The RFP Game
Why It's Broken and How Independent Consultants Can Play It Better
I’ve been thinking a lot about RFPs lately. Those three letters can strike both hope and dread in the heart of any independent consultant. A potential big contract! But also... hours of unpaid work with uncertain odds.
Through the RFP process, we’ve allowed ourselves to be commodified.
For this newsletter, I sat down with Ben Childers to talk about the RFP process and why it often fails both organizations and consultants. Ben brings a unique perspective from his time at Engaging Networks, where they responded to countless RFPs, and now as the founder of Stratovation Partners, where he works with nonprofits on growth and expansion.
I first met Ben when he introduced himself to me at Netroots Nation in 2024. Right away, Ben’s warmth and generosity shone through. As I’ve gotten to know Ben better, I’ve also appreciated his openness, gregariousness, and gift of gab. He’s a keystone of the consultant community we’re building, and I am thankful for his contributions to this newsletter and our collective knowledge base.
Plus, Ben is the founder of a new nonprofit! Cool/Scary AI Sh!t is officially a nonprofit dedicated to fostering conversations about AI for the social impact community. Read below for a pullout on what Ben’s been cooking.
The Problem with RFPs
Ben didn’t mince words when I asked him about RFPs: “Through the RFP process, we’ve allowed ourselves to be commodified.”
This resonated with me. I’ve spent weeks crafting detailed responses to RFPs, only to discover later that the organization had already decided who they wanted to work with. The RFP was just a formality.
Ben pointed out that RFPs create several fundamental problems:
1. They’re a governance solution for a partnership decision
“You are essentially trying to create a governance solution for a partnership relationship decision,” Ben explained. “Governance isn’t supposed to dictate your partner relationships. Governance is like guardrails on how we should operate and function.”
When organizations use RFPs to select partners they’ll work closely with for months or years, they’re using the wrong tool for the job. It’s like using a hammer to tighten a screw.
2. They don’t actually increase equity or diversity
Many organizations justify RFPs as a way to ensure they consider a diverse set of vendors. But as Ben noted, “The organizations that can fill out the RFP are the only ones that end up being in your pool.”
Instead of actively seeking out diverse perspectives, organizations post an RFP and hope the right people find it. That’s not how discovery works.
3. They waste enormous resources
“I think a lot of the failings that frustrate me are really around the opportunity costs,” Ben said.
People will throw out, “Well, we’re going to take a year to figure this out. We’re going to spend 250 internal hours on this.” So now you’ve spent, let’s say at a minimum, $50,000 internally in terms of team hours and the opportunity cost of not doing anything for that year, for a $40,000 annual contract.
I’ve seen this firsthand. A client once spent six months on an RFP process to select a CRM vendor. By the time they made a decision, their needs had changed, and they had to start over.
4. They fail to compare costs properly
As Florian Engel of the firm More Onion points out, “RFPs fail to compare costs properly because they are not comparing like with like.” Different solutions presented to meet the same scope will differ vastly, making direct cost comparisons meaningless. You’ll only find out towards the end of the project if your chosen agency will go over budget.
5. They force premature solutions
RFPs force agencies to propose solutions without going through an iterative discovery process with the client. The best solutions often can’t emerge before a project starts. They develop during the project as circumstances change.
6. They create inflexibility
The upfront description of scope leads to less flexibility during the project to react to new challenges or opportunities. RFPs often lead to incremental project delivery which creates high risk because the big picture is only tested at the end.
The Reality Behind RFPs
Blair Enns, an expert on selling creative services, puts it bluntly.
Most of the time when an RFP is issued they already know who they want to work with.
He cites a former global marketing procurement chief from a Fortune 100 company who confessed this truth. Even more telling, a Kellogg School of Management professor advocates that buyers use RFPs to surface alternatives to their desired solutions as a means of enhancing negotiating position, not to select the right solution.
Blair Enns observed: “Most RFPs are designed to surface alternatives to the firm that marketing really wants to work with, empowering procurement in that inevitable moment when they say to the desired firm ‘You’re 20% higher than the other bids.’”
This explains why so many consultants feel the process was rigged from the start. Often, it was.
