You open your email (or snail mail) and there it is, a formal RFP (request for bid) replete with multiple attachments. The cover letter makes it look like a good job, right in your company’s wheelhouse. Question is, do you respond? “Why not?,” you think to yourself. The work is close to the office and you’ve drilled near the site in the past. Before you spend time and money preparing a response to a formal RFP, let’s look at what may be involved.
First, open and read ALL the attachments. Reponses to some formal quotes may require a pre-qualification process that could be very complex and cumbersome. The qualification paperwork could mean you may spend several hours finding data to complete multiple pages of questions regarding your drilling experience, equipment, personnel and financial condition of the company. Some of the data you may feel is confidential, however not disclosing the data may preclude you from actually submitting a bid. You might be required to prove you are “safe enough” to work for the owner or consultant on the project site. That might mean providing your entire safety program for review, along with several years of safety history, in order to be deemed safety qualified for the project. And, finally, let’s not forget some projects require you be vetted by a third-party company (like ISNetworld, Pics or Browz).