Summary sheets on government RFPs go a long way, researchers find

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers and the nonprofit U.S. Digital Response on Thursday published new research on how technology vendors evaluate solicitations from government agencies. The findings confirmed what many in government have long known: Their requests for proposals are lengthy, difficult to read and often bury the most important details deep in the document.

But NASCIO and USDR, which provides governments and nonprofits pro-bono assistance in improving their processes, also tested a simple solution to long RFPs, which was to include a summary sheet at the front. Over the course of two months of surveying NASCIO’s membership and conducting one-on-one interviews with eight information technology vendors, USDR received nothing but positive reviews of the summary sheets idea.

The group asked vendors to evaluate various RFP documents on a 1-5 scale, only including summary sheets with some of them. The average score on RFPs without summary sheets was 3.4, compared to a perfect 5.0 score on those with summary sheets.

According to the report, which includes a summary sheet template that agencies can use, one vendor said the idea was like “a dream.” Another called it “unusual” to be able to find all of the pertinent information in just a few minutes.

The survey found that agencies only “sometimes” or “rarely” include cover letters or introductions that explain what’s inside their RFPs. Some vendors reported reviewing as many as 10,000 RFPs annually, in a majority of cases discovering upon inspection of the document that it’s irrelevant to their businesses.

“When asked what the biggest pain points are in the contracting process, there were a wide

variety of problems raised, with a strong theme of poor communication from agencies,” the report reads.

Opaque and confusing procurement documents have long challenged vendors, particularly smaller vendors with less expertise and resources for navigating the process, and government agencies alike. Several states have in recent years attempted to reform their procurement cycles in various ways, including steering toward “problem-based” procurements that define challenges and allow vendors to pitch potential solutions, rather than heavily prescribing requirements that in many cases only a small handful of the largest companies would be able to meet.

Some smaller vendors said they turn to AI tools like ChatGPT to sift through the dense procurement documents. And several state chief information officers have in recent months told StateScoop they want to use generative AI to streamline their confusing procurement processes and translate the difficult phrasing that permeates the documents.

The report’s recommendations are simple: include a summary sheet that uses plain language, a large font and links to other parts of the solicitation. 

“Making significant changes to the RFP process isn’t easy and can be time consuming,” Meredith Ward, NASCIO’s deputy executive director, told StateScoop in an emailed statement. “Rather, we hope that making small changes—like a cover sheet—can have a big impact.”

The report’s conclude by saying there’s much more procurement research to be done, including testing whether summary sheets actually drive any positive outcomes for government agencies and their vendors.