Presentation Project

1
Presentation Project

• mind your RFPs and Ps

2
Engineering and Business

• A need is identified
• Request for proposal (RFP) is written
• Bidders respond to the RFP with proposals
• RFPs are evaluated
• The job is awarded
• The work is conducted by the winning bidder

3
Engineering and Business

• Technical nature of the work means that
  consultants and middle-men often involved much
  more
• Need may be identified by a consultant (1) for a
  company (Co.)
• RFP may be written by another consultant (2) for
  Co.
• Bidders may include (1), hopefully not (2) and
  other companies (4)
• Evaluation may include (1) or (2) or even (3)
• Co. decides who gets the job in consultation with
  consultants

4
Engineering Business Case Study

• 1994 Northridge Earthquake Causes Costly but
  non-life threatening damage in LA area
• Walt Disney Co. takes significant financial hit
  in repairing corporate buildings
• During damage remediation an Engineering
  consulting firm suggests that a comprehensive
  earthquake monitoring system in the Walt Disney
  buildings could be used to speed remediation in
  the future

5
Walt Disney Case Study (Need)

• Walt Disney Co. decides that EQ monitoring system
  may be needed and determines that a Request for
  Proposal should be written to solicit bids on
  providing the system
• Engineering firm is hired to write the technical
  specifications for a document which describes
  what Walt Disney CO. needs for EQ monitoring

6
Walt Disney Case Study (RFP)

• Request for Proposal (RFP) includes
• Who? wants the work done
• Walt Disney Co.
• What? Exactly what technical specifications that
  must be met
• period, record length, remote access,
  inter-connection, robustness
• Where? they want the work done
• Several individual buildings in LA
• When? project typically includes timeline
• Billed on this years budget so it can be written
  off as part of Northridge expense
• Why? motivation for wanting the work done
• To quickly determine if damage has occurred to
  building during an EQ with minimum disruption and
  physical inspection
• How? methods to be used, tied to what?

7
Walt Disney Case Study (RFP cont.)

• RFP typically does not include cost - bidders
  supply
• RFPs with a significant amount of why?
  information can be very useful for the bidder -
  knowing the why? may allow a bidder to come up
  with a better what? a bad RFP has very little
  why? and may mean the bidder will be left with
  narrow prescriptive work - not everyones
  favorite.
• How? typically this is left up to the bidder in
  good engineering projects, but RFP writer must be
  able to judge if various how? options are
  feasible
• In engineering projects the RFP writer may
  contact potential bidders in the process (this is
  touchy) but often occurs due to the technical
  nature of engineering RFPs - the RFP should ask
  for something practical or costs will go sky high

8
Proposal

• What should the proposal include?

9
Proposal Exercise

• You
• A student run startup internet company that got
  some nice equipment (servers, storage) from a dot
  com flop. You need to make a go of it though
• Client
• A local school district (say for a city 1
  million) has decided they need an updated web
  presence. They believe that their web presence
  might
• give them better community contact
• be an information warehouse
• provide educational initiatives

10
Proposal Exercise (continued)

• You are responding to the proposal. You have 10
  minutes to come up with an outline of the main
  topics your proposal will cover. (write it on the
  board).
• Brainstorm topics that need to be covered
• Organize them into an outline

11
Proposal Exercise Summary

• EDU.COM
• Your student run startup internet company, you
  have some nice equipment (servers, storage) from
  a dot com flop, but you need cash to really make
  a go of this.
• MEGALOPOLIS SCHOOL DISTRICT
• A school district puts out an RFP to improve
  their web presence. Initial reasons cited for
  doing this
• give them better community contact
• be an information warehouse
• provide educational initiatives
• EDU.COM RESPONDS
• You have 10 minutes to come up with an outline
  of the main topics your proposal will cover.
  (write it on the board).
• Brainstorm topics that need to be covered
• Organize them into an outline

12
Walt Disney Case Study (Proposals)

• What a Proposal includes
• Who - includes names, qualifications, company
  structure, previous related work
• How and What - exact details of system to be
  provided, for engineered systems all details may
  not be known
• Where - as per RFP
• When - hopefully as per RFP, may include cost vs.
  time issues
• Why - not usually provided, or perhaps echo
  client needs
• Cost - key item dont hide anything, give
  breakdowns, be realistic (note multiply a yearly
  salary by say 2.5 or so to get billing cost)
• References - who will vouch for you

