Featured capability

RFP and special projects

We help owners prepare for complex RFPs, and we help operators win them. We also take on the work that sits between roles, where seniority is needed and no one owns it.

An RFP is a strategy document disguised as a procurement exercise. The issuer decides the outcome long before the submissions arrive, in how the questions are written and how the evaluation is weighted. We work on both sides of that table, though never on the same process, and we take on the special projects that sit across functions with no natural owner.

01The problem

Where these processes go wrong.

Most owners write an RFP by adapting the last one. Most operators respond by describing themselves. Both sides then wonder why the process produced a result nobody is happy with.

If you are issuing the RFP

Define what you are buying

Before a question is written. The outcome, the risk you want transferred, the standard you will hold the operator to, and how you will measure it.

Sound the market

Find out what the market can actually deliver, and at what price, before you commit to a specification that narrows the field to one.

Build the evaluation first

Criteria and weightings agreed in advance, so the decision is made on substance and can be defended afterwards to a board, a council, or the public.

Run a process people want to enter

Good operators decline bad processes. The quality of your shortlist is decided by how the RFP is run.

If you are responding to one

Find the real question

Behind every RFP is a problem the issuer is trying to solve. Answering the document is table stakes. Answering the problem wins.

Decide whether to bid

The most valuable advice we give is sometimes to walk away. A bid you cannot win is expensive in more ways than one.

Build the case, then write it

Strategy, commercial position, team, and story. The submission is the last thing we do, not the first.

Prepare for the room

Most competitive processes are decided in the presentation, by people reading the team as much as the plan.

Have an RFP on the horizon?

The most valuable conversation happens before the document is written. That conversation is free.

Bring us into an RFP

02Special projects

The projects with no natural owner.

Every organization has a short list of things that matter enormously and are progressing slowly. They are not on anyone's objectives. They surface at every board meeting and move between them.

The reason is rarely capability. It is that the work sits across functions, requires seniority, and has no permanent home. An integration. A transition. A venue opening. A leadership gap that appeared without warning.

We take these on with a clear mandate, a line to the CEO or board, and a defined end. Then we hand over with the knowledge and relationships transferred.

Talk through a special project

03The work

What this work looks like.

Representative scenarios, not client engagements.

Representative example, illustrative only

Venue management

An owner preparing a management RFP

Situation: A publicly owned arena approaches the end of its management agreement. The board has never run a competitive process and is unsure what it should be asking the market for.
What we do: Define what the owner is actually buying. Build the evaluation criteria before the submissions arrive. Structure the RFP so the responses can be compared on substance rather than presentation.
Outcome: A process the board can defend publicly, and a decision made on the merits rather than the polish of the deck.

Destination organizations

A destination aligning stakeholders for a major bid

Situation: A destination organization is bidding for a significant event. The hotels, the venue, the airport, and the city each have a different view of what winning is worth.
What we do: Get the economics on one page. Broker the commitments before the bid is written, so the submission reflects what the destination can actually deliver.
Outcome: A bid backed by real commitments, and a stakeholder group that stays aligned after the award.

Boards & owners

A board needing outside guidance on a strategic decision

Situation: A board faces a decision that will shape the organization for a decade. The management recommendation may be right, but nobody in the room is independent of it.
What we do: Test the recommendation. Talk to the people the strategy depends on. Present what holds, what does not, and what would have to be true for the plan to work.
Outcome: A board that votes with its eyes open, and a management team with a sharper plan.

04Questions

Common questions.

Do you work for owners or operators?

Both, though never on opposite sides of the same process. Having sat on both sides is precisely what makes the advice useful.

When should we bring you in?

For owners, before a single question is written. For responders, before the decision to bid is made. The most valuable work happens before the document exists.

Will you tell us not to bid?

Yes, and we have. A bid you cannot win is expensive in cost, in credibility, and in the opportunity it displaces.

What is a special project, exactly?

Work that matters enormously, sits across functions, requires seniority, and has no permanent home. If it has appeared on three consecutive board agendas without moving, it is a special project.

Let's talk

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Tell us what is coming up and when. We will tell you honestly whether and how we can help.

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