If you want to learn a lot more about government agency procurements for printing, copying and fleet-MPS services, this particular procurement – from Nashville & Davidson County, TN, - is one that you can learn a lot from, provided you are willing to do some homework.
This one’s a fairly large deal, considering the size and scope of the City of Nashville and Davidson County, but, in considering whether you should take the time to learn from this one, consider that size/scope goes up and down as the size/scope of a government agency goes up and down, so, what I’m saying is - that even though this one’s a fairly large deal, other, smaller deals, might be structured similar to this one.
Years ago – and I’ve mentioned this on my blog previously – we (NGI) won a similar deal with Hillsborough County (FL) Government. It was a very lucrative, rewarding deal for NGI, one that lasted over a decade. For that RFP, we partnered (joint-ventured) with Ricoh Corp – Ricoh took care of the MFP fleet, we took care of the “Central Copy Center” operations and outsourcing.
Unfortunately, I did not locate this RFP opportunity until yesterday and the RFP process is now closed (proposals were due October 3rd, unless this RFP has been extended, and I haven’t checked to see if it has been extended. Those of you who are located in TN might want to check on that.)
Here’s how you can learn from this RFP:
a) Download and study the entire RFP. Take a look at the RFP proposal format required, take in all of the information furnished, review the terms and conditions.
b) Request a copy of the Q&A’s that were (likely) the outcome of the pre-proposal conference and the pre-submittal phase. That will give you information about the questions that were asked and the responses given to those questions.
c) Request a copy of all of the proposals that were submitted. Even if there is a charge to pay for those copies, trust me, it is worth it to spend the money on those copies. How often do you get a chance to review proposals from different companies, detailed proposals, services offered, prices offered.
d) Follow the procurement and find out which company was awarded the deal.
e) Those are the “basics” of learning about this particular procurement, but you might want to go a bit further than a, b, c, d; that’s up to you. (One further exercise would be to request a copy of the 2nd month’s billing under the contract that’s awarded.)
Okay, here’s the procurement I’m referring to:
METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY
RFP Number: 12.330
RFP Title: Print Shop Services, Convenience Copiers, Multifunctional Devices and Related Document Management Services
The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (hereinafter, “METRO”) is soliciting competitive sealed proposals from qualified firms with proven experience in the printing and copying industries for the purchase of the following products and services: Printing, Reprographic, Graphic Services, Copiers & Multifunctional Devices (MFD’s) and Related Document Management services for Metro offices and facilities located throughout Davidson County.
RFP Issued Deadline for submittal of questions Pre-proposal Meeting Amendment Issued addressing questions Proposals Due Award Contract
The following projected timetable should be used as a working guide for planning purposes. Metro reserves the right to adjust this timetable as required during the course of the RFP process.
Events:
Date RFP Issued: September 13, 2011
Date Proposals Due: October 3, 2011
Here’s the Internet address where I’ve placed a copy of the RFP:
(it’s fairly large file, give it time to fully load)
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