The request for proposal: is it just a paper chase?

The request for proposal (RFP) has become such a stylized ritual in the process of selecting an information system that it has begun to lose much of its intended effectiveness. The internal process by which a vendor answers an RFP with a proposal is so involved that hospitals and consultants might be better off spending less time and effort on them. Other steps in the selection process such as individual site visits and interviews with system installers could prove to be more valuable to hospitals and consultants than this paper chase.