Imaginary Landscape
RSS FeedI am not one for involvement, especially as it relates to government. Any time I’ve tried to dip my toe into the water of civic involvement, I am immediately disenfranchised by painfully slow decision-making and loud, slightly odd, fringe zealots.
Last year I moved to a new town. As I familiarized myself with the new surroundings, I came across a call for volunteers to join an Ad Hoc Technology Committee. The “Ad Hoc” part of it appealed to me, in that it had a shelf life. One of the topics was discussion of a new website. Given my profession and the fact that the current village website is in a sorry state, I made a bold move. In a moment of weakness I tentatively raised my hand and was selected to serve.
I don’t know if it is the new town or if I just got lucky, but the committee members were nice, funny, well-informed and engaged. The staff was helpful and accommodating. It was surprisingly interesting and, dare I say, fun.
As a group we took a shell of an RFP and fleshed it out into a meaningful document that potential vendors could really sink their teeth into. We researched the best municipal Web developers and reviewed proposals. We checked references, and made vendor and budget recommendations to the village board. And in the process I learned something that contradicted a closely-held belief of mine.
Proposals really do matter.
Up until this experience, I was a strong believer that the sale was (or should be) made before the proposal was submitted. There needed to be a pre-existing relationship or some “inside track” that made the RFP–proposal process a formality along the way to a pre-determined conclusion. In fact, at Imaginary we have stringent guidelines when evaluating whether to respond to an RFP and have respectfully declined many.
For the village, there was no pre-existing relationship with any potential vendor. Each proposal was painstakingly read by each committee member. Proposals were elevated, as well as dismissed, based upon their ability to follow RFP instructions and present a custom proposal that demonstrated a real “understanding” of our needs.
There was significant discussion and pouring over proposal minutiae, questions and answers with vendors. And ultimately, the contract was awarded by the village largely on the strength of the best proposal.
I can't fully dismiss that a proposal may be more important within a municipal purchasing process as opposed to a business-to-business process. However, it does make me ponder the overall importance of our proposals and their weight in the decision process.
Updated 07/14/10 @ 11:49AM CDT by brian
