A little outside the core discussion of costs for a good RFP, but I often wonder about the definition of "consultant". As the migration to IP based CCTV systems progressed, many end users turned to datacom/telephony engineering firms, even A/V consultants, asking them to "add a security package" to their designs. Our rep firm often gets called by these firms for advice, and we find ourselves producing designs based on the products we are most familiar with. Many times, we advise that a "real" security consultant be retained, if the project passes our comfort level. We have worked with many security consultants and have a list of those we feel are competent, and we often refer work to them. As an aside, we advise engineers to check their E&O and insurance policies and local licensing requirements to ensure they are covered when they cross over into the security design arena.
We require our sales and engineering staff to balance the needs of the manufacturers we represent to sell their products against the needs of the engineer and his/her customer. Our relationship with these enginering firms is all-important, and we strive to never push a bad position. There are no real guidlines regarding our acting in a consultative selling role, for free, hoping to earn the trust of these engineers, in order to establish an open forum to present our products to them. it comes down to a question of ethics and I am often dismayed by some of the designs we see...designs for systems that we know won't meet the stated goals of the user, or are hopelessly outdated. There are good and bad reps, just as there are good and bad consultants, and poor designs hurt us all. I feel that, for those customers who cannot or will not engage a professional security consultant, our assistance at least ensures a better design than if they just "wing it" We also promise an unbiased review of submissions, and often suggest they use a competitor's equal product.
I would love to see a standard of conduct, or at least some guidlines for those if us who get called into these situations.