By Steve Rizer
What is the most important factor for a winning request for quotation (RFQ)/request for proposal (RFP) submission in construction? Is it the expertise of the team or staff? Does it have something to do with the price or fee being competitive? Or, does the primary component of a successful RFQ/RFP primarily hinge upon relationships? Actually, it is another factor, according to survey results that the Construction Marketing Association (CMA) released earlier this month.
Results of CMA’s survey suggest that the most important factor for a winning RFQ/RFP submission is “content/accuracy.” Thirty percent of respondents consider this the most important factor, followed by the price/fee being competitive (21 percent) and relationships (21 percent), team/staff expertise (8 percent), “other” (8 percent), reputation (6 percent), and “relevant project examples” (6 percent).
The survey sought to identify how architectural, engineering, and construction firms of all types and sizes manage the RFQ/RFP process, the RFQ/RFP trends that impact businesses, and benchmarks for RFQ/RFP success. Company sizes ranged from 1-10 employees (4.5 percent of respondents) to more than 1,000 employees (22 percent). At 49 percent, “commercial construction” was the most common company classification among survey respondents, followed by “architectural/engineering” (27 percent) and “trade contractor/subcontractor” (19 percent).
“Nearly half [49 percent] of the respondents indicated that their approximate win rate for RFQ/RFP submissions is 21-50 percent,” CMA reported. Slightly more than one-quarter (27 percent) of the survey participants informed the association that their win rates fall into the 11-20 percent range. About one in five (19 percent) respondents’ companies win less than 10 percent of the time. Five percent of survey participants reported that more than half of their submissions prove successful in this way.
The ConstructionPro Network member version of this article includes additional results from the survey.
