In advertising, as in most contract-based industries, we often receive a handful of RFPs each month. Some catch our eye, while the majority send us running in the opposite direction. On the whole, most RFPs tend to be too long, too complicated and lack the focus required to fully comprehend the assignment – especially when they are put forth by government agencies. It’s a dangerous combination of optimism and insanity that causes most ad agencies and other marketing firms to continue dedicating hundreds of man hours to these often fruitless efforts.

One of the more frustrating aspects of the entire process is that in the end, it’s often not the best agency that wins, but the one that knows how to best respond to RFPs. Some firms pride themselves on having mastered the myriad questions and requirements. Others can guess exactly where to place their pricing so that it falls just under everyone else’s. And then there are those unique cases where an agency had the inside track before the process even began – sometimes going as far as helping to craft the RFP to which they will eventually be responding.

Companies looking for a marketing partner through the traditional RFP process are often doing a disservice to themselves as there is little to no incentive for the strongest, most-qualified agencies to throw their hat in the ring. Such a process also leads to the final decision inevitably being based on cost, which will once again limit the number of qualified contenders.

In most situations, if the most qualified agency doesn’t win an RFP, it’s usually not the end of the world. The selected firm will likely still do a good job, and if things go south it is usually just the company who released the RFP that suffers the most. A CMO may be let go, or a brand manager replaced, but the repercussions rarely extend beyond the walls of that company. However, with the recent failed launch of the Affordable Care Act website (healthcare.gov), the entire nation saw firsthand just how far the effects of a failed government RFP can stretch.

One could argue that the Marketplace/Exchange on healthcare.gov is one of the most important and publicly recognized website launches in years. Justifiably a site worthy of engaging the nation’s top programmers and developers, or tapping into the brain trusts of American web behemoths like Google or Microsoft. Instead, the process was conducted through the standard government procurement process filled with SLAs, and acceptance conditions that kept most top development teams at bay.

Development Seed is the small DC-based firm that oversaw the development of the static front-end pages of healthcare.gov, which visitors are most familiar with. However, Development Seed didn’t win the government project. They were subcontracted by larger firm Aquilent, who won the contract by successfully navigating through the bureaucracy of the procurement process. And they weren’t the only large firm involved. Canadian-based CGI-Federal is the $4.8 billion company behind the back-end functionality of healthcare.gov. With so many players sharing roles in the development of one site, it’s not surprising that problems would arise – especially without open-source sharing among all of the groups.

Unfortunately, there are very few organizations in the country who could actually win such a complex government bid on their own. In an interview with online magazine Slate, Mr. Gunderson said, “If I were to bid on the whole project, I would need more lawyers and more proposal writers than actual engineers to build the project. Why would I make a company like that?”

It is obvious that the government procurement practice needs improvement to avoid such catastrophes in the future, but the same issues occur every day on a smaller level in both local state contracts and even private RFPs. Choosing a valuable partner for your organization based on their ability to fill out a questionnaire and underbid the competition will often lead to lower quality and lost opportunities. Instead, seek out an agency with the background and experience to understand your product, and one that will coordinate with your other partners to get the job done.