RFPs and Feasibility Studies Drivers of Critical Decision Making
Dec 18, 2014
RFPs and Feasibility Studies
Drivers of Critical Decision
Making
Decision Making Process
Phase Name Purpose Decisions
Phase 1 Pre-Feasibility Education
Develop political will and vision
Narrowed choices on technology, operating structure, open access, etc.
Holistic strategies
Phase 2 Feasibility Fact gathering and analysis, problem solving, integration of components.
Development of the business plan
Yes or no decision
Phase 3 Implementation Design and Build, Set up:
Operations
Marketing
Customer Service
Final choices
Feasibility - is it doable?
Educational Stage
Develop political will around a few paths
Feasibility Stage
Determine which choices are doable
Design and Implementation Stage
Do it - execute well
educational phase …
Document all of the above
• You have developed a fair idea of why this is good to do.
• You know something about the environment - who, what and how.
• Terminology isn’t so frightening and you can spell most T/FLAs.
• Key people understand the motivations and are supportive.
• Set up expectations, review key goals, know your objectives --
Preparing for feasibility … • Document for distribution with the (helper) RFP all --
Descriptions of your community (population, growth, number of houses, apartments, SMBs, campuses) Motivations and desired outcomes What services you are considering Any maps of the community (penetration of other providers, know fiber,
zoning, etc.)
• Develop an understanding of the work to be done. Construct the scope of work Prioritize according to your goals and objectives Know what you don’t know (very hard) - do your best
• Develop an oversight plan
Purpose … To determine feasibility - doable
• Can it be physically built and at what precise price
Physical Media, Electronics (Municipal Commons)
Services -- what, how delivered, partners (Closed or Open)
Operational methods and expense
Initial Capital, equipment/service replacements, upgrades
• Can it be paid for and how
Marketing Plan -- how and at what expense
Methods for financing, sources of revenue
Initial tentative agreements
• Confidence: that you are within 10% to 15% of actual
Full Business PlanListing of Types and Methods for ServicesRecommended Marketing PlanRecommended ArchitectureRecommended Operational PlanDoable Financial Model and GovernanceImplementation timing and horizon
Identification of Partnerships, Builders, Content …
Recommended Financing Model
When you finish …
Scope of Services: Markets - Services
• Establish your Competitive Posture Current Provider(s) offerings/negatives, price levels,
Bundles/packages, plans How are you different? Why are you better? Can you
maintain this over time?• Establish Pricing Strategy and Approach
What are you offering, what’s special, enticements and discounts, growth in services, new functions …
Iterate with cost of providing: video content, Internet bandwidth, interconnection charges
• Develop Quantitative Market Research Test your assumptions -- Focus groups, small sample
statistics, phone surveys, existing provider penetration, door-to-door, et al
Scope of Services -- Operations
• Services infrastructure and support RF for video, IPTV, VoD, Mobility, Telephone Services
Bandwidth on demand, authentication and security …
Partnerships -- content, peering, interconnect
• Operational methods mechanisms Who handles support and how, closed/open/hybrid capabilities,
inventory management, billing, provisioning, network management
How do you manage partnerships (services, support, vendors)
• Implementation Methods Initial roll out plans and modifications
Change management, service & system equipment refreshes
Scope of Services - Architecture
• Define access architecture(s) -- fixed and increments FTTH for Residences, SMB (WiMax for northern reach) WDM, GigE, MetroE, packet optical for larger commercial
enterprises, growth projection
• In Network Services caching, peer-to-peer, authentication, security, mobility, reliability, gaming,
impulse buying …
• Transport Structures and Aggregation• Quality of Service mechanisms
Method(s) of traffic separation, segmentation Service Level Agreements (mostly businesses) Reliability methods and attributes
• Home environment support
Scope of Services -- Financial Plan
• Roll up costs to build (Architecture and Services)Increments based on Marketing and Implementation
• Roll up costs to operate - fixed and variable/annualSoftware, people, equipment, electricity, peering costs, etc.
• Estimate market entry costs -- legal, initial marketing, delays, etc.
• Estimate revenues -- vary them bypenetration rates, pricing strategy, service mix
find break even points, cash positives
• Determine value add for community in dollarsIncreased taxes (new business, new residents, property tax)
Governments services -- offsets to existing, new capabilities
Quality of Life benefits -- home health care, education, etc.
