Request For Proposals Research Articles

Demystifying Ambiguous Words in Request for Proposals of Information Systems in Japan

Disagreements in interpreting words in software requirements specifications (SRSs) can lead to project failure. Various approaches to identifying and preventing ambiguous words in SRSs have been proposed. Yet, it is unclear which ambiguous words are used in the actual SRSs and to what extent they need to be modified. This paper quantitatively analyzes existing SRSs to clarify (1) how many ambiguous words are included in SRSs and (2) how many of these words require correction. This paper targets the Request for Proposals (RFPs), which describe the initial requirements of 40 systems of local governments, libraries, universities, and hospitals in Japan. Ten ambiguous Japanese words were analyzed. The result shows that “juubun” (sufficient) appeared most frequently, and 42% required correction when this word was used. The result also indicates that the number of ambiguous words varied greatly among the RFPs and that larger RFPs did not necessarily contain more ambiguous words.

Crafting an Inclusive Procurement Policy: Strategies for Embracing Supplier Diversity

Purpose: In today's global marketplace, diversity and inclusion have transitioned from mere buzzwords to indispensable elements of successful business practices. A robust procurement policy that embraces supplier diversity not only cultivates a more inclusive supply chain but also drives economic growth and social progress. Methodology: This article examines key strategies for integrating supplier diversity into procurement policies, drawing insights from existing literature and best practices in the field of supply chain management and diversity initiatives. Findings: The article outlines strategies such as incorporating diverse suppliers into Requests for Proposals (RFPs), setting thresholds for diverse supplier consideration, addressing risk acceptance and deviations, and emphasizing genuine efforts over token gestures. It highlights the importance of striking a balance between excellence and diversity while prioritizing active engagement with diverse suppliers. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice, and Policy: By synthesizing insights from academic research and real-world case studies, this article offers actionable recommendations for organizations seeking to enhance their supplier diversity initiatives. It underscores the necessity of genuine efforts in supplier diversity initiatives, advocating for the integration of diversity considerations into procurement policies to foster economic empowerment, social equity, and long-term sustainability in supply chain operations.

Integrating Healthy Nutrition Standards and Practices Into Food Service Contracting in a Large US County Government.

Although considered a promising model of practice, integrating healthy nutrition standards and practices into a large county government's contracting process with food vendors has not been widely described in empirical literature. We conducted an implementation evaluation project to address this gap. County of Los Angeles food vendors provide food or meals annually to more than 100,000 employees and millions of clients and visitors. In 2011, the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors adopted a policy to integrate healthy nutrition standards and practices into its requests for proposals (RFPs) and contracting process with food vendors. The policy required all contracts awarded to adhere to these new standards. In 2011, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) began reviewing RFPs for food services for county departments that procured, served, or sold food. From 2011 through 2021, DPH applied a 4-pronged formative-evaluative approach to help county departments implement the Board of Supervisors policy and ensure that nutritional requirements were appropriately integrated into all RFPs for new and renewing contracts with food vendors. We focused our evaluation on understanding the process and tracking the progress of this policy intervention. Our evaluation included 13 key informant interviews, a 2-part survey, reviews of contract data, and synthesis of lessons learned. Based on reviews and subsequent actions taken on more than 20 RFPs, DPH successfully assisted 7 county departments to incorporate healthy nutrition standards and practices into their food vendor contracts. Implementation of the food policy encountered several challenges, including staffing and training constraints and a limited infrastructure. An iterative approach to program improvement facilitated the process. Although the model for integrating healthy nutrition standards and practices into a government contracting process is promising, more work is needed to make it less resource-intensive and to increase user buy-in.

An industrial experience report on model-based, AI-enabled proposal development for an RFP/RFI

Large organizations respond to huge volumes of Request for Proposals (RFP)/ Request for Information (RFI) every year. The process of developing a proposal for an RFP/ RFI is completely manual and time-, effort-, and intellect-intensive. While Model Driven Engineering (MDE) approaches have been popular in downstream Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) phases to transform the design models into code, there has been a gap in leveraging model-based techniques in document-centric phases of proposal development, requirements analysis, etc. This paper presents an automated proposal development approach for a client-supplied RFP/RFI using a combination of model-based and AI-enabled techniques and describes the case study of its successful deployment to hundreds of presales users across multiple geographies. We explain the Proposal system and report on the experience of deploying the system in the industry, bring out its efficacy, and user feedback, and discuss the lessons learnt.

