[Koha] RFI/RFP for FOSS -Librarians and Service Providers

[Paul Nielsen]

Hi Lee,

I only just noticed this thread now, so hopefully I am not too late for you.
We used a pretty standard 2 envelope (Price/non-price) RFP process that we sent to a pre-selected list of vendors, including two Koha support companies.
We short-listed after non-price evaluation and then opened the $ envelopes after a round of further evaluation/testing/demos and site visits etc. We selected Koha & Catalyst so can I infer that it must work for OS products and providers?

I've attached our RFP for you to review - it is quite brief as we wanted to keep it as simple as possible.

Regards,

Paul Nielsen  |  Library Manager
ddi: (07) 862 5064  |  email: pauln at hauraki-dc.govt.nz

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________________________________
From: koha-bounces at lists.katipo.co.nz [mailto:koha-bounces at lists.katipo.co.nz] On Behalf Of Lori Bowen Ayre
Sent: Saturday, 11 June 2011 12:43 p.m.
To: Lee Phillips
Cc: koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
Subject: Re: [Koha] RFI/RFP for FOSS -Librarians and Service Providers

Hi Lee,

I was hoping someone who isn't a consultant would chime in on this thread but since they didn't, I'll share my approach to this issue.  I generally recommend that libraries evaluate the products' functionality separate from the pricing.  You can determine the functional capabilities of the proprietary products by issuing an RFP or an RFI or maybe even a questionnaire but that won't necessarily work for the open source products since there is no single sales and marketing department for Evergreen or Koha and responding to those RFPs is just too onerous.

But you can get the information yourself.  Sometimes what I've done is help the library with the process of identifying their needs and then doing most of the evaluation of the OS products themselves. The goal is to end up with a matrix of how each product matches up to the libraries need.  The matrix is basically filled out by the libraries themselves based on  tehir own testing of the open source product and by working with sales people from the proprietary vendors.

Once you've evaluated the products and know which ones will meet your needs functionly, then you issue an RFQ.  You are MUCH more likely to get responses (from migration and support companies that service Koha and Evergreen) to an RFQ than you are to an RFP that is boilerplate and designed for proprietary systems and which ultimately makes the OS options look bad because some key questions aren't even asked.

But some of those key questions SHOULD be asked in the RFQ  (e.g. cost of migration of data to get started...and what about when you decide to leave that vendor?, software license and maintenance cost of each module of software and SIP server, hardware requirements, etc).

I hope this helps.  Would love to hear what you've come up with if this message comes too late to be of use!

Lori


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Lori Bowen Ayre // Library Technology Consultant
The Galecia Group // www.galecia.com<http://www.galecia.com/>
(707) 763-6869 // Lori.Ayre at galecia.com<mailto:Lori.Ayre at galecia.com>

<mailto:Lori.Ayre at galecia.com>Specializing in open source ILS solutions, RFID, filtering,
workflow optimization, and materials handling
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 8:01 AM, Lee Phillips <lphillips at buttepubliclibrary.info<mailto:lphillips at buttepubliclibrary.info>> wrote:
Hello all from Montana,
We have been having the craziest weather here and in the US in general.
It is has been the longest winter for us that I can remember.
Anyway, I am working on a white paper about equitable RFP and RFI
(request for proposals or request for information) that are vendor
neutral and gives FOSS library ware equal footing in the bidding
process. In addition I have been contacted by the Montana Library
Consortium (who currently uses Sirisi) to consult on their RFI for the
shared catalog ILS for the same reason. Many of you who were at KohaCon
9 in TX. will remember the Montana State Library representative who
attended(Mike Price) and he was less than kind in his reporting back to
the state library.
I have found RFP templates that I am currently modifying to create a
format that is unbiased for FOSS and proprietary products.
SO....if you have recently gone out for an RFP for your ILS and have
information that I can incorporate into this white paper (and pass on
the the Montana Shared Catalog) I would be grateful. Of course time is
of the essence, so please send me what you have or point me to info that
would be important to consider.
Thank you for your time, as always it is a privilege and a pleasure to
be part of the Koha Community.
Sincerely
Lee Phillips
Director
Butte Silver Bow Public Library
Butte, Montana
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