Chapter 12: Procuring Goods and Services 249 you (Web hosting provider)
Chapter 12: Procuring Goods and Services 249 you must make an opening statement that outlines your agenda and highlights specific areas that you would like the vendors to address concerning their product or service. Members of your team and other stakeholders you have invited should also express any specific interests or concerns that they would like the vendors solutions to address. The software vendors may have questions for you to clarify your requirements and wishes. By the time the vendors are with you, you can determine the commonalities in their offerings and address specific differences in each supplier s capabilities. Often, when a vendor provides an explanation to one of your questions, one of his competitors may jump in to challenge or one-up the explanation. This is where the process can get interesting, and also where you must exert your control. Ideally, a bidders conference is the mechanism to discover in greater detail each provider s true abilities, as well as any new developments in his offering since the RFI was returned. Keep your exaggeration detector well tuned; in the heat of competition, many of the vendors offerings suddenly gain greater powers, as when Mr. Gadget yells, Go, go, gadget! and all manner of fantastic gizmos and abilities suddenly manifest in his arms and legs. Finally, give the vendors the opportunity to make a final statement as to their capabilities and continued interest in working on your project. At the close of the meeting, present each of the interested and eligible parties a Request for Proposal (RFP) package and give them an overview of the logistics for the presentation of all proposals, including due date and any unique requirements you are placing on the bid process. At this point, you can sit back and wait for the real information to come in. Setting up criteria for RFPs A Request for Proposals (RFP) is your request for various vendors to provide the down-and-dirty, cut-to-the-chase offer to sell you their products or services. In the RFP, you specify exactly what you want vendors to supply. You also provide the logistical and service requirements that must be provided to accomplish your objective. Logistical requirements are the delivery and installation timelines for any equipment and products; service requirements are contracts concerning warranties, maintenance, and upgrades after any warranties expire. Because the offerings in the proposal become incorporated in the contract for the purchase, what the vendors offer are what they truly believe they can provide, and they may vary significantly from their RFIs. They re likely to differ from any statements made at the bidders conference.
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