Kansas CMHCs see grant opportunity as they await managed care RFP

A nonprofit health plan with contracts in two Midwestern states is expanding its reach into Kansas, announcing a grant initiative to help community mental health centers (CMHCs) enhance their initiatives in value‐based health care. The funding availability comes at a time when Kansas mental health providers are preparing for the state's unveiling of a new request for proposals (RFP) for Medicaid managed care services under the KanCare program.

Aligning expectations and perceptions of elevator maintenance stakeholders: an application of expectation confirmation theory

ABSTRACT A seamless performance of elevators is necessary for building owners (BOs) as it promotes end-user satisfaction, thus, they form some expectations from elevator maintenance contractors (EMCs). Coherence between the expectations of BOs and perceptions of EMCs promotes BOs satisfaction and facilitates the end users. This research aims to compare the opinions of the BOs with EMCs. Using the premise of expectation confirmation theory, the expectations of BOs from EMCs were determined by conducting a content analysis of ‘Requests for proposals (RFPs) ’. Afterwards, statistical analysis was conducted on questionnaire survey to determine the perceptions of EMCs regarding these expectations. Main expectations of BO include prompt response to callbacks, adequate equipment performance, effective execution of assigned duties and responsibilities, and attaining the specified performance thresholds. Questionnaire analysis revealed that apart from callbacks, the remaining three expectations were wholeheartedly received by the EMCs. Besides, several duties signifying these expectations were not considered essential by the EMCs. This research contributes to the literature by identifying the expectations of BOs and the perceptions regarding the same from EMCs perspective. Hence, BOs can emphasize more on those expectations in the RFPs and EMCs can align their maintenance strategies with BOs expectations.

Report of the President of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study

Report of the President of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study

Decision-Making in the Selection, Procurement, and Implementation of Alma/Primo

This case study examines the decision-making process of library leaders and administrators in the selection, procurement, and implementation of Ex Libris Alma/Primo as their library services platform (LSP). The authors conducted a survey of libraries and library consortia in Canada and the United States who have implemented or plan to implement Alma. The results show that most libraries use both request for information (RFI) and request for proposal (RFP) in their system selection process, but the vendor-offered training is insufficient for effective operation. One-third of the libraries surveyed are considering switching to open-source options for their next automation system. These insights can benefit libraries and library consortia in improving their technological readiness and decision-making processes.

Innovating the RFP process: Forward-looking logistics sourcing strategies

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, transportation professionals have been challenged with managing intricate supply chains. Market volatility has become a major pain point, with unforeseen costs and capacity constraints creating transportation network disruption. This challenge provides the opportunity to re-evaluate existing procurement processes and carrier partnerships. While the typical time to negotiate contracts is during the request for proposal (RFP), the annual event remains costly and inefficient, often administered via e-mail and Excel spreadsheets. With no sign of a slowdown in the demand for goods, there is increased pressure on shippers and carriers to transform their transportation practices to become more efficient. Breakthrough analysed their ecosystem of over 21 million annual shipments and over US$22bn in annual transportation spend to quantify the value of selecting carriers that match network priorities and growing volume with the optimal carriers. Breakthrough found that selecting carriers that match network priorities can result in 14 per cent cost savings. Growing volume with carriers throughout rate cycles can also add additional cost savings of 2.75 per cent or US$0.08 per mile lower than other carriers. Data-driven logistics sourcing strategies that allow transportation professionals to broaden their carrier networks and secure reliable capacity are discussed in this paper.