13
Walt Disney Case Study (Proposals)

• Kinemetrics
• high (100K/bldg.), extensive client list, dated
  - but turnkey system, local and international
  presence, knowledgeable engineers contacted
  during RFP, wont meet timeline exactly
• Joe Blow engineering
• low , (50k/bldg.) small but mostly satisfied
  client list, very local presence - but no more,
  growing one-man business, cheaper more flexible
  equipment some concerns with setup
• Foreign co. newcomer
• mid , (60K/bldg.) state-of-art equipment, no
  local contact yet, overseas engineer would
  install, RFP satisfied, but very little details
  given, only able to contact one reference -
  highly satisfied with work
• How to evaluate? who did they choose?

14
Evaluation

• How do you evaluate who wins the job?

15
Walt Disney Case Study (Evaluation)

• Evaluation
• Cost and type (fixed vs. time materials)
• Experience / assurance of capability
• Feasibility
• Enough details provided
• Robustness of solution
• Flexibility
• Stability (of co. and solution)
• Timeliness

16
Presentation Project

• Proposal presentation
• Who
• names, qualifications, company structure,
  previous related work
• How and What
• Where
• When
• Why
• Cost
• References

• Evaluation includes..
• Cost
• Experience
• Feasibility
• Enough details provided
• Robustness of solution
• Flexibility
• Stability
• Timeliness

place your presentation emphasis on the areas
that will help you win the job but make sure to
meet the basics and provide answers to all the
evaluation issues.
17
Guidelines for your start-up company

• Your make-believe qualifications include
• all your real qualifications
• BA or BS degrees from JHU, major of your choice
• 4 years of experience to be spent on
• 4 years of experience, company of your choice, OR
• 2 years experience MA, MS or MBA, OR
• PhD / Law / Medicine degree only
• All other made-up qualifications / references /
  previous work etc. should be consistent with this
  framework - a person 4 years from BA/BS..

18
Presentation Project 1

• MONDAY 2 DEC KINETIC SCULPTURE
• Representing the Sculptor 3 Dan, Christine,
  John
• Abbreviated Request For Proposal A sculptor has
  been commissioned by a city government to create
  a piece of kinetic sculpture. He wants to produce
  a piece that carries out its movement only very
  rarely. In fact, he wants his sculpture to
  perform at random times on average only once a
  year. He believes that the rarity of motion will
  increase interest people who happen to pass as
  it performs will feel especially rewarded. The
  problem is, he needs a device that will close a
  switch at random times with an average time
  between closings of one per year. Each point in
  time should be equally likely to produce the
  event. Electricity is available. But he does not
  want any apparatus that involves a computer.
  Design a practical mechanism that can meet his
  needs. If necessary, your device may be manually
  reset after each event.
• Companies with Proposals
• Company 5 Joe, Keith, Jessica
• Company 6 Maya, Ben
• The Sculptors decision will be rendered at the
  conclusion of class.

19
Presentation Project 2

• WEDNESDAY 4 DEC FRENCH TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT
• Representing the Government of France 4 Eric,
  Jessica, Daniel
• Abbreviated Request for Proposal France has an
  extensive system of high-speed (120km/hr) toll
  roads called "autoroutes". These autoroutes are
  very effective in getting travelers around
  France. Unfortunately, theyre somewhat dangerous
  because motorists often ignore the speed limits,
  which change depending on whether the roads are
  wet or dry. Speed traps are only partially
  effective, because radar detectors and straight
  roads let drivers know exactly where to slow
  down. Once passed, the drivers return to their
  excessive speed. Design a system or protocol that
  will address this problem. Your design should
  include some practical way of detecting and
  identifying speeders and/or ensuring that maximum
  speed limits are not exceeded. Of course, cost
  and effectiveness are both important.
• Companies with Proposals
• Company 1 Emily, Allan, Safi
• Company 2 Mary, Wei, Annand
• The Government of Frances decision will be
  rendered at the conclusion of class