Joy Of Code - Web Design Training and Consulting
Joy Gems Newsletter

Practical Advice On How To Find And Hire
That Perfect Web Designer

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By Bud Kraus
bud@joyofcode.com
Joy Of Code
Creator And Instructor

v5 i19
Originally Published: December 24, 2009

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Part 3 of 3: Reviewing the proposals, vetting your vendor-candidates, and awarding the contract.

The rubber has finally met the road. The ball is in your court. Choose any cliche. It doesn't matter. You have received bids from competing vendor-candidates based upon your Request For Proposal (RFP). Time for you to decide which one will be awarded the project to design and produce your web site.

If you've been following along in our search for a web designer in the past 2 issues, you know I've covered:

The finish line is in sight. Proposals have been submitted to you as part of the competitive bidding process. As you review the submissions, ask yourself these questions about each design studio...

  1. Did the studio submit their proposal on time?
  2. Was the submission complete and in the manner you requested? Hopefully you asked for their contract as part of your RFP and it has been sent to you.
  3. Did the studio show interest in your project? Have you had fruitful email exchanges and/or phone conversations (maybe even a meeting if necessary/possible)?

If "YES" is not the answer to the above questions for a particular vendor, then be careful when considering it for your final choice. If they can’t – or won’t – follow the directions set forth in your competitive bidding process, things are probably not going to get better going forward.

At this point you should be getting a sense of,- with one or two competitors - "Hey, I could do a deal with this company and I think we’d work well together .". However, it's too early in the process to tip your hand and let anyone know what you are thinking.

Reviewing The Proposals

Read over all the materials the candidates have sent you. Look carefully at the portfolio each candidate-vendor has asked you to see . Examining carefully the contract they have sent you. If you've written a good RFP you will be able to compare proposals on an apples-for-apples basis. That's one of the reason you wrote an RFP in the first place.

Ask questions.

You are doing your due diligence. No time for you to mess things up.

The quality of the submitted proposals will tell you a lot about the design company. Did they just go through the motions and give you a ballpark estimate? Or did they spend time thinking through your project and how they are going to do it? Did their submission include a few gems you didn't think of? Those are some of the things you are looking for.

In your evaluation you'll also want to assess the process each competitor will use to make your site. This is important to determine if the company has a professional process or if they are rank amateurs. (Just by reviewing a contract, I can usually tell if a studio can deliver the goods or if they have a muddled production process.)

More Fun

What if more than one bid is outstanding? That is exactly what you want, isn't it? A few thoroughbreds fighting it out to the finish line.

How skilled are you at negotiating? Even if you are in control, you still need to know how to maneuver to get what you want - and more. (This is the part of the process I love the best.) The challenge is to drive down your cost and get more than you ever expected. But don't drive this deal into the ground. You don't want to beat up the winning company so much that they will regret doing business with you.

It's a fine balance between driving a hard bargain and knowing when to pull back.

What If There Is Only One Bid?

If you get only one bid, does this mean you can’t negotiate to get a better deal? Of course not. You are still in control of the process. The key is to not tell the bidder that they're the only one in the game until you have to.

Contract Review

Whether you need to call your attorney to review the contracts you've received from the bidding companies depends on you and your project.

It would be impossible to go over every element to consider, but here are a few that come off the top of my head:

  1. Ownership
    Who owns the intellectual property that will be created for your project?
  2. Extra Costs
    What costs are you going to be responsible for in addition to a fixed fee?
  3. Termination
    What process and costs are in place if you want to terminate the contract?

Remember, you are negotiating this deal. You can - and should - have the contract tailored to meet your concerns. For example, if time to launch is a critical element, you could include a late fee penalty if the work is not delivered on time due to circumstance within the control of the vendor.

Then There Is The Matter Of Price

Even if you have written a great RFP and have made sure that all vendor- candidates understand your project, you are likely to get a wide range of price quotations. Do I have to say this? The least expensive is not always the best way to go. I recently consulted on a project where the lowest bidder did not win the job. I told my client that the studio's design skills were not sufficient to do the project. She went with the higher bid, as I recommended, because the company had the chops to bring in the goods.

Awarding The Job

Telling a company good news is the easy and fun part. However, be a pro and contact those whom you didn't choose to thank them for their efforts. You never know. You just might need them if things don't go the way you expect them to.

Phew!! There's a lot to know about finding and hiring your web designer. I hope these last 3 JGs provided insight into that process.

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