When You Don’t Get Any Outsourcing Bids

Read our Analyzing RentACoder Bids section if you already have a bunch of bids, but don’t quite know what to do with them!

Even though you may have crafted the perfect job opportunity, it doesn’t mean the entire world will come a-knockin’ at your door. Sometimes, a request for proposals (RFP) goes ignored, leaving outsourcers with a ton of tasks to do, but no one to do them. Is there a solution?

No Obligation to Reply

First, realize no one is required to bid on an outsourced project, or even respond to its availability. Hard to accept sometimes, service providers are under no obligation to reply no matter how well crafted a outsourcing proposal is, or how attractive its financial package.

You have to remember that an RFP is similar to a job opportunity posted in the help wanted classifieds. Readers of those classifieds aren’t obligated to answer a job ad just like service providers aren’t obligated to answer an RFP. Once that realization is out of the way, you can, second, start asking for no-bids in your outsourcing proposals.

Ask For No-Bids

No-bids, a type of response, explain why a service provider isn’t interested in an offer. Because you ask for them in your proposals, you can not only dictate how they should be formatted, you can, and this is the most important part, use them to negotiate specific terms of your offer.

Why No-Bids Exist

A service provider may submit a no-bid because s/he’s out of time or resources, for example. Knowing this, you can adjust your deadline, or purchase equipment for the service provider in exchange for a lower bid.

If you haven’t already, register a username for yourself so you can discuss this topic in our Outsourcing Vetting forum.

Note that some no-bids are no-bids for a very good reason, like when a service provider isn’t as skilled in an area as you thought s/he was. Or when it’s apparent that an outsourcing supplier will need more monitoring or payment than what you’re prepared to give. In these instances, negotiation isn’t the appropriate approach. A simple “Thank You” will do!