Agency – Los Alamos County, NM

Interviewee – Pam Justice, senior web developer

Interview Date – 7/26/16

Outcome – Lost (winner not public yet)

Proposal Bid – $82,950

RSM - John

Proposal - originally dated 

Background

• Pam is project manager and headed a team of 7 people who helped score proposals
• Looking to replace current Sharepoint solution
• Wanting to move to a hosting environment instead of hosting internally
• Wrote RFP and advertised it nationally to cast a wide net
• Received 12 responses to RFP, Vision was one of 4-5 who made it to final round; Pam didn't provide who else was in the running
• Liked the flexibility of Sharepoint especially dynamic pages, but cost is too high (content editors don’t really like Sharepoint though)
• Other important needs:
  • Tight budget
  • Integration with existing systems - permitting, utility work orders, procurement bids

Why did we lose?

• They weren't really keen on our heat mapping approach, and example was a bit contrived; not sure that heat mapping is effective on where quality hits are occurring
• They thought our whole presentation was not done very well
• They had a script and would have preferred if we skipped the company overview and got down to the features

What could we improve?

• Be better prepared
• Follow script (and subtle advice) to meet what prospect is interested in seeing

Other points

• Vision and other vendors presented in person (but it wasn't a requirement)
• Pricing - our proposal and all finalists were in the same general range, we were slightly higher on implementation but lower on annual fees
• Designs - some of the team really liked our designs, while others thought we were too cookie-cutter
• Likes
  • Job apps and job posting
  • Facilities 
  • Possibility of different themes
  • Mobile capabilities to modify designs and look like an app without an application
  • Training and support - Pam doesn't want to be in the training business any longer
  • Credits - ability to make incremental updates without having to go back to commissioners for budget
• Sales team - Pam got the feeling that John really didn't want to be there and didn't think he was all that prepared
• Storage - didn't like that our packages were bound by storage limitations and thought that the storage size constraints were a cost risk
• Security and protection - wasn't clear how we stood out
• CMS - it sounded like all CMS's had similar functionality
• However Pam really liked Vision, and said we were on the list if they are unable to finalize a contract with winner

Takeaways

• UX doesn't always resonate - and we should read the audience and move on instead of hammering the point
• If a demo script is suggested, follow the script and scenarios
• Make sure that prospect understand our hosting advantages
• Be more prepared
• Don't let storage limitations influence a decision