Development of an Air Electric Compressor for a No-Bleed Environmental Control System of an Advanced Regional Aircraft

BACKGROUND: Aircraft designers strive to increase the fuel efficiency of aircrafts, including increasing the efficiency of aviation environmental control systems (ECS) by introducing an autonomous source of compressed air with an electric drive as part of aircraft.
 AIM: The present paper aimed to consideration of the results of research work (RD) of the technologies demonstrator for the electric compressor of the aircraft electric ECS and estimation of the performance and compliance of the simulated and experimental characteristics of this electric compressor.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS: Comparison of the simulated and experimental characteristics of the electric compressor of the electric ECS of the aircraft was carried out by confirming the compliance of the operating parameters of the technologies demonstrator for the electric compressor with those specified in the request for proposals (RFP), and by comparing the simulated and experimental values of the compression ratio of the compressor stage, isentropic coefficient of performance (COP), obtained during RD study.
 RESULTS: Information about the technical characteristics and design of the electric compressor is given and discussed. A comparative analysis of the presented simulated and experimental characteristics of the electric compressor has been carried out.
 CONCLUSIONS: Conclusions are drawn on the compliance of the compressor characteristics with the characteristics specified in the RFP; on the achieved level of readiness of the technology of the electric compressor for the electric ECS of the aircraft, on the need for experimental design work on the electric compressor, taking account of external influencing factors typical for an application as part of aviation equipment.

Promoting sustainable responses to the US opioid epidemic with community-academic partnerships: qualitative outcomes from a statewide program

BackgroundDrug overdose deaths in the United States have continued to increase at an alarming rate. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) distributed more than $7 billion between January 2016 and June 2020 to address the drug overdose crisis. The funds support evidence-based responses, including medications for opioid use disorder, and other prevention, treatment and recovery activities. Although the State Opioid Response (SOR) grants finance much-needed community level interventions, many of the services they support may not be sustainable, without ongoing assessment, evaluation and planning for continuation.MethodsThis paper describes a statewide effort to support local entities through SAMHSA’s SOR grants in Virginia. Community agencies across the state participated in detailed needs assessment exercises with VHEOC investigators, and developed requests for proposals (RFPs) to sustain their SOR programs. The RFPs were then distributed to prospective academic partners at the five VHEOC universities, based on the required subject matter expertise identified in the RFP. All responsive proposals were then provided to the local agencies who selected the proposal most likely to meet their needs. VHEOC investigators also conducted an inductive, three-phase content analysis approach to examine the RFPs submitted to the VHEOC to identify nominal categories of support requested of the VHEOC investigators.ResultsVHEOC Investigators received and coded 27 RFPs from ten community agencies representing four of five regions of the state. We identified six nominal categories of academic assistance with high inter-coder agreement. The six categories of support requested of the academic partners were program development and support, literature review and best practices, outreach and education, data analysis and interpretation, program evaluation, and grant writing assistance. Several RFPs requested up to three categories of support in a single project.ConclusionsOur analysis of the requests received by the consortium identified several categories of academic support for SOR-grantees addressing the drug overdose crisis. The most common requests related to development and maintenance of supportive collaborations, which existing research has demonstrated is necessary for the long-term sustainability of SOR-funded services. In this way, the academic partners reinforced sustainable SOR-funded programs. As the state opioid response program is implemented nationally, we hope that other states will consider similar models in response to the opioid crisis.

California will ask Medi‐Cal plans to narrow health disparities

California health officials have released a request for proposals (RFP) outlining what will be expected of commercial health plans in the transformation of Medi‐Cal managed care to a more person‐centered system emphasizing prevention and social determinants of health. The RFP is designed to help in executing the broad goals of the ambitious California Advancing and Innovating Medi‐Cal (CalAIM) initiative, which for substance use services authorizes new efforts in areas such as peer support and contingency management.

Collaboration in procurement and supply chain management: Cooperative strategies for ensuring continuity of supply

Supply chain management and procurement processes are a crucial element within every organisation, both public and private. Behind every company or government success story, there is generally a supply chain process that helped deliver that success. Whether delivering the goods to keep operations running smoothly, ordering equipment and materials for a new project or working with suppliers in finding solutions to address unique problems, procurement is at the centre of most organisational plans and processes. Supply chain management took centre stage during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, as many jurisdictions across the United States vied for the same products over a very short timeframe. Companies which produced such products were caught off-guard by the sudden demand and any stockpiled resources were quickly consumed. The resulting effects were hoarding behaviours by purchasers who did not know when supplies would be restocked, or territorial disputes as the federal government or states often pulled rank over smaller entities by confiscating or rerouting incoming deliveries to serve their own priorities. During the past few years, many governments and companies built their supply chain on ‘next day’ delivery from suppliers, minimised their warehousing operations, or relied heavily on bids and request for proposal (RFP) processes that often take months to complete. The new challenges presented throughout the pandemic required updated supply chain strategies and contracting methodologies to serve the ever-changing operational and safety demands of their customers.

