Back it Up! Jillian Milam

As an intern, it is always a great feeling to learn that a recent Request for Information (RFI) I worked on turned into a Request for Proposal (RFP). In other words, if I provide a client with quality information in an RFI response, the client will become interested and ask for more detailed information in an RFP, to help them further in choosing a Clinical Research Company to conduct their proposed trial. In summary, if an RFI turns into an RFP, it is one step closer to winning big business! So, when I learned that we received an RFP from a client we previously submitted an RFI to, I felt satisfied and happy to be part of potential new business growth.

However, as it turned out, the client wanted a detailed listing of our trial experience we claimed to have. We told the client we had 35 trials in their particular therapeutic area of interest; however, we did not keep record of how we came to that number. I realized the seriousness of the situation when I saw that we truly only had 3 relevant trials – not 35. Big difference. The situation was brought to everyone’s attention, including the client, and we handled it as best we could. Yes, we only had 3 directly relevant trials, but we also had 34 indirectly relevant trials that we provided to the client as supplemental information. There were many lessons involved with this situation for me, but the most important was the value of keeping supporting evidence for every single RFI or assignment. This industry values accurate figures and evidence to back those figures up.

Although this obstacle seemed as if it were the “end of the world,” causing me to have sweaty palms and a ridiculously fast heartbeat for the good portion of the day, we overcame it as a team and dealt with it in an honest, straightforward manner.