A. An RFP is a formal Request for Proposal, usually submitted to a vendor or provider of service by an organization who is seeking bids for such service. In the business of anesthesia you may often hear a hospital say "...they have sent out an RFP or that project went out on RFP.." this means that they are simply soliciting organizations to submit a proposal and in the world of anesthesia this would mean an anesthesia services proposal. If you are the recipient of an RFP, you need to read over all the details outlined in the RFP document and then decide if you or your organization is going to prepare a response to this RFP. If so, you will need to prepare a detailed response that answers all the questions within the RFP, plus provide a detailed outline of your organization, the type of anesthesia services you provide, the resources you have in place and/or would put in place, to provide these services, your background academically and clinically, and how you perceived carrying out the duties of the contract should your proposal be accepted. Often times vendors do not know ahead of time that they are being considered for an RFP opportunity. BCS's weekend educational seminar entitled, "The Business of Today's Anesthesia Practice" has devoted a 60 minute session to this overall process detailing what an RFP is, how should a response be prepared, by whom and when. This session has been received very well by the attendees.