Lessons from the past: What can be learned from ancient and modern rhetoric for a better RFP

Abstract

Public, broader public, and private sector companies communicate their needs for products and services to vendors through a formal Request for Proposal (RFP), and vendors compete for the opportunity to meet these needs through a formal RFP response. In order to understand the best way to approach crafting an effective RFP response, this article reviews the rhetorical theories of a representative sample of ancient and modern Western rhetoricians (Aristotle, Cicero, Bitzer, Bakhtin, Toulmin, Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, Bacon and Hobbes) and then identifies best practices that can be leveraged by technical communication professionals.