlining the areas you would like to address in the RFP. The result would be specific sections such as "show information," "selection criteria," "exhibitor needs," and "show management needs."

This is where the detail work begins. "The idea is to ask the best possible questions, and provide the most detailed show information," says Wilkes. This advance work is crucial to getting a realistic bid. "The more detailed show managers can be, the more the RFP will accurately reflect the actual billing," says Arnaudet.

The easiest way to conduct a thorough needs assessment is to let history be your guide. Last year's invoices will give you vital information on the type, grade and quantities of equipment you used. An itemized bill will also indicate what special services you requested, and what kinds of last minute orders were processed. "The easiest bid specification to create would be to simply take the prices off last year's invoice and say 'Here's what we used last year,'" Smith advises.

Of course, a changing market, new location or special theme may dictate adjustments to the previous year's service needs. Was there a recession in the industry, or is the show experiencing growth in a new market?

What are you adding to the show this year? These factors cause RFPs to continually evolve as exhibitor and show needs change. Your RFP will also expand as you uncover "miscellaneous" charges for such things as excess garbage removal or radio rentals.

The amount of detail in your RFP depends primarily on show size. It may be easier to identify exhibitor and show management needs -- down to the exact number of desks, banners and fork lifts -- at a smaller show. To provide this amount of detail on a large scale would involve unwarranted time and paperwork. "If I listed the contents of every office we use at our show, the RFP would be 200 pages long," explains Wilkes. "I just list approximately how many offices we will be using in each building, and what the contents of a typical office are, so they see the scope of the project."

Although early planning necessitates flexibility on bid requests, it's important to provide at least an estimate on both quantity and quality to get a meaningful bid. "I ask for bids on a specific grade of carpet, for example, and prices for both executive desks and secretarial desks," says Wilkes. "This way I can be sure we get exactly what we need at the right price."

At a minimum, a service contractor needs to know the number of exhibitors, the total square footage and what show management needs will be. According to many contractors, show managers are often guilty of omitting the "out of the ordinary" needs or services that will affect pricing. "If there is a special theme, or a lot of overtime requirements, we need to state that in the RFP," says Lippman. "If we don't, we might have budgetary surprises or service problems later."

Besides property requirements, special manpower needs should also be addressed in the RFP. "On paper, a special reception area may require only 500 feet of drape and some furniture," says Smith. "But if show management also wants a staff person on-site to handle any last minute changes or problems, we need to know about that upfront. Or if there are 45 concurrent sessions and we're expected to have someone to service each one of them, our bid will have to take that into account." Contractors also suggest providing them with a detailed move-in/move-out schedule since timing conflicts with other shows could cause overtime hours.

For multiple-year contracts, prices may also be requested for each year of the contract. "We like to work with a three-year contract, but we don't want the contractor giving low prices one year only to try and recoup their profits in the next two," explains Lippman.

Organization
Typically, an RFP is divided into three sections -- exhibitor needs, show management needs and contractor information. While past billings form the basis for the first two sections, the third area can only be provided by the bidding contractor. Ask yourself, "What do I need to know about this contractor to make the best choice?" Toward this end, Lippman's RFP contains a series of open-ended questions which assess potential service quality. "We ask them to be creative in finding ways to save money or improye communication with exhibitors," he explains.

The contractor information section might request some or all of the following pertinent data: references, personnel experience, show experience, insurance coverage, extent of exhibitor services available -- including freight handling procedures, custom exhibit services and signage. Many show managers also request a description of contractor strengths and management philosophies. "We want to know, for example, if the exhibitor service desk people will be full-time employees or temporaries, and whether the service desk is computerized," explains Lippman.

Finally, the bidding contractor needs to know the 'rules of the game' -- information such as the selection criteria to be used, and show management expectations of the winning bidder. "For example, it's important for us to tell contractors that we expect them to work with us on preshow planning," explains Wilkes. A cover letter will often outline some of the ground rules, such as how and when the winning bid will be selected. But some shows simply start their RFP with a list of the selection criteria. "We can have all the facts and figures, but still not know just what will decide the bid -- is it the service or the decoration ideas?" says Arnaudet.

Clarifying your priorities -- whether exhibitor costs are the principle concern, or decorations are most important -- allows a contractor to price your top-priority needs more competitively. "We list our selection criteria at the beginning of the form, and tell them these are the deciding factors -- in order of importance," says Wilkes. Because price is a priority selection criteria, Wilkes' RFP also asks for package price estimates on a square-foot basis, and outlines what should and shouldn't be included in the price they quote.

Other show services
Because the principle benefit of the bid specification form is cost savings, there is a growing trend for show managers to extend the use of their RFP to all show service contractors. Nancy Berg, Director of Expositions for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, uses different RFPs for everything from photographers to cleaning contractors. "The economic pressure our exhibitors are feeling makes the cost of participating in our show a prime concern to us," Berg states. "That's why we now bid more services, and include more items in the bid specs for comparison shopping." (See Uncovering more than just prices.)

After a year of collecting billing data on which to base their exhibitor service RFPs, Berg has found that the exercise yielded a surprise dividend. "It was astonishing to learn the true value of our business. In many cases it was five to 10 times what we had thought. That gives us a strong bargaining chip going into the deal."

An extensive RFP should accurately reflect actual service contractor billings -- barring those inevitable last minute changes -- and can in some cases actually be used as the service contract itself when both parties sign the completed form. However, most show managers prefer a formal contract, replete with binding legal jargon, referring to the RFP for contract specifics. Either way, the use of an RFP will go a long way toward ensuring economically sound contractor selections. According to Berg, "We are in an industry where competition is fierce, so we must ensure we are getting the best price for both our exhibitors and the association. The RFP helps us do that."