Busting Your RFP Assumptions: Group Exercise and Facilitation Guide

The Challenge

Government agencies often reuse procurement documents year after year without considering changes to their priorities, advancements in the marketplace, or opportunities for new solutions. Tight timelines, complex programs, and limited staff resources can make it difficult for agencies to systematically reassess needs and gather strategic input. As a result, many procurements fail to generate innovative responses or increase competition with new vendors.

The Innovation

To overcome these challenges, the GPL developed an easy and efficient “assumption-busting” exercise through which agencies can gather a small group of internal stakeholders to stress test the initial theories about the planned procurement approach and uncover topics that may need additional analysis or refinement. This technical guide describes an approach for government agencies to rapidly produce constructive feedback from internal stakeholders about ways to strengthen a planned procurement.

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