Conference production RFP checklist: twelve questions for evaluating bidder evidence.

Set the evidence request before proposals arrive.

A proposal should do more than repeat a capability statement. For each question below, ask for one or more concrete forms of bidder evidence: a named owner, source document, stated assumption, test, reference, operating process, or commercial term. Tell every bidder which evidence is required, which is optional, and how exceptions should be identified.

No delivery model earns credit by default. Owned inventory, rented equipment, venue-provided systems, local labor, touring teams, and specialist suppliers can all be suitable when the response makes accountability, preparation, integration, replacement, and commercial treatment visible.

Use this tool after issuing the neutral six-input brief. The brief standardizes what bidders receive. This checklist standardizes what reviewers ask bidders to prove.

1. What is owned, what is sourced, and who is accountable for each system?

Ask the bidder to describe what it will deliver directly, source from specialists, coordinate through the venue, or leave with the buyer. The answer should cover preparation, integration, substitutions, spares, failure ownership, and the commercial treatment of changes in source.

Bidder evidence: a system-by-system source and responsibility schedule, a named owner for each system, the substitution process, the preparation and test process, and any source-dependent assumption or commercial term.

2. Who leads the engagement, and what decisions do they own?

Ask who leads the engagement, which technical and commercial decisions that person owns, which roles continue from proposal through delivery, and how authority changes when a lead is unavailable.

Bidder evidence: a named leadership roster, responsibility matrix, continuity statement, backup coverage, and escalation process, with provisional roles clearly marked.

3. Who is proposed for the key seats, and how will the team prepare together?

Request the roles relevant to the program, their status, preparation responsibilities, communications structure, rehearsal participation, replacement process, and buyer approval rights. Do not require job titles that the brief does not need.

Bidder evidence: a role roster, named or provisional status, relevant experience summaries, team-preparation process, rehearsal plan, and replacement approval process.

4. What safety, rigging, and venue documentation does this scope require?

Requirements vary with the work, venue, jurisdiction, insurer, contractor interfaces, and design. Ask how the bidder will identify applicable requirements, verify them with responsible parties, assign submissions, and manage work that depends on approval.

Bidder evidence: the current source documents used, a requirements and assumptions register, named submission owners, applicable qualifications or credentials, and the review, inspection, and approval process.

5. What happens if a critical processor, amplifier, encoder, or signal path fails?

The answer should be system-specific and proportional to the program: what is monitored, which failure modes are addressed, what alternate path or spare is proposed, who authorizes a cutover, and which recovery actions will be tested. See the hybrid broadcast redundancy stack for a deeper topology discussion.

Bidder evidence: a failure-mode and response table, system diagram where useful, named recovery owner, test method, test record or planned acceptance test, and explicit exclusions.

6. Can you provide references for genuinely comparable work?

Define comparability from the brief: audience model, program complexity, broadcast reach, venue type, security interface, content workflow, industry context, or multi-market delivery. Exact-room experience can be relevant, but it is only one possible comparison.

Bidder evidence: references tied to the criteria selected by the buyer, the bidder's precise scope on each program, the named delivery model used, and permission for the buyer to verify the reference.

7. Who owns content operations before and during the show?

Ask how the bidder will manage applicable intake, file checks, version control, review, approval, playback, graphics, changes, backup content, recording, and archive handoff while following buyer-approved information-control requirements.

Bidder evidence: a content workflow, named content owner, source-of-truth location, version and release process, change path, and assumptions about buyer-retained creation, approval, storage, or distribution.

8. What has been verified at the venue, and what remains an assumption?

Ask which venue inputs are verified, which source documents were used, which questions remain open, who will conduct any survey or advance, what it will produce, and how new facts will enter scope and price.

Bidder evidence: a venue source list, survey or advance plan, assumption register, named verification owner, expected outputs, decision dates, and the commercial process for resolving differences from bid assumptions.

9. What procurement documentation can you provide, and on what timetable?

List only the documents and reviews the buyer actually requires. Ask what is available, what requires project-specific preparation, who owns each response, which exceptions or redlines are anticipated, and when the buyer can review them.

Bidder evidence: a document register with status, owner, source, assumptions, exception location, proposed delivery date, and applicable commercial term.

10. How are overtime, change orders, and additional days handled?

Ask how schedule changes, added scope, reduced scope, venue changes, labor extensions, substitutions, cancellation, and buyer-directed revisions are requested, estimated, authorized, recorded, and reflected in the current forecast.

Bidder evidence: proposed change-control process, named approval roles, sample change record or form, rate and multiplier assumptions where applicable, notice requirements, and commercial terms for common change conditions in the brief.

11. How will venue and market labor be planned?

Ask how the bidder identifies applicable venue and market labor requirements, divides local and traveling roles, confirms supervision and access, and turns unverified requirements into visible allowances rather than fixed claims.

Bidder evidence: current venue or labor source documents, confirmed requirements, open assumptions, role and supervision plan, named verification owner, decision date, and the stated schedule and commercial effect of each allowance.

12. What is the escalation path when a decision cannot wait?

Ask how operational, safety, content, technical, commercial, and executive issues move to someone with authority, including backup coverage and buyer contacts. Let the buyer set response expectations appropriate to the program instead of importing a universal service level.

Bidder evidence: a named escalation path, issue categories, decision authority, backup roles, communication process, and acceptance of or exception to the buyer's stated response expectations.

Scoring matrix: compare the evidence behind the proposal.

Choose the criteria, weights, score scale, pass or fail conditions, and reviewer group before proposals arrive. Give every bidder the same evidence request and clarification path. Reviewers should cite the proposal section, source, or clarification that supports each score and record an exception when evidence is missing or an assumption remains open.

Normalize material assumptions before totaling scores. A lower price built on excluded venue services, an unconfirmed access window, or buyer-retained content work is not directly comparable with a price that includes those items. Keep the commercial comparison and qualitative scoring linked to the same assumption register.

Pair the matrix with the six-input brief so every bidder receives the same inputs and answers the same evidence requests. Different delivery models can then be judged on fit, transparency, control, and terms rather than on ownership structure alone.