The Permitting and Community Development Software RFP Toolkit

Most community development RFPs are written in a few weeks. Their impact lasts years.

Every permit, license, and inspection passes through software before it reaches the public. When that software works well, a small-business owner gets a license approved in days instead of weeks and a homeowner finishes an application on the first try. When it works poorly, a plan reviewer spends the afternoon re-keying the same information into three systems while a resident gives up on a half-finished form and drives downtown to wait at the counter.

The RFP is where that experience gets decided, usually for the next three to five years. GovWell has read a lot of them from the vendor's side of the table. The strongest ones start from outcomes for both staff and the public, and they ask proposers how they would meet each requirement, not just whether they can.

Where the decisions actually get made

By the time proposals arrive, most of what you can choose from is already defined. The wording of your requirements, the thresholds you set for eligibility, and the weighting of your scoring criteria each shape which vendors respond and what they put in front of you.

The best RFPs describe the problem, rather than the solution the department already has in mind. A requirement that specifies a mechanism only admits systems built that way. Instead, a requirement written as an outcome lets proposers present approaches you would not have known to ask for.

The same discipline applies to eligibility and scoring. Years in business and headcount are easy to verify. Ask instead for experience that is relevant, recent, and delivered: an implementation in a community close to your population and permit volume, running the modules you need, live within the last two years. And publish scoring weights before proposals arrive; a scorecard written afterward tends to reward the vendors with the largest proposal teams rather than the best fit for your staff.

Inside the toolkit

In this guide, you'll learn:

• The four steps to follow before beginning to gather requirements
• How each section of an RFP works, with unedited excerpts from real solicitations
• Why copying a requirements matrix from a neighboring jurisdiction narrows your field before proposals arrive
• The difference between configuration and customization as it realtes to your implementation
• How to specify references and relevant experience to make sure you're getting a fair assessment
• A fill-in template with bracketed prompts and starter questions for every section