Dealing with picky bid specs

[Rich Rubasch]

I participated in a pre bid survey to determine how much the project would even cost. So we chatted about the project, how it might be streamlined etc. Turns out that even though the specs of the project were pretty specific they were willing to look at other ways to accomplish the same thing. For example we might use students’ testimonials as audio only and cut broll over them. that way we could run around with a zoom getting bites while the other crew shot the broll.

In the end we didn’t get the job.

I have seen wide variances in bid estimates…I suppose it’s not my job to determine how the low bidder can make money with their bid, but my guess is there is some streamlining involved.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com

[Mike Jeffs]

I have been in the opposite position many times before (being the one to hire work). And for me I’m sometimes bound to play within the rules I’m given. Think of it this way. If I was a private company I could choose who I want to work for me. I have a group that I do like to use, why because I have a realationship with them. I know then product, In a nut shell I know what the end product will be. Like a director who only works with such and such a AD or DP or only this editor. Not because others can’t do the job but becauase they are the ones they are comfortable working with. They don’t have it out for the other guys. But In Government work especially you can’t work like this. Everything is bid on. Everything!!! And usually you don’t get to make the choice some else does. So you are forced to find loopholes and work arounds to get what you want. Unfortunately groups like yours get burned In The process. Again they don’t mean too they just want to work with they guy they want. So they make up assorts of reasons why. The satellite uplink seems like a dead giveaway. I have on many occasions said ” well these are the only guys who work with x, and so we need them”. Did I really need x to get the job done, heck no but it help when the selection committee went to chose.

My two cents. Sorry you got burned though

Mike Jeffs
Video Coordinator
BYU-Idaho

[Tom Sefton]

We get these sort of issues all the freakin’ time.

I now refuse to bid/quote/tender/lick finger and stick in the air for ANY local government contracts unless we have been asked to.

It’s a waste of time. They either know someone who has helped them write the brief and then feel obliged/want to use them for the job anyway, or they have literally NO clue as to what they are buying. It might as well be a sack of apples.

Most local government staff in England don’t have any commercial experience – they will go with the lowest quote, and then if they save money they get a pat on the back from the boss and if the company can’t do it, it’s passed to the legal team. Very few will understand just how labour intensive it is to complete a tender response.

However, in this case, I would be inclined to kick up a big stink about the brief being written so favourably towards one company.

[Patrick Ortman]

>>In an opposite experience, I once lost a bid because we UNDERBID the competition by $200,000. The commercial agency felt we must have left SOMETHING out. And we even padded our bid by 100%.<< Been there, too. Learning fast, though 🙂 ---------------------------------------- My Los Angeles Digital Agency
Director/Filmmaker Site

[Richard Herd]

Isn’t that the famous gag? John Glenn, moments before launch, thought, “Oh S…t, I’m sitting on a pile of low bids!”

[Mike Cohen]

go have at look at fbo.gov – you can search for any number of criteria – there are usually a dozen media related RFPs mixed in with unbelievably specific requests. It is true, the RFP’s are likely written by the intended vendor themselves. Then you look at the list of interested vendors and there are dozens or more companies on the list. It can be very expensive to bid on federal contracts, and it helps to be based inside the Beltway. That being said, it can also be very lucrative.

But what this comes down to is something that is key to all business – relationships.

MC