正解An RFP (Request For Proposal) is a document that the ordering party of a system creates and presents to the vendors that are candidates for the procurement, in order to say, in effect, “This is the kind of system we want, so please submit a proposal.” Its contents include the purpose of introducing the system, the target operations, the required functions and performance and other requirements, the budget, the delivery date, the constraints, and the deadline and format for submitting proposals; its greatest aim is to convey the requirements accurately and without omission. Only when the requirements are conveyed correctly can each vendor write concrete implementation methods and estimates, and only then can the ordering party compare the proposals of several companies on the same basis and select the best one. Choice ア states “A document created to accurately convey the requirements needed for the reservation operations, in order to receive the optimal reservation system proposal for Company P,” and it captures both essentials of an RFP: (1) it is a document issued in order to receive (obtain) proposals, and (2) it is a document by which the ordering party accurately conveys its own requirements. Therefore ア is appropriate. Also keep in mind the procurement flow: gather information about the market and vendors with an RFI (Request For Information) → request proposals with an RFP → receive proposals from the vendors → evaluate and select → conclude the contract. The RFP is a document that the ordering party issues “before” the proposals are received.
×Incorrectイ
There are two errors. First, what an RFP asks for proposals about is the system to be procured (here, the reservation system), not the “reservation business flow” itself. How the business flow should be designed is something the ordering party decides for itself as a business requirement and writes into the RFP as a precondition to hand over to the vendors. Second, “describes the minimum requirements needed” is decisively wrong. If the requirements written in an RFP are insufficient, each vendor imagines its own premises and proposes on that basis, so neither the proposal contents nor the estimated amounts can be compared, and after the contract is signed it becomes a cause of extra costs and delivery delays through claims such as “we were never told about that requirement.” The principle of an RFP is to write the necessary requirements accurately and without omission.
×Incorrectウ
“Used to elicit proposals for systems that were not requested, such as visitor registration” is wrong. On the contrary, an RFP is a document for clearly drawing the boundary of the procurement scope (what the vendors are being asked to propose on); it is not a tool for making them propose functions that were never requested. If extra proposals are invited while the scope remains vague, the proposals cover different ranges and cannot be compared, the estimated amounts swell, and the scope of the project becomes unclear. If you are at the stage of wanting to gather broad information and technology trends from vendors, the correct approach is to use an RFI (Request For Information) before the RFP.
×Incorrectエ
This describes not the RFP but the evaluation and selection step that comes “after” the proposals have been received. Moreover, that review is carried out by the ordering party itself according to selection criteria decided in advance (how well the functions are met, price, delivery date, track record, support structure, and so on); it is not a document that asks an outside party to conduct a review. Since the RFP is a document the ordering party issues before the proposals arrive, the order in time is reversed as well. This choice is easy to pick if you confuse the “request for proposal (RFP)” with the “proposal submitted by a vendor”, so be clear about which document is created by whom.
ここがポイント
RFP (Request For Proposal) = a document that the ordering party presents to candidate vendors, accurately conveying the purpose of introducing the system, the necessary requirements, the budget, the delivery date, the constraints, and so on, and asking them to submit proposals. Conveying the requirements accurately and without omission is what makes it possible to compare each company’s proposal under the same conditions and to select the proposal that is best for your own company.
The procurement flow is RFI (Request For Information: gathering information) → RFP (Request For Proposal: requesting proposals) → proposals from the vendors → evaluation and selection → contract. The RFP is a document that the ordering party issues before receiving the proposals; it is not a document for reviewing the proposals that have been received (be careful not to confuse the request for proposal with the proposal itself).