WASHINGTON: One of the largest RFPs to be issued in recent times, the dollars 250 million National Institutes of Health PR contract, was nearly thrown into disarray last week when a number of electronic submissions went missing.
WASHINGTON: One of the largest RFPs to be issued in recent times, the dollars 250 million National Institutes of Health PR contract, was nearly thrown into disarray last week when a number of electronic submissions went missing.
There was concern for firms submitting proposals when they received an e-mail from Anthony Revenis, NIH's contracting specialist, confessing that he had 'misplaced a goodly number of electronic submissions' with a request to resend the files as soon as possible.
The e-mail was sent to hundreds of firms, as almost 450 had expressed interest in the RFP.
Revenis told PRWeek that he had 'misfiled' a few submissions in his e-mail system, but insisted that nothing was delayed in this period and the e-mails were 'a courtesy' to him, as firms still had to send hard copies of their proposals.
The evaluation process is expected to take up to eight weeks, but there is a 'dim prospect' the first contract will be awarded in December. There may be 'rolling awards' for a period thereafter, he said, and ultimately up to 24 winners.
