A Guide for Procuring Complex Commercial Off-the-Shelf-Software (COTS) for Public Agencies: A Drama in Three Acts

130 pages
$350

Written by Michael Asner, a procurement consultant and RFP expert with more than 15 years experience in dealing with RFPs, IT and Complex Software. (For information about Michael, go to: http://www.rfpmentor.com/bios.html)

At last! Help for the Procurement Officer facing IT, a complex software package, and the RFP process. Not just a report but the collected experiences of people who have already traveled this road – made mistakes, discovered truths and completed the work successfully.

Selecting complex software in a public agency is risky! Many agencies bear scars from failed project because they didn’t learn from others who have made mistakes and others who have done it successfully. Read this report, based on real-life experience and best project, contracting, and RFP practices to avoid major problems.

• Roles and responsibilities of the major players
• What others have learned about selecting software, problems, critical issues and risks
• The notable features of the best RFP handbook for software available and where to get your free copy
• How to deal with the fundamental problem, assuring that the specifications are complete, accurate and fair
• How to become a ‘content expert’  so you can deal with IT and the Project Manager as an equal
• How to solve 11 major problems found in many draft RFPs
• What happens in the Evaluation Committee meetings -  How do they conduct the evaluation process at a step-by-step level

This report deals with several critical topics not found in other publications. You will learn how to ensure the quality of the specifications:

The Fundamental Problem: Ensuring the Quality of the Specifications

A discussion of how the Procurement Officer, new at her job and unfamiliar with the application area covered by the software, assures the quality of the specifications. How to ensure that the specifications are complete, accurate and that they do not favor one particular vendor. How the procurement officer compensates for her lack of ‘content knowledge’. How she becomes an ‘instant expert’ by using the web. A detailed description of her day long search for information and what she found. A discussion of her major conclusions related to acquiring exemplary RFPs, building in a Proof of Concept, reviewing the Evaluation Process, determining how to handle cost, and using an content expert, an outside consultant, to review the RFP.

This report deals with several critical topics not found in other publications. You will learn what happens when the Evaluation Committee meets – how they get to the ‘best value’ using a ‘fair and open’ process:

The Evaluation Process

A detailed discussion of the key elements of the Evaluation Process including:

1. Briefing the Evaluation Committee – what to say and what to do
2. Validating that each proposal is compliant – some rules and issues to consider before disqualifying a proposal
3. The Evaluators work on the morning of day 1 – a description of how each evaluator reviews the first proposal and identifies required clarifications or establishes a preliminary score The Evaluators work on the afternoon of day 1 – a description of how the Evaluators collectively asses the first proposal, scoring each factor and sub-factor, and identify issues requiring clarification
4. Submitting Clarifications to the Vendors – how this is done
5. Rescoring Each Proposal and Determining the short list – how this is done
6. Completing the Proof of Concept – a discussion of the logistics of this step, how the scenarios are constructed and what to expect
7. Rescoring the Proposals – the impact of the Proof of Concept on scores
8. Costing – a discussion of some of the difficulties and issues faced by the Financial Analyst in determining the cost of each proposal
9. Combining the Scores – how it’s done
10. Best and Final Offers – how it’s done
11. Finalizing the Scores – how it’s done
12. Finalizing the Contract – A discussion of strategies for finalizing the contract. An approach that yields a signed contract from each of the short-listed vendors prior to announcing the winner.