Impression Management in Public Sector Audit Proposals: Language and Fees

We adapt impression management theory to investigate: (1) whether governmental audit proposals include the values of ‘professionalism’ (i.e. independence and competence) and ‘commercialism’ (i.e. client cooperation, auditor trustworthiness, client satisfaction, commercial interests), and, (2) the relations of audit proposal language and contextual influences on proposed audit fees and proposal success. The results suggest that proposals accord with audit firms’ market strategies. Compared to other firms, proposals from small, non-specialist firms use more commercial language, while proposals from governmental specialist firms use more competence language. The results also suggest that the market for US public sector audits includes many low cost, low quality firms; specifically, the modal proposal (41.2%) includes high use of commercialism language and low proposed audit fees. We also find that audit firms propose higher audit fees in US states with a weak governmental internal auditing office, and, that greater use of commercial language correlates with higher rates of proposal success, but only in US states with weak governmental internal auditing functions. The finding of inter-relations between proposal language, the strength of governmental internal audit functions, and proposed fees suggests the value of considering multiple influences on the quality of the public sector financial controls. Acronyms : American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) ; Certified Public Accountant (CPA) ; Corporate social responsibility (CSR) ; European Court of Auditors (ECA) ; European Union (EU) ; fixed effects (FE) ; General Accountability Office (GAO) ; Governmental Financial Officers Association (GFOA) ; Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) ; Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) ; International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) ; International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) ; International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) ; National Association of State Auditors ; Comptrollers and Treasurers (NASACT) ; not-for-profit (NFP) entities ; natural language processing (NLP) ; Office of Management and Budget (OMB) ; Request for proposal (RFP) ; Two-stage least squares (2SLS) ; United Kingdom (UK) ; United States (US)

Assigning a Value to Volunteering in Requests for Proposals

The economic value of volunteering is an increasingly important part of volunteering management. It has become part of public policies. Some requests for proposals (RFP) enable nonprofits to include the value of volunteer time in compulsory co-financing. These RFP include the European Economic Area (EEA) Grants and Norway Grants. This article addresses the relationship in the value of volunteering, also called in-kind volunteering contributions. The research includes two case studies of finances from EEA and Norway Grants in the Czech Republic: the Czech NGO Programme, responsible for allocating grants between 2009 and 2014, and the Active Citizens Fund, responsible for allocating grants between 2014 and 2021. They share elements through the EEA and Norway Grants rules. However, they use different types of specialist replacement wages. The article summarizes the arguments for including in-kind volunteering contributions. It presents the possible values of these contributions in the selected cases, including the relationship between the type of volunteering and the number of hours necessary to achieve these values. The article defines the theoretical basis for calculating the value of in-kind volunteer contributions and illustrates this with real examples of allocations from EEA and Norway Grants.

Agile Design Hardwired into 150-year-old Food Company

Craig Slavtcheff is executive vice president, chief technology and innovation officer of Campbell Soup Company.In the late 1700s, Napoleon created what we now call a request for proposal (RFP) for ...

An innovative intermodal solution to urban residential waste disposal in large cities: a marine highway solution to a growing environmental problem

