A Real-world RFP Case 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

Walt Disney Case Study 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

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 year’s 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?’

Walt Disney Case Study (RFP cont.) RFP typically does not include cost - bidders supply RFP’s 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 everyone’s 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 RFP’s - the RFP should ask for something practical or costs will go sky high