What is the difference between msa and rfp?

A MSA is a Master Services agreement that are signed between vendors and organizations to offer certain services for a certain period of time. When it comes to Government contracts, a msa agreement can be signed between a Government department and a vendor. If I put an example here, a MSA signed between a Government department and a vendor makes the vendor eligible to bid for projects down the line that can be floated between various Government departments and their units thereof. Qualifying in the MSA does not make the vendor automatically eligible to get work. It is more of an empanelment and a pre-qualification to get work. In the next step of a MSA, when RFP’s are floated by the department units the vendor can bid for those work and get shortlisted. A msa document is generally not very detailed and solicits administrative, commercial and in some cases certain commercial data from the vendors who want to get empanelled. Some of the questions that are asked in the msa are vendor administrative details such as name of the company, Government Tax ID no., Address, Officer Name, etc. The commercial details pertain to the best rates that the company can offer. In some cases, the MSA may ask for company capabilities in their respective domains or product descriptions as applicable.

A RFP on the other hand is a detailed proposal submission request that has a very specific requirement known as Statement of Work (SoW). Apart from the SoW, the RFP also asks vendors to respond to other standard company information such as the company structure, experience, service lines, marketing strategy etc. Vendors have to provide a very specific response as to how they can fulfill the requirements of the Statement of work. This is very often the make or break section of the response and requires very expert hands to respond especially when responding to federal Government proposals. When writing a RFP response, sometimes vendors work in a team to respond and at other times an individual can respond. However, one thing that is very important is that all sections of the RFP must be covered so that no elements are left out.

A MSA is not released frequently. A MSA is generally released once the tenure of the earlier msa comes to an end. However, it is possible that existing contracts under a previous MSA can continue till that actual project is completed. Generally existing vendors who have performed well may get a greater chance of winning a MSA contract but new vendors also stand a fair chance depending upon their credentials. At the closure of the MSA, vendors have to keep track of RFP notifications that are floated by the different departments and respond accordingly.