Why Independent Consultants Get the Short End
RFPs create particular challenges for independent consultants:
1. The paperwork burden
Ben recalled looking at an RFP from the National Park Service: “It was 147 pages of Adobe fillable form fields. I didn’t even know what 95% of it was asking for.”
Large firms have dedicated proposal teams. We have... ourselves. Every hour spent on an RFP is an hour not spent on billable work or finding better opportunities.
2. No room for innovation
“What they don’t allow for is the possibility of general ingenuity and excitement,” Ben explained. “You could be in a space where you have a really interesting, novel solution. But it’s so outside of the structure of the RFP and what they’re going for that you can’t propose it without lowering your chances of winning.”
RFPs force us to check boxes rather than propose creative solutions that might better serve the client’s needs.
3. The commodity trap
When our services are seen as interchangeable with others, we’re forced to compete primarily on price. That’s what RPFs tend to do. “You’re just going to get hit with RFP after RFP because you’ve allowed your services to become commoditized,” Ben noted.
How to Navigate RFPs (When You Can’t Avoid Them)
Despite all these issues, sometimes we can’t avoid RFPs. Ben offered this practical advice:
Calculate your odds
“If you find yourself in that RFP process, if you cannot get the odds to be 50/50, you probably shouldn’t be submitting,” Ben advised. “If you’re showing up for that first Q&A, and there are dozens independent consultants on there... just assume you’re one of 200. Would you put much effort into half a percent odds of landing something?”
I’ve started asking directly: “How many firms are you considering?” If the answer is more than five, I usually pass.
Change the game before you play
“The way you get to 50/50 odds is by performing some activity or set of actions that shifts you into a different light than everybody else who is submitting,” Ben explained.
This might mean meeting with the client before the RFP is issued, asking questions others don’t, or proposing an alternative approach that better meets their needs.
Avoid commoditized service areas
Ben suggested: “Try operating in a domain where there aren’t lots of other people or it’s a new market, because no one’s thinking of it as an RFP.”
When you offer something unique, clients don’t shop around — they come directly to you.
Better Alternatives to RFPs
If you’re in a position to influence how organizations select consultants, Ben recommends:
Raise the threshold
“I would just have a much higher threshold for when we need to do this detail of a process,” Ben said. Most decisions don’t warrant a full RFP process.
Empower decision-makers
Ben drew an interesting parallel: “If you had to pick one organization that probably spent a lot of time thinking about this, it’s probably the military. The model of putting more control of day-to-day operations with your field commanders allows you to be more dynamic and tactical.”
Organizations should trust their leaders to make good decisions without excessive process.
Focus on value, not cost
“If I’m delivering value, what does it matter how much you’re paying me?” Ben asked. “You used to be making 20 million, now you’re making 30 million. We’re all happy, right? Who cares how much I made from that?”
The focus should be on the value created, not just the cost of services.
Final Thoughts on RFPs
RFPs aren’t going away anytime soon. But as independent consultants, we can be more strategic about which ones we respond to and how we position ourselves in the process.
As Blair Enns puts it: “RFPs are not the spawn of satan, they are a puzzle to be solved, a system to be gamed. Truly differentiated and discerning expert firms need not suffer under their yoke, they just need to learn how to play.”
I’d love to hear your experiences with RFPs. Have you found effective ways to navigate them? Or better yet, ways to bypass them entirely? Reply to this email and let me know.
Learn More About Cool/Scary AI Sh!t
What started as a way to do “marketing that your audience will love you for” has morphed into its own nonprofit as it became obvious that it was more than just marketing for Stratovation Partners. So, we partnered with Do Good as our fiscal sponsor to become our own nonprofit that aims to be the TEDx of community-organized events on AI’s promise and pitfalls for mission-driven work. We’ve run three summits so far and have three more planned before the end of the month (DC, SF/Oakland, and Denver). Our roadmap for 2026 includes 10 Community-Hosted Convenings (we’re looking for local organizers) and four Anchor Summits produced by us. Email Ben (ben@stratovation.digital) if you’re interested in learning more.
Until next time,
Sam (and Ben)