Category:  Action

Minnesota: Review of Municipal RFPs

Minneapolis Plans to Go Wireless Philadelphia and Minneapolis RFPs are prgressing - this article dates back to before they were issued, opines on how things will go. Both cities' plans reflect a trend in turning to outside sources to fund, deploy and manage the network. By not relying on taxpayer money, the cities avoid direct conflict with telecoms and cable companies that have fought such plans with well-financed ad and public relations campaigns claiming they waste taxpayer dollars.

Posted on June 18, 2005 at 10:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Action - Off to the Races, Let's Go Shopping

AND THEY'RE OFF! You've gone to school on this subject, organized your team, researched the vendors, put together a plan. Now, it's time to do something. Now, it's time to shop!

There are different ways to get started with a metropolitan wireless broadband network. The traditional route is to file an RFP and evaluate the responses. Another way is to work with a vendor to start a pilot and learn more before deciding what to do. Yet another way is to find a vehicle like a state contract that allows the buyer to comply with procurement restrictions and avoid an individual RFP.

The first project at hand for UnwireMyCity will be to dissect the Request for Proposals, the RFP. Be you buyer or be you seller, an RFP can be a majorly painful process, but often in the public sector, it is a necessary evil. Generally, a public sector buyer finds their hands tied with procurement restrictions and laws that govern what they can and can't do, down to the nitty gritty.

In this section, we will examine the buying process and make recommendations, with a goal of assembling a best-in-class, modular RFP. Let's imagine for a moment that the RFP is that frog you got to dissect in 10th Grade Biology class. Let's look at it piece by piece, take it apart and understand it. I'd like for you to be able to download sections that fit your needs and assemble a customized RFP that meets all the criteria for your town, and ensures a quality outcome for you. In the end, the RFP is about getting the solution you are looking for, which relieves your pain. You definitely do not want to replace one pain with a new pain, and pay for the privilege.

RFPs vary in quality, and generally, one can spot a home-made RFP, or one where the process was rushed and/or haphazard. Good RFPs are distinct and direct, sending a clear signal of the buyer intent and requirements of the vendor. Bad RFPs are vague and unclear, resulting in a wide degree of variance in responses, which can make selecting a vendor extremely difficult, as you compare apples and oranges in bid responses, and can lead to poor vendor selections that cost money and add extra risk. If you're going to go to the trouble of conducting an RFP process, please work with us in this section to develop a best-of-breed RFP for cities and towns - I would like to make this section a community forum on what works and what doesn't work in the buying process, and together, we can fix it, borrowing from the best of what the market has to offer.

Please send me examples, comments, suggestions, and let's get going!

Posted on June 15, 2005 at 06:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack