Catherine
Great question — and a common one in growing organizations.
Treating the RFP as a separate project has clear advantages:
it allows for focused scope definition, objective evaluation criteria, and better stakeholder engagement.
It also improves transparency and governance in the procurement process — especially important in public or regulated environments.
On the other hand, combining everything into one large project can blur the lines between phases, make success metrics less clear, and hinder formal closure of the selection phase before execution begins.
Best practices — such as those from PMI and ISO 21500 — suggest treating large phases with distinct objectives, deliverables, and risks as separate projects or subprojects within a program.
This allows for clearer control, structured learning, and better decision checkpoints.
A hybrid approach might work well in your context: treat the RFP as its own project or subproject, with a clearly defined handover to the implementation project once the vendor is selected.
Ultimately, the key is alignment and clarity among all stakeholders.
