On Thu, 11 Sep 2003 09:18:51 +0100, Clive Menzies <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> On (11/09/03 08:09), Oliver Elphick wrote: > > On Thu, 2003-09-11 at 00:36, Clive Menzies wrote: > > [ re Network Rail tender request ] > > > I'm London (UK) based and have a business background. I lack the > > > technical skills and knowledge to approach this but I'd be happy > > > to contribute. > > > > I'm an accountant by training, but technical by long-settled choice. > > > > Making a tender is very much a business and marketing exercise. We > > would need to convince the customer not only of the technical merits > > of our proposal but also that we have an organisation capable both > > of doing the job and of providing long-term support. We would first > > have to build such an organisation. > > > > If that can be done, I would like to be involved. > > > Well there seems to be some interest in pursuing this and I would > suggest that before going much further, we need to put together a > team, assigning roles and responsibilities to research the bid. > > I have some experience of successful pitches for consultancy contracts > but a task of this size and complexity is beyond what I've done in the > past. > > Please could we have suggestions as to what the roles are/or should > be. Then I would suggest a process as follows: > > Research the tender - what does Network Rail want? (scope and scale) > Assess the competition > Assess our ability to build a credible team > Assign roles and responsibilities > Collaborate on the Response to Tender > > Although the debian-user community has all the requisite skills to do > this, it will also require people on the ground, in the UK, to pull > this off. I've no idea of the number of people necessary to convince > Network Rail that there is a team with a comprehensive skill set with > cover and fall-back. If we are up against the likes of EDS, IBM, HP, > Sun or one of the big consultancies, you can reckon that they will put > a lot of man-power to this. ..BR will wanna have several such vendors around to pre-qualify for the job, and we wanna reseach the tender first. ;-) > I've had a couple of responses off-list, one individual and one on > behalf of a company. I believe that this needs to be a community > effort to succeed. It is the unique nature of the Debian community > which may just be the USP (differentiator) that could win this. I > wouldn't exclude a consortium with a corporate but we do need the > willing involvement of some of the prime movers in the Debian > community if we are to put together a credible bid. ..note that our bid does not have to exclude the other vendors. > It is therefore most constructive if people express their interest on > the debian-user list. ..agreed, but I do not wanna use this list to discuss the details of the tender docs. ;-) -- ..med vennlig hilsen = with Kind Regards from Arnt... ;-) ...with a number of polar bear hunters in his ancestry... Scenarios always come in sets of three: best case, worst case, and just in case. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
