Thanks Joe (and to those others who've emailed me directly, will try
to reply to everyone, if I haven't already, please get the emails
coming), all very useful advice! I think my preference would be to
lean more to approach 2), if we can, though in this case would also
want to ensure we engage a contractor with more resources and
experience than the "teenager in their bedroom" ! Obviously we want to
get good value for money, and I think we are required to adopt a
"competitive tendering" approach, but we certainly would not choose a
contractor solely on the basis that they've provided the lowest quote
- quality and innovation are very important to us too.
cheers
Paul
On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 10:16 AM, Joe Cutting <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
> I'm managing a substantial digitisation / web project at the Ashmolean
> Museum,
> we've recently gone live with a small publicity site about the project and
> its
> progress to date
>>>
>
> You need to decide pretty early on the basis on which you're going to run
> the tender. There are two basic approaches:
> 1) Choosing a contractor on company experience and accounting criteria such
> as turnover etc. You can invite tenders from anyone and then choose the
> lowest quote. This type of tender is typically used for projects such as new
> buildings, buying IT and office furniture. QA types tend to recommend this
> approach because its what they're used to from the building profession.
> 2) Choosing the contractor on the quality of their creative approach to what
> your web site needs to do. For this type of tender you don't invite tenders
> from everyone. You choose 3-4 companies and give them a fixed budget. This
> type of tender is typically used for projects such as advertising and
> design. Design Directors tend to recommend this type of approach because its
> what they're used to from other design projects.
>
> In my experience both types of tender fit the regulations for "competitive
> tendering" for public projects.
>
> Web sites fit somewhere between the two stools. Sometimes you don't want
> anything very creative or innovative so the first approach is right. Other
> times you want something new and exciting so the second is the way to go.
> Usually you'll combine the two approaches but don't let one dominate too
> much. So for example if you stress approach 1) too much you may end up with
> the most boring, clueless contractor just because their turnover is over £1m
> and if you stress approach 2) you could end up with a teenager in their
> bedroom who happens to have some great ideas.
>
> The important thing to remember is that the more hoops you make the
> contractors go through to make their submission the more likely they are not
> to bother if they don't think they're likely to get the job. Sometimes this
> is good for you as it cuts down the number of bad submissions, however it
> can also have the effect of screening out the people who you want to apply.
> I was recently asked to tender for contract. This involved:
> - Filling in a qualification questionnaire (no problem)
> - I was then directed to an impenetrable EU site for more information. I
> couldn't find it at first, but after exchanging several emails I managed to
> find the information which gave me another email address to apply to.
> - This email address let me register with an organizational tender website.
> This site didn't work with my browser but I was able to download a new
> browser which it did work with. This site had another qualification
> questionnaire (ok) lots of other questions which I didn't understand (?!).
>
> At this point I gave up. It was looking like the contractors would be
> selected on the basis of turnover and as a small company I was unlikely to
> qualify so I decided it wasn't worth my time. I then passed the information
> to another much larger company who had done several national museum web
> sites. They said "We like to be able to present our creative ideas in person
> at a pitch meeting, however we think the contractors for this project are
> likely to be selected on lowest quote which is too much of a lottery for us
> so we won't take the time to put together a bid".
>
> If you decide to go down the "creative approach" route there's a guide to
> writing a creative brief on my site at:
> http://www.joecutting.com/creativebrief.php
> Its mainly aimed at gallery exhibits but you might find it useful
> There's links to advice on developing heritage web sites towards the bottom
> of the advice page:
> http://www.joecutting.com/advice.php
>
>
> Best of luck with your project
>
> Joe
>
> **************************************************
> For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the
> website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk
> **************************************************
>
--
Paul Groves, Project Manager
The Yousef Jameel Online Centre for the Study of Islamic and Eastern Art
Dept. of Eastern Art, Ashmolean Museum
Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PH. UK
T: +44 (0)1865 278289
W: http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/
For disclaimer, see http://www.ashmolean.org/email/
|