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Get the Best RFP Responses by Sharing the Right Insights from Procurement

For procurement leaders, partnering with HR on employee relocation starts with defining the company’s mobility program for the firm and then building a request for proposal (RFP) that invites suppliers in to understand and execute your company’s goals, values, and priorities.

Without context, the household goods (HHG) providers responding to an RFP for moving services can quote rates, but they can’t offer a solution that fits the client’s values. Because HHG moving is a service-oriented industry, the proposals you evaluate should be customized to the budget, relocation policy, company culture and many other factors that make your business unique.

Providing sufficient information up front to all respondents will allow them to provide a meaningful response and address pricing accordingly. Here are some helpful tips on what information would be helpful to HHG provider respondents.

Your Why

Why you are doing an RFP and what is the desired goal to be achieved, need to be met, or problem(s) to be solved? For example, if you have had lack of visibility and transparency into cost drivers or household goods service issues, specific examples will help your respondents explain how they can best solve these issues on your behalf as your partner.

Providing specific details on the following will also help a HHG provider better understand what solutions the program requires.

  • Relocation policies
  • Demographics of relocating population
  • Geographic scope of typical moves
  • Total program spend targets

In turn, this information will help the sourcing team differentiate the HHG providers they are evaluating.

Intangibles That Matter

Often HR and procurement feel all the RFP respondents seemed pretty much the same at the end of the RFP process. There are a few reasons for this:

  • HHG providers do provide essentially the same moving services
  • Fee structures are usually very similar in a regulated industry
  • The costs for direct services performed by third party suppliers do not differ very much from one HHG provider to another

The real savings in a relocation program is the alignment of HHG provider and client, the efficiency of the partnership, the satisfaction of both transferee and stakeholders, and the flexibility the HHG provider brings to the client’s program with options like small shipment solutions.

How do you know who is the right HHG provider to handle your program?

It pays to take the time to allow the HHG providers to schedule discovery calls with key stakeholders and to learn the company’s program and culture. It’s equally important for the client to get to know the HHG provider’s leadership as well as consultants who will interact with relocating employees.

Achieving a great partnership is a function of culture match and choosing an HHG provider with the scale and breadth of services you need. As you take the time to get to know the teams at the HHG providers you are considering, you will find that while the basic services offered don’t differ very much, how the HHG provider delivers these services can be dramatically different. You could consider:

  • Does this HHG provider have a global footprint?
  • Is the HHG provider FIDI accredited to ensure the highest quality of moving standards?
  • Is there a single point of contact to streamline the move process for employees?
  • How flexible is this HHG provider? Can they adapt and act fast?
  • Does their DEI and sustainability culture match well with yours?
  • Does the HHG provider have a unique idea, solution or perspective that solves a need in your program?
  • What is the experience level of the team? And does the HHG provider have experience with companies like yours?

This list is just a starting point. Your unique, cross-functional sourcing team will identify the intangibles that ultimately make or break a great partnership. Fundamentally, the mutual discovery process should help identify a partner who understands your company and fits well with your team and stakeholders.

Suddath understands no two clients are alike. We will work with your team to create the right solutions for your program goals during the RFP process, so tell us how we can help.

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