Quoting based on a very brief Brief

[Bill Davis]

Much of the important stuff has been covered.

But one thing hasn’t.

When it comes to big government projects, there’s often a big old above the line budget. XX millions. Then there’s language somewhere in the details that indicates that they want the “documentary” video of the process. And often, there’s a PERCENTAGE of the sub-budget of the sub-budget that they set aside when developing the overall budget FOR THE VIDEO COVERAGE that let them generate the original overall budget number in the first place.

SOMEBODY knows that number. The original contractor. The local council. Maybe just the poor secretary who had to input the original documents into the system.

I’m NOT saying you should try to obtain any insider information or information you’re not legally entitled to. Bad ethics is a slippery slope and once you’re in the mud, you’ll never, ever get clean.

But quite often, that information is NOT insider – but rather PUBLISHED PUBLIC INFO as a part of the open bidding process. Imagine they set asside .001% of the contract budget for the video. Do you own calculator?

Would that help you bid this? Ya think?

If this is what you want do for a living, take it seriously. LEARN about this organization. Learn who knows these numbers. Don’t break the rules, but if there’s critical information that you can secure WITHIN the rules, why in gods name wouldn’t you want that? Would a polite phone call to their offices to ask if there’s a BUDGET in any PUBLIC DOCUMENTATION relating to this gig?,

Hell, you want to play at the executive level, understand there’s nothing illegal about learning where these office folks drink and getting to know some of the people in the front office personally. That’s what lobbyists do every day. And perhaps cultivating a personal relationship with the people you’ll be working with means they’ll watch out of beneficial public information that could assist you. Again, as long as they’re not providing you with something that someone else can find out, you’re playing scrupulously fair.

Let’s see, on page 1090 of the original TUNNEL THROUGH RED ROCK design contract it specifies that they’re to spend “NOT OVER $50,000 in creating a video record of their lovely $13.6 millions dollar project.

Bingo,

My bid: $49.999.00

If you’re gonna play this game. Why not dedicate yourself to learning how to play as well as possible?

Just some random thoughts from another guy who’s been there.

[Vladimir Lozinski]

Interesting chat. Responsible organizations have their procedures for bids which they are legally obliged to follow. Yes, they can be byzantine ( not so sure about roccoco) but your council probably only have one method of taking bids. Filmmaking is a really tough fit into a template generally used in bids for dams, road repairs, street lighting and car parks.
I do not deal with a double headed hydra such as 2 local councils but I do a lot of work with international organizations. If you finally go ahead with this bid, here are some more issues you may have to grapple with.
The toughest part for me is getting the edit approved. I produce, shoot and edit to a budget, but when more than a small number of people are involved in the final approval it can become messy. Too many people want that little shot fixed or maybe that voice over changed. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone said. “It is only a small change”. I generally ask for a single person to be the collector of all “fix it “ideas and there is a limited number of reedits before it gets to a fresh day rate. Extra cost tends to focus the client. As the persons involved are generally on separate continents, I generally post the “semi final” edit on a web address. They can download and view it on their computer at their convenience, submit ideas to the collector, who is the only person I talk with. It saves a lot of hassle.
They probably mean well but know nothing about video production…. which is why they are hiring you, but can be dangerous.
Best of luck.
V.L.

[Kai Cheong]

We do a lot of work with government agencies & every single one of them has to go through an online tendering system similar to what you’ve described
here. Often, the exec put in charge of managing the tender has no experience dealing with video projects & not much understanding of the technical specs they sometimes put into the brief. We usually make a phone call & ask all ther pertinent details needed to make sure we can quote reasonably. If there’s enough time, we also try to meet the clients face to face – this is where the clients sometimes realize they don’t really know what they want and the things they copied & pasted into their brief is probably going to cost more than they have (“Full HD Video In HD DVD”).

A company I used to work with many years ago had a construction project of such epic scale… But a non existent project management system. Shoots were not documented & tapes are hastily labelled. There wasn’t a dedicated producer on it-whoever was the AP/Producer with the time went for the shoot. I would hate to be the editor & producer doing the edit!

So perhaps that is something you should cost properly for (project management & proper archival) – and highlight it as a USP in your proposal.

Other than that, thanks for the post: Ive learnt some great tips all round. We’re trying to add more non-government private clients to our mix but I don’t see being able to shift away totally from this
imperfect & sometimes way-too-time-consuming tender process.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
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[Timothy J. allen]

My very survival for the past 10 years has depended on responding honestly and accurately to RFPs by government agencies. Every RFP has had very specific criteria that the award would be based on, and although price is always a criteria, it’s very seldom if ever the sole criteria. The point is demonstrating:

A) That you understand the parameters of the job
B) That you are reliable
B) That you will do the job for a fair and reasonable price
C) That the end product you deliver will be useful and of good technical quality

This means that you take a look at those parts of the RFP that aren’t clear, and work with the issuing agency to clarify them. If a phrase is ambiguous, we clarify our interpretation of what it means in our proposal. That’s where we win. Not by bidding the lowest… by asking the right questions and submitting proposals that give the reviewers confidence in the list above.

Don’t underestimate the value of having someone on your team that is really good at estimating production timelines and costing projects accurately. That is just as important to succeeding in this business as it is knowing whether your white levels are too hot. It keeps you and your clients from wasting time and money.

If you are a creative type that has a gifted project manager, a thorough lawyer, a versatile engineer, and a trusting client on your side, life can be pretty sweet… but if you are missing any of those skills on your team, it can flip in a heartbeat.