San Carlos, CA

Interviewee – Kristen Elderson, Management Analyst

Interview Date – 8/24/2016

Outcome – Lost

Proposal Bid – $35,000

Proposal - originally dated July 12, 2016

Background

San Carlos’ website was last updated in 2009 and they are on an old version of Civica
To make sure their new website meets the needs of their community, they decided to start their project with a Needs Analysis and Assessment
They want to bring all services online
They had a budget of $35-50,000 for the project
They issued an RFP and received 20 responses – none of our usual competitors replied to the RFP and the prices ranged from $10k to $300k
A small team of 4 people reviewed all the RFPs and narrowed it down to a final short list included: Area 17, ThirdWave, 2+2, Greer Donovon and Uptop
ThirdWave won the competition due to their experience in egovernment and strategic planning - http://www.thirdwavecorp.com/

Why did we lose?

What could we improve?

The proposals that stood out felt very individualized and tailored to San Carlos’ needs – and she could tell which ones

Other points

RFP for the website development will be sent out in Nov/Dec; Kristen said that we would be notified by email when the RFP is issued (but we should also set a tickler too)
Would like to select a vendor by the end of the year
They are definitely no looking for a template, but want a vendor with a forward looking perspective
When we submit our proposal, we should make sure to note that we have the expertise to take advantage of the needs assessment – and use the analysis to create a website that meets those needs now and in the future

Takeaways

There is a segment of the market that will pay significant money for a detailed needs analysis and assessment – and the bottom of the population range is probably near San Carlos population of about 30,000
If we have another opportunity to bid on this type of project, we should spend more time to tailor the proposal