At the 2010 Institutional Investing in InfrastructureEditorial Advisory Board meeting, the topic of procuring investments, including the RFI/RFP process and performance measurement and evaluation, were discussed. In the following article, the debate is picked up and the questions asked whether standardizing the RFP or RFI process is an admirable goal, or even feasible, and how the introduction of standards for performance measurement and evaluation could help everyone involved.

Ugghhh. No matter what side of the process you are on, the Request for Proposal (or its sibling, the Request for Information) can, without fail, elicit groans. The RFP process is a sticky issue — time consuming and potentially costly, for both investors and investment managers. After all, investment managers would prefer to spend their time focused on the details