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306 Memo


To:                  English 306 Students

From:             Rick Van Noy, CIO

Date:               September, 2016

Subject:          Request for Proposals

This request for proposal (RFP) explains the general requirements, contents and form of your individual research proposal.  Check the schedule for due date.

General Requirements

The purpose of your proposal is to request approval to do more work on a report topic. Your intended report topic must satisfy the following requirements:

Contents

If an internal, problem-solving proposal, it must contain the following information:

  1. Project Summary: In this brief section, summarize the need for the study, the proposed plan, the estimated cost, and your qualifications. This short proposal overview resembles an abstract; like the abstract, it can often determine whether the reader will commit to reading your proposed ideas.

  2. Introduction: Include here a clear, complete explanation of the problem your report will attempt to solve. Convince your audience that a significant problem does exist, that you understand it well enough to lead a group of peers in solving it, and that your identified primary reader genuinely wants your results and will assist you, if necessary, in gathering information. In addition, remember to include background information, briefly mention your sources, explain your report’s scope, and provide a proposal overview. If necessary, define key terms here.

  3. Proposed Procedure/Methods: In this section, demonstrate that you have established a detailed plan for examining the problem explained above. The more thorough the plan, the more prepared and qualified you will seem to do the work required. Divide your plan into a series of phases, each with its own key purpose, and explain how you will gather and analyze data to fulfill the distinct purpose of each phase. Describe sources of information, primary and secondary, you will used to accomplish your goals.

  4. Schedule: Provide in this section a detailed schedule, indicating specific dates for completing each phase described above. Often a schedule is most effective when communicated visually—using a Gantt chart or a time line, for instance. Use the course schedule provided to provide key dates (for example, for when the progress report and outline are due). Divide up before, after, and in between tasks accordingly.

  5. Qualifications: Here you should briefly describe your qualifications, highlighting why you are especially well suited to work on, and serve as project manager for, this project.

  6. Budget: In this section should include an itemized breakdown of estimated material costs and time costs. Clearly, you will not charge for your services, but please estimate how many hours you will need to complete each phase (described above) of the report, and calculate what you would charge—you will need to determine your own hourly wage—to perform this work if the report were not a course project.

  7. Conclusion: In this final section, highlight all key reasons for selecting your proposal, including how it will benefit its intended primary reader(s). End with a formal request for approval to pursue the project that you have just outlined.

    If you write an external, sales proposal, your headings and organization may need to be modified slightly.

Form

For an internal, informal proposal, your document should meet the following form, format, and style requirements:

For an external, sales proposal, write in the form of a letter.

Conclusion

If you have any questions regarding this RFP, please ask them in class so everyone may benefit from their answers.