Abstract

Communication of consumer needs for scientific and engineering work through Requests for Proposal (RFP) often fails. The failure to communicate usually is caused by Requests for Proposal that describe the equipment, or means, to accomplish a given task rather than the task to be accomplished or end. This paper suggests that substitution of means for ends occurs because of habit, self esteem, time pressure, and failure to keep up with an accelerating technology on the part of the RFP writer. RFP's that describe the task to be accomplished may be expected to provide dividends to both sender and receiver.