The Strange World of RFPs in the Architecture & Planning Arena
In the past few weeks, I have been quite involved with my sister’s firm, for whom I provide Strategic Counsel on Business Matters. Her firm provides Architecture & Planning services, mostly in the Historic Preservation & Sustainability areas. She is also a WBE and a DBE, so much of her time is spent on Municipal Contracts which require a certain percentage of WBE certified firms.
As such, in the past month, she has been inundated with requests to join teams, where she is a subcontractor, never a Prime. Two of those so far included site visits. Before I provide the detail into their “strange” world, let me say that in my previous career we saw our fair share of RFPs, but never in this velocity and certainly never with the amount of financial and intellectual resources having to be expended with no guarantee of any opportunity to recoup those resources, assuming you even have them to expend!
The first site visit was a cultural organization. I had attended a meeting there a few years ago and that event saw me rushing around trying to find water. They had no store with water and finding a water fountain was akin to treasure hunting in the deep sea! I had finally just decided to cup my hands together and drink the water out of the bathroom faucet. You can only imagine how desperate I must have been! So, when we ventured back to this institution for an RFP site visit, I stocked up on water in my car and made sure each member of our team, there were four (4) of us, had a cold bottle of water. They all looked at me a bit surprised but accepted the water anyway. And sure enough, about 15 minutes into the presentation, the bottles were opened and the guzzling began. A resulting two (2) hour walk through nearly sidelined much of our competition. The heat was overwhelming, there were no water stations offered, even at a price, and no water fountains in site. I venture to say more than a few attendees used the old cup your hands and drink from the raw public pipes routine, just to stay upright.
The second recent site visit was completely the opposite. Folks gathered in a vacant cold building in the middle of a snow storm and barely out of single digit temperatures. To that assembly, I brought a thermos of hot chocolate and a bottle of water. I thought I dressed appropriately only to find myself with feet that were without feeling by the end of the first hour. I exited to a side room to do some jumping jacks and restart the blood flowing. By the end of the frozen experience, I fully expected King Laufey of the Frost Giants from Jotunheim (Marvel Thor Storyline) to show up and command me to kneel. Although, at that point, I would have just fallen down with no way to get up!
While I was back in my car warming up and trying desperately to avoid getting pneumonia, I wondered about this approach. Organizations issue RFPs (Request for Proposals). Sometimes, they are only issued to invited firms. Other times, primarily because there is public money involved, they have to list these opportunities to the masses and anyone can venture in, who has the proper professional credentials. What I witnessed and what my dialogue included with many of the sole proprietor subcontractors or consultants was basically commentary on the deplorable conditions we were all exposed to and the concern that all this time was just going unpaid. And, furthermore, IF their team happened in the end to be chosen, how long would it take for the subs to be paid? 30, 60, 90, 180 days? Yes, those are all real pay time-frames.
I have come to realize that the Primes will NOT use their own bank issued lines of credit to front any payments owed to the subs. I had one in New York City tell me that it is too expensive and they keep the line availability to pay their own employees or their own bills, not payments owed to subs. Further dialogue with said Prime included commentary that IF a WBE/MBE subcontractor/consultant cannot wait the 90+ days for payment, they need a different model and should not bid on government jobs. But, how can that be since the reason MOST women or minorities or veterans or disabled apply for their disadvantage certification status is because government jobs require Primes to hire said certified professionals. I was truly taken aback by this Prime’s statements.
Let me be clear. In this field where so much time is spent on RFPs that are never realized, firms, including the government agencies, are asking A LOT of these same small firms they need and want to be certified so their involvement in projects can be touted as diverse and meeting minimum disadvantaged contractor levels. For Frost’s sake, offer them some water, some coffee, or at least the courtesy of air conditioning or heat! It seems only humane yet it is never considered in my limited experience so far! One wonders why any sub or consultant would even want to participate in this often hedonistic ritual.
I have been saying for a long time that the government, whether at a state or federal level, needs to make some specific accommodations for paying small certified W/MBEs. Offer a line of credit to the Primes, without interest, that can only be used to pay their consultants when the funds are not available within 30 days. The employees of the Primes, all bigger firms, receive paychecks usually every two (2) weeks. They have NO idea what it is like to wait months to be paid - none of our creditors accept payment late without penalties and why should small certified disadvantaged consultants have to float the Prime’s contract? Pay when Paid is the excuse of the Prime. This policy has to be changed. Hurting the very certified consultants you are requiring be used to meet diversity percentages cannot come at the expense of their credit score and exposure to extreme elements!
At some point, someone will read this Blog and offer water and/or coffee at the next RFP walk through. Or at a minimum, do not schedule a walk through in the heat of the summer with no air conditioning or the middle of winter with no heat. You need these professionals to complete your work, do not make them wish they never came. They are giving you free time and, other than the team eventually awarded the work, they receive nothing in return. Do not be a Frost King or a Heat Miser, be human and be empathetic, the sting of not winning the business is more easily accepted after a refreshing bottle of cold water or a steaming cup of coffee.