Large cities face growing challenges of waste disposal due to the increase in urban population, economic development, and goods consumption, resulting in congestion, noise, and air pollution. The traditional trucking of waste material from collection points to landfills or garbage incinerators is no longer viable due to shrinking landfill capacity, stringent environmental regulations, and scarcity of land in urban areas. Recognizing all of these, New York City (NYC) initiated the first marine highway request for proposals (RFP) in the USA calling for a new waterborne proposal to export its residential waste material out of the region. An energy-from-waste (EFW) leading firm, seizing the opportunity, contracted us to develop an intermodal system. We developed a multimodal transportation system for the EFW firm and NYC that could eventually become a model and a solution to the mounting problems of urban waste management around the world for cities on the waterfront. Our approach consists in shipping the waste material to a power plant out of the city that generates energy from waste, with guarantees of state-of-the-art pollution control technologies. This poses transport challenges. We used a supply chain approach to illustrate the viability of a large-scale container intermodal system (truck–water–rail) via waterways and marine terminal facilities. This approach is built on containerized equipment, watertight container compartments, and intramodality. We used statistical analysis of daily waste volumes applied to standard weekly waste amounts and holiday peaks to determine the demand for tugs, barges, railcars, and containers, including a degree of redundancy. This paper presents the analysis results, from modeling and simulating to the system implementation that was used by the EFW firm to become the first waste disposal waterborne operating system in NYC and a model to emulate elsewhere. The operation, now fully implemented, reduces the number of truck miles driven, wear-and-tear on the roads and trucks, fuel consumption, congestion, noise, and pollution. The paper demonstrates that intermodal solutions are viable for large-scale waste disposal in major urban areas, utilizing existing waterways. A marine highway system is critical to solve goods movement problems and the growing challenges for urban freight movement and waste disposal.

Assessing the Degree of Sustainability Integration in Canadian Public Sector Procurement

The purpose of this study was to identify the current state of sustainability integration into Canadian government procurement and make recommendations on how to deepen current integration in order to accelerate the advancement of existing sustainability goals. We reviewed 50 publicly available Requests for Proposals (RFPs) issued between 2016 and 2019 and evaluated the significance of sustainability integration and the expanse of considerations using two measurement schemes. Our analysis suggests that sustainability integration into RFPs is currently superficial with limited integration into the evaluation process. We also found that the integration of sustainability was narrow with significant gaps in the breadth of environmental and social impact areas that were considered. As such, we provide insights and recommendations that will enable governments to accelerate the advancement of sustainability through the use of procurement.

Telecommunications health and safety: Fighter pilot disorientation and pulsed microwave radiation from radars

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced in August 2020 a bidding for submission of innovative research proposals for concepts that would lead to better understanding of the Impact of Cockpit Electro-Magnetics on Aircrew Neurology (ICEMAN: Iceman also happens to be the call sign of a fighter pilot portrayed in the movie Top Gun). In its request for proposal (RFP) [1], DARPA stated that Current cockpits are flooded with radiofrequency (RF) noise from on-board emissions, communication links, and navigation electronics, including strong electromagnetics (EM) fields from audio headsets and helmet tracking technologies.

Development of Novel Radiosensitizers through the National Cancer Institute's Small Business Innovation Research Program.

While radiosensitizing chemotherapy has improved survival for several types of cancer, current chemoradiation regimens remain ineffective for many patients and have substantial toxicities. Given the strong need for the development of novel radiosensitizers to further improve patient outcomes, the Radiation Research Program (RRP) and the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) through the NCI SBIR Development Center's contracts pathway. We sought to determine the research outcomes for the NCI SBIR Development Center's funded proposals for the development of radiosensitizers. We identified SBIR-funded contracts and grants for the development of radiosensitizers from 2009 to 2018 using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Reporter database. Research outcomes of the NCI SBIR Development Center-funded proposals were determined using a comprehensive internet search. We searched PubMed, clinicaltrials.gov, company websites and google.com for research articles, abstracts and posters, clinical trials, press releases and other news, related to progress in the development of funded radiosensitizers. To protect the intellectual property of the investigators and small businesses, all information obtained and reported is publicly available. The SBIR Program has funded four contracts and 11 grants for the development of novel radiosensitizers. Two companies have received phase IIb bridge awards. Overall, 50% of companies (6/12) have successfully advanced their investigational drugs into prospective clinical trials in cancer patients, and all but one company are investigating their drug in combination with radiation therapy as described in the NCI SBIR Development Center proposal. To date, only one company has initiated a randomized trial of standard of care with or without their radiosensitizer. In conclusion, the NCI SBIR Development Center has funded the development of novel radiosensitizers leading to clinical trials of novel drugs in combination with radiation therapy. Continued follow-up is needed to determine if any of these novel radiosensitizers produce improved tumor control and/or overall survival.