HWG RFP: How to Use the RFP Service

How to Use the RFP Service

Please read the following instructions on how to utilize the RFP Service before you begin posting or subscribing. It is hoped that most if not all of your questions will be answered here. If you have not already done so, you may wish to read About the RFP Service before reading this document.

If, after reading about the service, these instructions, our FAQs, and other supporting documents, your question(s) remain unanswered, please send an e-mail to rfp-moderators@hwg.org and one of our moderators will answer your question(s) as quickly as possible.

You will notice the mention of passwords many times as you read through these documents. As this is a service reserved for full members of the HTML Writers Guild, this little annoyance is necessary. You may be relieved to know that you will only be asked for your password once per session. A new session begins each time you exit and then re-launch your browser. Your 'username' (for all areas except the public posting page)should be your Guild member number, and your password should be your password (of course). If you are not a full member of the Guild, you may post an RFP by using the public posting page, and entering guest for your username and password (NOTE: This will only work for the public posting page. For more information please see the FAQ regarding this. Should you forget your password, or encounter any problems signing in please send e-mail to dbadmin@hwg.org.

In order to ensure that other individuals do not access this and other Guild services under your name (perhaps gaining access to information you provided to the Guild), we recommend that you exit/quit the web browser before you leave the computer. This advice is primarily for any users who may be accessing Guild services from public terminals at cybercafés, university campuses, or libraries.

Posting an RFP

All RFPs will be posted via an on-line HTML form. Before you are allowed access you will be asked for your username (Guild member number) and password. If you are not yet a Guild member, or would like to upgrade your membership, you may become a full member by following these instructions. In the meantime, you may post an RFP using the Guest Login feature. Please note, that you will not be able to access the "View My RFPs" or the "Pre-Expire" features using the guest login. These features are for full-Level members only. A sample post form is shown here.

When submitting an RFP, fill out this form as fully as possible. There are several fields which must be filled out in order for your submission to be processed. These are highlighted with an asterisk, (*), next to the required field. Leaving these fields blank will result in an error message when you submit the form. If this happens simply go back to the form (using your browser's 'back' command), fill out the fields you may have missed, and resubmit it.

If you have properly filled out the form and you still get an error message, please send e-mail to rfp-moderators@hwg.org stating the nature of your problem and one of our moderators will get back to you as soon as possible.

Once you have submitted your RFP, you will receive a confirmation notice at your email address (sample available). Your RFP will then be forwarded to our moderators who will check to make sure it is appropriate and in compliance with our guidelines. You will receive an automatic e-mail reply, notifying you of the result of our moderation. If your RFP was not approved, you will receive an e-mail notice telling you why (sample available) and explaining how you may modify your RFP so that it may be approved. Should your RFP be approved, you will also be notified (sample available).

Once your RFP has been accepted by our moderators, a summary of your RFP will be mailed to subscribers of the RFP mailing list (sample available). The full RFP will be entered into our archive of active RFP's. Users may search this archive (sample query page) to locate your entire RFP, or may access it directly from the URL provided in the e-mail announcement. Your entry would resemble this sample.

Subscribing to the RFP Mailing List

If you are a full member of the HTML Writers Guild, you may subscribe to have announcements of newly posted RFPs mailed to your inbox. These announcements will resemble this sample.

Currently, you must subscribe to receive all or none of the RFP announcements. In the future you will be able to customize your subscription to receive only those RFP announcements which require skills matching your skill profile. In the mean time, if your mail user agent supports filtering on arbitrary mail headers, you may use our mail header encoding information to sort incoming announcements.

To unsubscribe, you may use the same page you used to subscribe.

Accessing Current RFPs

The archive of active RFPs (active RFPs are those for which proposals may still be submitted) is restricted to full members of the Guild. Before you are allowed access you will be asked for your Guild member number and password. Once your membership level has been verified, you will be viewing a query page with which you can compose a query of the archive (sample available). Your search criteria may include location, time line, language, and skill requirements.

Once you submit your query, you will be given a summary of matching records in our archive (sample). By selecting records from this summary, you can view RFP's (sample) which match your search criteria.

Replying to an RFP

Each RFP should state clearly acceptable media for proposal submission. Many will accept proposals through e-mail, postal mail, and/or facsimile. While it may be most convenient to follow the mailto: link and reply instantly, we recommend that you print out attractive RFPs, and compose your response off-line. This will allow you more opportunity to improve your text, and you can always e-mail your polished text later.

Be sure in your replies that you are concise and professional and that you appropriately address the requestor's needs. If you are replying by e-mail, please include 'Reply to HWG-RFP' in your subject line to ensure that the recipient is immediately aware of the content of your message, and is also aware that you read their RFP through this service. An organization which receives a large number of promising proposals in response to an RFP submitted through this service will be more likely to submit future RFPs to this service, possibly providing you with another opportunity.

For some excellent advise on replying to an RFP, we recommend Duif Calvin's informative post to the hwg-business mailing list dated October 20th, 1996. If you would like to submit sample Proposals or further advise on drafting proposals, we would love to add your contribution to what may one day become a useful collection of advice for drafting proposals and Requests for Proposals.

Accessing the Expired RFP Archive

Once its due date for proposal submission has passed, each RFP is moved from the active RFP archive to the expired RFP archive. As with the active archive, the first page presented will be a query composition page (non-functioning sample available). There will also be a summary of matching records once you have submitted a query (sample).

Please notice that the individual records linked from the summary page no longer display contact information (sample). This is because the RFP has expired and the author is no longer accepting proposals. As we do not search the main body of the RFP, or the one hundred word summary, it is possible that some contact data may be found within those fields. If you should find any DO NOT REPLY TO THE RFP! Remember, these RFPs have expired and so the author is no longer requesting proposals. Any reply to these expired RFPs may annoy the author, and perhaps adversely affect your chances of working with their organization in the future. For your own sake, as well as for the peace of mind of past users of this service, DO NOT REPLY TO THE EXPIRED RFPS!

You may find it useful to browse through the expired RFP archive in order to gain a better sense of what our service offers. You can also use these expired RFPs to guide you in drafting your own RFP. Those Guild members currently studying or planning to study for a career in computer technology, Internet media, or other on-line technologies may find this archive to be a useful tool for determining how best to tailor your education to the skills which are in high demand.

Other Important Sources of Information

If you have not already done so, please read about the RFP service. This page contains a good deal of useful information, including a list of useful documents and information on obtaining help from a friendly human should the on-line documentation prove inadequate.

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