The Convention Industry Council released a new tool for planners this month—the APEX RFP Workbook—for creating and managing requests for proposal.

Available free at the CIC Web site, the Workbook is a detailed Excel spreadsheet with tabs for various types of RFPs—single facility events, citywide events, event technology/audiovisual, destination management/transportation services, and general services contractors. The workbook allows meeting planners to keep frequently used RFP documents in one location, and features drop-down menus and auto-populating fields designed to make it easy to input data.

“Our goals in creating the APEX RFP Workbook were to provide a simple resource that was built on ‘APEX DNA’ and focused on being accessible and easy to use and understand,” said MaryAnne Bobrow, Bobrow & Associates, chairwoman of the APEX Standards Review Council, the volunteer body that created the tool. “The full APEX RFP documents are valuable resources to our industry and are enormously comprehensive blueprints. The Workbook translates those blueprints into a handy tool,” she concluded.

“One of the benefits of moving to a spreadsheet format for the templates is that they can continue to adapt and improve over time to include new functions and to correct any problems,” said Doug McPhee, Experient Sales Network, who chaired the Standards Review Council when the project began. “The SRC Council anticipates that feedback from planners and suppliers alike will continually improve the workbook on an ongoing basis.”

In addition to Bobrow and McPhee, the SRC includes Vita Feurstein, Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers; Kevin Kamenzind, Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau; Lisa Laubgross, Booz Allen Hamilton; Madelyn Marusa, PRA Destination Management; Charles Massey, Synaxis Meetings & Events Inc.; Shawn O’Connell, Dave Peckinpaugh, Martiz Travel; Glen Ramsborg, Kendall College School of Hospitality Management; Anne Roth, IHG Global Sales; Stuart Ruff, International Trademark Association; and Christine Shimasaki, DMAI.