An overview of the typical RFP timeline and tips for each step of the journey
While the legal RFP process can vary quite a bit depending on the organization and industry and type and urgency of a particular project, it can still be helpful to think about a typical process as a baseline or jumping-off point. RFPs are widely used by in-house legal teams (some surveys show they are used by over 75% of legal teams) because they collect important decision-making information (from pricing to strategy to expertise and more) that helps teams choose the right provider for a given matter.
The below graphic covers a typical legal RFP process from the initial determination of whether an RFP is right for the matter all the way through making a decision. To some, this timeline may seem too long and to others, it may seem too condensed—the timeline for a matter-level RFP can vary quite a bit depending on the urgency of the matter, among other factors. However, regardless of the timeframe, the general process will consist of the five steps outlined below. Read on for a more detailed look at each individual step, including tips for enhancing legal RFPs at every stage. And for a deeper dive into the RFP process, download our eBooks covering general best practices for legal RFPs and best practice tips tailored to matter-level RFPs.
Week 1 – Consider Your Options: Should You Do a Legal RFP?
When to conduct an RFP is usually the most important question of the process and also the most difficult to answer unequivocally. Many different factors go into the decision and it differs depending on how your company is situated regarding corporate goals, industry trends, financial situation and so on. These are some of the questions you should ask before you decide to conduct an RFP for legal services.
What are your cost expectations?
Many legal departments will set a cost threshold so that matters over a certain amount will always go to RFP. This helps with forecasting conversations and can build more predictability into legal spending. It can also help with adoption internally if there is a clear cut-off where RFPs are required.
How much risk is involved and how large is it in terms of complexity and scope?
Analyzing the business impact of an unfavorable outcome is also important. If the matter has the potential to cause serious damage, you’re more likely to benefit from a close examination of your options. Conversely, if it’s a routine matter, it might make more sense to save your team time and effort and give it to one of your preferred providers. The size or length of the matter also contributes to this calculus—for example, a routine matter that requires an extended period of time may tip the scales in favor of an RFP.
How novel is the project for your team?
Is the matter something your team has little experience with or that your company rarely deals with? An RFP allows you to evaluate providers by their pricing and gain insight into the legal strategy they would take with your case—the additional perspective may be more valuable than the cost savings.
Can you leverage existing relationships?
Maybe the matter is in an area in which you already have a firm you work with that has a proven track record and offers reasonable pricing. In that case, an RFP is likely not a good use of time. It can even be damaging to your relationship if your only goal with the RFP is to drive that provider’s price down. However, in the opposite scenario where you may have several providers that can take the work but you’re unsure which fits best with your company, that is ideal for an RFP.
Week 2 – Best Practices for Drafting RFP Questions
Drafting the right questions for an RFP sets your team up for success. Clear, thoughtful questions elicit clear, thoughtful responses that capture the information you need to make the right decision at the right time. Below are some tips for the RFP drafting process from legal professionals who conduct RFPs regularly.
- Provide detailed context and background: The more the providers understand the reasons for your RFP, the better and more useful their responses will be. Be clear and share specific details. Explain what tasks you’re expecting the provider to perform, the length of the project and desired pricing models (e.g., hourly rates vs. AFAs, discounts, etc.), among others.
- Don’t be afraid to get granular: Setting a clear scope and delineating your expectations will improve the respondents’ ability to price accurately and make responses easier to compare. For example, in a litigation matter, you can include how many interviews and depositions are expected, the density of discovery, whether international discovery is involved, etc.
- If you want something specific, ask for it: What you ask for is just as important as what you exclude. For example, if you are looking for alternative rate structures, be clear about what you want to see. Conversely, be realistic— if you know you probably aren’t interested in a novel structure, don’t ask for it just because you can.
- Focus on decision-making information: Question fatigue is a real thing— start with the goal of only sending out one set of questions. It makes sense to reuse questions across RFPs to save your team time, but you should closely audit these questions for each RFP to ensure you’re asking the right questions. Check for duplicative questions or questions you already have answers to, and make sure you’re asking everything you need to make your decision.
Weeks 3 & 4 – Tips for Conducting Successful Legal RFPs
Communication is important throughout the RFP process. A good legal RFP should provide value for both the in-house team issuing the RFP and the law firms and other providers responding to it. In-house teams can make more informed decisions for their legal projects and providers get an opportunity to showcase their capabilities, win new work and strengthen their client relationships. Embracing partnership is important for both sides of this equation. With this in mind, here are some tips for getting the most out of a legal RFP process while also maintaining solid partnerships.
