When three proposals for the same website come back far apart, it rarely means that two agencies are wrong. It usually means each one guessed at something the brief left out. This piece is for the programme or communications officer who has to write the terms of reference and then compare what comes back.
What a terms of reference is for
The United Nations Procurement Manual describes a terms of reference as “a description of the scope of work for services, generally indicating the work to be performed, the level of quality and effort, the timeline, and the deliverables”. It adds that the document is often a vendor’s first and main introduction to what you need, and that clear terms limit the risk on both sides.
The Manual warns in both directions. Over-specification “may increase prices and/or decrease the number of offers”. Under-specification is the opposite failure: essential information is left out. For a website, that second failure is the expensive one. An agency that cannot see how much content has to move will either add a large margin for it or quote low and come back later.
“When two quotes differ, ask what each agency assumed. The gap is usually in the brief.”
What to count before you send it
- Page types, not pages. List the templates you need: home, article, document, event, country. Design and build cost follows the number of types, not the number of pages.
- What has to move. How many pages and documents are on the current site, and which can stay behind. Count them from the content system if you can, because a crawl misses what is not linked.
- Languages. Which ones at launch, which later, whether any read right to left, and who does the translating.
- Connections. Name each outside system: payments, mailing list, dashboards, single sign-on. Say who holds each account.
- Editors. How many people will update the site, how often, and how much training they need.
- Standards. The accessibility level, a page-weight limit, where the site may be hosted, and any data protection rules.
Say how you will decide
The Manual says solicitation documents must state the evaluation criteria, and that the balance between technical and commercial scoring must be set before a request for proposals goes out. Follow that even if your own rules do not require it. Agencies write better proposals when they know what will be scored.
Then give a budget range. It does not weaken your position. It tells each agency what level of work to propose, so you compare answers to the same question. Hold one round of questions, and share every answer with every bidder.