Re: Changes to the way we manage RFPs

[Bob Hinden <[e-mail]>]

Jay,

> On Feb 25, 2020, at 10:09 PM, Jay Daley <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
>> On 26/02/2020, at 6:01 PM, Bob Hinden <[e-mail]> wrote:
>> 
>> Jay,
>> 
>>> On Feb 25, 2020, at 7:15 PM, IETF Executive Director <[e-mail]> wrote:
>>> 
>>> The IETF Administration LLC is changing the way we manage RFPs.  These changes are part of a larger overhaul that will see further changes come in future.  The changes being made today are:
>>> 
>>> 1. As of next week, we will be using a new RFP Announcement Mailing List [1] [e-mail] for all announcements relating to RFPs and stop using IETF-Announce.  This change is intended to help us reach a wider network of potential vendors, both directly through a lower volume, more focused list and indirectly through automated redistribution of issued RFPs.
>> 
>> This sounds fine to me, I agree it isn’t reasonable to ask potential bidders to watch the ietf-announce list for RFPs.   That said, I think there is value to also cc: the ietf-announce list, doing that would improve transparency.    For example, I have no plans to subscribe to an rfp-announce list, but I do read the ietf-announce list.
> 
> As I said to Brian, it would be useful for me to understand why subscribing to rfp-announce - did I just need to make it clearer that this is a zero sum change as far as email volume goes?

I was assuming that the people who would subscribe to the rfp-announce list were people who might want to bid on IETF work.   I also assume the reason to create a separate list was for the people who were interested in bidding, but who didn’t care about other  things like what RFCs were published.

I am not planning to bid on any IETF RFPs.   I would still like to follow what is being put out to bid and what contracts were awarded.   I think copying the larger group would make the bidding process visible to a larger group of IETFers.

> My concern btw is the lack of a clear principle that decides what gets copied to ietf-announce and why (assuming you don’t mean everything that goes to rfp-announce).

My answer to that is things that are of general interest to the IETF should be sent to the IETF-announce list.   This includes RFP and contract awards.

Is there a reason to not copy these emails to ietf-announce?   I note it might result in more bids as they would reach a larger audience.

Hope this helps.

Bob




> 
> Jay
> 
>> 
>> Bob
>> 
>> 
>>> 
>>> 2. We have a new formal process for managing RFPs, published on the RFPs page [2].
>>> 
>>> 3. The RFPs page [2] now includes links to the all of the contracts for RFPs issued by the LLC.  These have the financial informaton redacted and where possible, signatures also redacted.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Planned changes include:
>>> 
>>> * Publishing vendor Conflict of Interest (COI) forms, once reviewed by the LLC Board.
>>> 
>>> * Publishing contract templates and non-negotiables (e.g. contract transparency) to allow vendors to study them before bidding.
>>> 
>>> * Engaging the community on the principles and processes we use for managing RFPs and what is and isn't appropriate for us to expect in our contracts.
>>> 
>>> * We will also investigate implementing some elements of the Open Contracting Data Standard [3]
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or feedback.
>>> 
>>> [1] https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/rfp-announce
>>> [2] https://www.ietf.org/about/administration/rfps/
>>> [3] https://www.open-contracting.org/data-standard/
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Jay Daley
>>> IETF Executive Director
>>> [e-mail]
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> IETF-Announce mailing list
>>> [e-mail]
>>> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf-announce
>> 
>