Answer Questions Consistently
No RFP will be perfect—it's likely providers will have questions about yours. You should encourage questions because they can provide a new perspective on the RFP and give you insight into aspects you may have not considered. You can build a question and answer period into the RFP timeline, or simply respond to questions as they arise (ideally in a timely fashion). In addition, it’s best practice to provide answers to all of the providers responding, regardless of which provider asked. You might even consider hosting a conference call with providers to go over your company, the RFP details and any questions that have come up. You want providers to be as informed as possible and to submit their proposals on a level playing field. Additionally, taking lessons learned from questions into future RFPs makes the process even more valuable.
Examine Your Outside Counsel Guidelines
Requirements to comply with outside counsel guidelines can sometimes be blockers for firms and providers responding to RFPs. Usually, these take the form of broad or difficult-to-predict requirements like refusing to provide advance waivers, indemnity provisions or coverage for affiliates and subsidiaries. For example, if guidelines for a multinational corporation state that representation covers affiliates and subsidiaries, there are many potential variables that are either going to create conflicts or make the management of conflicts unwieldy. If there are guidelines that you may be able to waive for particular matters or situations or, conversely, if there is no wiggle room, be open about that.
Offer Spending Insight (If Possible)
Another aspect that helps in-house teams get more accurate responses to RFPs (and is appreciated by providers) is insight into your planned spending. For a legal RFP for a particular matter, the information provided could be your expected total spend on the portfolio of work and how many fall into routine or complex categories. Of course, this information won’t always be sharable, but what you can provide will help avoid proposals that are out of the range you’re looking for.
Week 5 – How to Evaluate Legal RFP Responses
Evaluation criteria are another aspect of the RFP process that will differ depending on your company’s priorities. Of course, pricing and rates are a big component of the decision for most organizations. However, for some, it may be the most influential metric by a long shot and for others, it may be weighted the same as other considerations. The most important factors that legal departments look to when evaluating legal RFPs include the cost, pricing and fee structure for a matter, the legal strategy recommended and the proposed team that the provider will use to staff the matter. There are two general approaches to evaluating RFP responses: quantitatively and qualitatively. There isn’t a “right” answer and both have their advantages and disadvantages. Often, legal teams will build a process that involves elements of both.
Quantitative Evaluation
Typically, quantitative evaluation involves a weighted scoring matrix where you identify 5-10 (or more depending on your company’s needs) categories and a scoring scale (e.g., 1-5 where 1 means “below expectations” and 5 means “exceeds expectations”). Those categories are then given a weight based on how important they are to your company and each provider is scored on each category. These values can be entered into a spreadsheet or other tool that calculates a final score for each provider. Importantly, they usually aren’t used strictly (e.g., the provider that scores the best on paper automatically wins the RFP), but are the basis for the final decision-making discussions.
Qualitative Evaluation
A qualitative evaluation considers many of the same elements you would when doing a weighted scoring process but aims to avoid the potential bias that can be added by scoring. The potential for bias can come in the comparison during the scoring process: After you’ve ranked providers, you’re naturally going to be comparing the next providers you rank to the others you’ve seen and you may subconsciously (or consciously) adjust your rankings with that in mind. This can skew the results and create a scenario where what seems like an objective score actually favors the providers who were ranked first.
Instead, you can think of a qualitative analysis as taking similar scoring criteria and turning it into a binary decision: Does the provider understand your business needs? Are they in the right range when it comes to cost? Do they have the right expertise for the type of legal work you’d be sending them? Apply the series of questions to each provider and then narrow down your list to only those providers that you answer “yes” to every question.
Week 6 – Providing Feedback After a Legal RFP
Once you've evaluated responses from a legal RFP and made your decision, the real work begins! However, every RFP is a learning experience and it would be a waste to not use the knowledge your in-house team gained from running an RFP to inform and enhance your future processes. This is why following up with providers for after-action feedback is an important part of the process.
Generally, the law firms and other providers you sent the RFP to will be more than happy to debrief the process with you, telling you what worked well and what didn’t. Additionally, it will improve your relationships with providers to explain how you made your decision—what the rubric looked like, how the provider scored well and where they were weaker, any surprising or creative responses you received, etc. This may not always be something you're willing to share, but to the extent you can it will be greatly appreciated by providers. It also enables them to give you better, more tailored responses to future RFPs.
The legal RFP process is daunting—there is no single right way to do it and legal departments have been finetuning their efforts for decades. While timelines and process steps for RFPs may look different than what we outlined above, we hope this overview of a typical legal RFP timeline provides a solid starting point for creating or improving an RFP process in your organization.
If you're interested in exploring the legal RFP process in your organization, talk to our team. Schedule a demo of Priori RFP and see how it streamlines the process from choosing providers to drafting questions to evaluating responses.
