Every season builds toward a single moment: the evening the lights come on, and a familiar street becomes somewhere people want to linger. Everything behind that moment was decided months earlier, inside a document that often takes an afternoon to write.
A vague RFP invites vague bids, and vague bids are how a downtown district ends up comparing a full turnkey installation with a shipment of product with no crew attached. The checklist below covers what to spell out before you publish, whether you manage a municipality, a business improvement district, a shopping center, or a portfolio of commercial properties.
Before You Draft: You May Not Need an RFP At All
If your entity belongs to a purchasing cooperative, the competitive solicitation has already been run by the lead agency. You can request a quote against the existing contract, reference the contract number on your purchase order, and stay compliant without writing a solicitation. Your own approval thresholds still apply; the bidding step does not.
Holiday Outdoor Decor holds two cooperative contracts:
- BuyBoard, Holiday Lighting and Decoration, contract 735-24, current through May 31, 2027.
- COSTARS, COSTARS-33 Street Lighting, Parking Meters and Street Furniture (Streetscape), current through June 1, 2027. Membership is open to Pennsylvania entities, and we extend that pricing to buyers in other states.
Both are held under Rileigh’s Outdoor, LLC dba Holiday Outdoor Decor, which is the name to search in either directory. Check your access before you draft.
Define the Scope Before You Define the Product
Name what you need delivered, in order: design, manufacturing, installation, in-season service, takedown, and storage. Vendors who only sell product will bid on the parts they cover and stay quiet about the rest, and that gap becomes your staff’s problem in November.
Say clearly whether you are seeking one accountable partner for the full season or issuing separate awards. That single line changes the entire field of bidders you attract. For a picture of what full scope covers, see how a project moves from concept to installation.
Manufacturing and Product Standards
A display that transforms a town square is engineering long before it is ambiance. These requirements protect the look you are paying for.
Country of manufacture
Require bidders to name where each item is produced. Domestic manufacturing shortens lead times and makes a mid-season replacement realistic rather than theoretical. It also matters for buyers working under procurement preferences for American-designed goods.
Commercial-grade construction
A decoration that spends eight weeks on a light pole above a roadway is a different object than one built for a front porch. Ask for construction details in writing: frame material, wind rating, UV and weather resistance, and the electrical listing on every illuminated piece. Include your pole type, bracket style, and available power so bidders quote against real site conditions.
Warranty and replacement terms
Require warranty length, coverage, and replacement turnaround during the season. A warranty that only functions in February is not a warranty for a December display.
Design and Site Planning
Custom design capability
Every community has its own charm, and the best displays reflect it rather than covering it. Ask each bidder to show how they would tailor a layout to your space instead of selling you a catalog page. A vendor who designs alongside your team will surface ideas you would not have thought to specify.
A documented site survey
Require a site walk and a written layout before manufacturing begins. Pole counts, spacing, sight lines, and power access belong on paper, because the difference between a street that shines and one that looks unfinished usually comes down to that level of detail.
Installation and Seasonal Service
Who installs, and with what
Ask whether crews are employed by the vendor or subcontracted, and require proof of insurance, bucket truck access, and traffic control experience wherever roadway work is involved. State your install window explicitly, including restrictions around overnight work, closures, or scheduled events.
Takedown, storage, and maintenance
Storage is where budgets quietly break. Require takedown timing, climate-appropriate storage, an annual condition inspection, and a written inventory returned to you each year. Confirm who owns the decorations and who carries responsibility for loss or damage while they are stored. Well-kept pieces stay vibrant season after season, and poorly stored ones become next year’s line item. HOD’s White Glove installation and storage is one example of a full answer.
In-season response time
Ask for a named contact and a guaranteed response window for outages and storm damage between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. It is the most useful commitment you can hold a vendor to, and the one most often left out.
Proof of Comparable Work
Request three references from projects of similar scale and venue type within the last three seasons. Ask for night and day photography of the vendor’s own installations, never renderings.
Longevity is worth weighing too: a manufacturer with a century behind it has navigated more supply chain disruption than most bidders have been in business. Get to know the team behind the displays.
Pricing and Contract Structure
Require line-item pricing that separates product, design, installation, takedown, storage, and maintenance. Bundled totals cannot be compared across bidders and cannot be phased when budgets shift.
Ask for multi-year pricing and an expansion path. Most districts grow block by block, and locking a per-unit rate now protects phases two and three.
Before You Publish
Confirm your RFP names your install window, power and pole conditions, storage expectations, in-season response requirement, and reference standard. With those five in place, every proposal becomes comparable.
Then hold us to the same five. With more than 100 years of innovation, Holiday Outdoor Decor stands out as a leader in the outdoor decoration industry. We handle the full season in-house: design consultation, installation, takedown, refurbishing, and climate-controlled storage, available in select states. In season, 40 installers and a fleet of more than 30 bucket trucks are on the road, backed by a service department whose job is catching problems before you report them.
Most vendors can answer two or three of the five. The right partner answers all five, then turns the checklist into a season your community remembers.
