On Tue, 14 Jan 2003 13:16:45 MST, Pete Kruckenberg <pete@kruckenberg.com> said:
I'm trying to envision an RFP that awards business to one or a few network operators, but requires that they interoperate effectively with other operators who don't win any of the business. I've only got a state-level purchasing perspective, but I don't see it happening at any level.
So you award the contract to a provider that has clueful engineers. How do you mandate/enable/whatever that they be able to interoperate effectively with the clueless vendor that didn't get the contract? Remember to address the fact that the clueless vendor would probably have to expend resources to support somebody else's contract, with no income to back it up. In addition, how would you enforce this without getting sued? You award the contract to Vendor A, they can't interoperate because Vendor B is a bunch of clueless weenies - now what do you do? -- Valdis Kletnieks Computer Systems Senior Engineer Virginia Tech