Are you looking for a new agency and a new Web CMS? Save time by using our tried and tested sample request-for-proposal template.
Over the years we’ve been involved in many vendor evaluations, where a customer has changed their Web CMS. There are many important details you should consider and a number of different ways to do it.
As part of our on-going work on best practices for selecting a CMS and our efforts to share more, we’ve now released our sample RFP template free of charge.
A few notes before you get started:
- the template is 5 pages. Try to keep your final version to less than 15 pages. Remember: The longer you make it, the longer the proposals will be. For more, see Why are RFPs always so long?
- it says confidential on top of each page. This is meant as a reminder to vendors not to forward your RFP to others without your permission.
- the RFP should ideally use the term “CMS” sparingly for two reasons: 1) to open up the playing field to the large vendors, eg. IBM and Microsoft, which tends to stay clear of the term and 2) the CMS term is loaded with so many different definitions and expectations that it is actually better to avoid it
Here it is:
- Template: Request for Proposal: New Vendor and Platform (Microsoft Word, 65 Kb)
If you have any questions or ideas for improvements, please do get in touch
Learn more
We’ve written extensively about our lessons learned when it comes to CMS selection on this blog. You can also join one of the J. Boye Groups for web & intranet professionals and meet with others who have gone through vendor selection and implementation projects.
