ILT MAGAZINE l ISSUE NO.
02
18
Biz Management
IMMIGRATION LAWYERS TOOLBOX
Understanding the Request for Proposal (RFP) By Sameer Khedekar, Esq.
The Request for Proposal, or RFP, is the
approach “larger” companies take to identify and select their service providers, including their immigration law firms. This article will explain:
Sameer Khedekar, Esq. Sameer@Bayan.Law
1. Why should I learn about RFPs? 2. What kind of companies issue RFPs? 3. What do companies hope to accomplish by issuing RFPs? 4. Should I respond to the RFP? 5. What do immigration RFPs and responses generally look like? 6. How do I get a company to include my firm in the RFP process?
Why should I learn about RFPs?
You may be a business immigration associate or junior partner at a “larger” firm, spending most of your time on casework. You see some of your senior lawyers working closely with their marketing team on mysterious sales pitches, and would like to learn more about what they are doing because, hey, you would like eventually start bringing in clients too! Or, you may own a solo or “smaller” business immigration practice and are looking to grow your corporate book of business, because you see how the recurring income of corporate immigration clients can help stabilize your business. Or, you may be someone in between. In any case, knowledge of RFPs is essential to
winning corporate immigration work, even if your ideal corporate clients don’t issue RFPs. What kind of companies issue RFPs?
The Holy Grail of corporate immigration business development is winning a corporate account without an RFP. Why? Because it’s SO much easier. RFPs are a major drain on resources, both on the corporate side and your side. That is why “smaller” companies (generally, companies with less than 100200 foreign nationals) with fewer resources opt to select their vendors through a more informal process. Their HR or legal team may get referrals to a few firms, bring them in for interviews and presentations, and then select which firm they prefer working with. Once a company has grown enough to require their own procurement department, they are usually obliged to go through the RFP process to select vendors. Usually, procurement departments exist within publicly-traded companies (but not always), and are responsible for ensuring that the company is getting good value for the services they pay for. So, you say, I’ll stay away from the kind of companies that issue RFPs and try to win the kind of companies that don’t! Clever, but it’s not that easy, because you have no way of knowing if a company will decide to issue an RFP or not.