Scope of Services -- Governance
• Does the financial analysis suggest an approach?
• What are legal or regulatory issues and do they have impact?
• Have you thought through local control issues, PEG support, franchise revenues, customer support, permits and codes?(not only financial -- you don’t want to become “them”)
• What options exist to protect against downside risk?
• What is the impact on viability from various approaches?
Implement: RFP - write one
• Starting with a good sense of what you know, be specific. Create a Scope of Services categories might be:
Marketing - Services, Operations, Architecture, Finance, Governance
• Specify experience desired look for neutral companies if possible must include building/running networks, finance, marketing
• Prioritize evaluation criteria what is most important to your community create an evaluation guide (decision matrix).
• Prepare all documentation you can find that helps• Ask for a willingness to explore options --
ask if feasibility people can manage next stage ask for their vision on “things that make you special”
Implement: Oversight
• Develop an Oversight Plan
ensure ongoing education
ensure meeting community values and goals
ensure responsibility stays where it belongs
• It is a process, not just a list of tasks - be iterative
• Stop if you can tell that it is not doable
• Don’t let unsupported statements stand long
• Keep key persons and supportive community involved
Implement and Win
Know where you are . . .
Do your homework, document, details count, find balance
Get real help … helpful and knowledgeable guide(s)
Ask all the burning questions . . . And get answers if you can
Have some fun, but remember you are creating a public goodand when you Win, it will feel VERY GOOD indeed!
U-reka Broadband VenturesRFP Creation
“Preparing a document that gets you the information you need without
burning your eyes out”
Why do we know anything?
• Have created and responded to Requests in the Telecommunications Industry including:– Infrastructure– Equipment– Telecom Services– Consulting Services– Operational Support Systems
Asking the Right Questions
• Ask open questions that require respondents to provide more than a yes or no response
• Provide a space for response that keeps questions in an order that makes it easier to analyze
• Place your questions in an order that mimics your decision matrix
RFI, RFP,RFQ
• RFI-Request for Information-document that requires respondents to provide information on their product, service or solution and typically provide budgetary pricing
• RFP-Request for Proposal-typically used for service type requests; consulting, engineering, project management and the like. Firm numbers and commitments made by respondents
• RFQ-Request for Quotation-typically used for equipment, hard-assets and services to furnish and install
Examples of Open Ended
Please describe other projects where your company has provided financial analysis of competing telecommunications providers; describe the process you utilized to create pro-forma’s and gather financial information?Response:
How about Close-ended questions?
• Definition: Question is specific and must be answered with a yes or no, or with details as appropriate.
• Good to utilize when asking basic questions such as:– Insurance Requirements– Licensing Requirements– Other “check-off” types of requirements
Decision Matrix
• Determine your Desired Outcome• Understand the components to get there• Rate which are most important to least
important and provide a weighting to each• Utilize this matrix to then craft questions for
the RFP that will allow you to analyze the respondents
• Make decision on how percentages will be assigned
Example MatrixCategory/Sub Category % Weighting Rating 1 Rating 2 Rating 3 Rating 4 Rating 5 Total
Expertise 50%
Network 15%
Operations 15%
Financial 20%
Sales/Marketing 15%
Regulatory/Legal 15%
Services 20%
Process 25%
Timeline 25%
Description of Process 50%
Previous Experience 25%
Pricing 25%
Price 80%
Insurance Requirements 10%
Licensing Requirements 10%
Go to Haves!
• Description of Project– Community Information– Previous work completed
• Expected Outcomes/Requirements• Three Broad Categories to cover in an RFP:
– Expertise of Vendor– Process Vendor will use to complete project– Pricing and Legal
• Evaluation Criteria and Rating
Expertise• Network-what knowledge and experience does the vendor have regarding
fiber-to-the-premise networks • Operations-operational knowledge and experience operating fiber-to-the-
premise networks• Financial-ability of vendor to create Performa's and analyze financials
regarding capital, operations and financing options• Sales/Marketing-ability of vendor to create and analyze sales and
marketing objectives• Regulatory/Legal-ability of vendor to analyze and interpret the Regulatory
and Legal landscape and provide guidance on the Regulatory hurdles of differing solutions
• Services-ability of vendor to provide guidance surrounding services to be provided over the network including voice, data, video and other ancillary services
Process • Timeline
– How long will it take the vendor to complete the project– Asking for a project chart to represent this is always a good idea
• Description of Process– How will the vendor gather information, work with you, compile the
information and provide a final product– Another important piece is what expectations the vendor has
regarding your involvement in the process– What you are looking for here is good project management practices
and thoroughness of the process• Previous Experience
– References of Previous Projects– Other telecommunications background and projects
Pricing
• Scope as Understood by Vendor• Pricing for the project
– Not to exceed?– Change orders?– Other Hourly services?
• Insurance coverage• Other financial qualifications-want to make
sure they will be around
Analysis
• Utilize the team you have put together for creating the decision matrix
• Each member should do an independent evaluation utilizing the decision matrix and provide ratings
• Combine these ratings to determine the ranking of your vendors
Vendor Matrix Tally SheetCategory/Sub Category % Weighting Rating 1 Rating 2 Rating 3 Rating 4 Rating 5 Total
Expertise 50% 1-10 1-10 1-10 1-10 1-10
Network 15% 6 8 7 5 4 30
Operations 15% 7 8 3 5 6 29
Financial 20% 5 7 6 6 3 27
Sales/Marketing 15% 4 6 6 2 4 22
Regulatory/Legal 15% 5 6 2 9 5 27
Services 20% 6 4 5 4 5 24
Process 25%
Timeline 25% 8 6 7 9 5 35
Description of Process 50% 8 7 6 8 5 34
Previous Experience 25% 8 6 6 8 4 32
Pricing 25%
Price 80% 6 6 7 5 8 32
Insurance Requirements 10% 10 10 10 10 10 50
Licensing Requirements 10% 10 10 10 10 10 50
Vendor Matrix TotalsCategory/Sub Category % Weighting Vendor 1 Vendor 2 Vendor 3 Vendor 4 Vendor 5
Expertise 50%
Network 15% 30 22 26 16 35 35
Operations 15% 29 26 23 18 28 29
Financial 20% 27 20 19 17 29 29
Sales/Marketing 15% 22 24 21 14 25 25
Regulatory/Legal 15% 27 22 19 12 26 27
Services 20% 24 19 17 13 25 25
Process 25%
Timeline 25% 35 28 26 18 32 35
Description of Process 50% 34 25 26 16 34 34
Previous Experience 25% 32 26 22 16 31 32
Pricing 25%
Price 80% 32 35 30 28 32 35
Insurance Requirements 10% 50 40 45 35 50 50
Licensing Requirements 10% 50 40 45 35 50 50
Vendor Matrix RankingsCategory/Sub Category % Weighting Vendor 1 Vendor 2 Vendor 3 Vendor 4 Vendor 5
Expertise 50% 47% 39% 36% 27% 49%
Network 15% 13% 9% 11% 7% 15%
Operations 15% 15% 13% 12% 9% 14%
Financial 20% 19% 14% 13% 12% 20%
Sales/Marketing 15% 13% 14% 13% 8% 15%
Regulatory/Legal 15% 15% 12% 11% 7% 14%
Services 20% 19% 15% 14% 10% 20%
Process 25% 25% 19% 18% 12% 24%
Timeline 25% 25% 20% 19% 13% 23%
Description of Process 50% 50% 37% 38% 24% 50%
Previous Experience 25% 25% 20% 17% 13% 24%
Pricing 25% 23% 24% 22% 20% 23%
Price 80% 73% 80% 69% 64% 73%
Insurance Requirements 10% 10% 8% 9% 7% 10%
Licensing Requirements 10% 10% 8% 9% 7% 10%
TOTAL 100% 95.2% 82.5% 76.6% 58.4% 97.0%
Contact Informationwww.blandinonbroadband.org
• Eric Lampland– Lookout Point Communications– [email protected] – 651.227.8122
• John Schultz– U-REKA Broadband– [email protected]– 651 967-7196
• Bill Coleman (all Blandin Broadband Inquiries)– Community Technology Advisors– [email protected]– 651-491-2551