lol

Don’t know much about this topic, take your word.

But, 12 days to return your response?

I don’t see how you could get a proposal to completely re-do a whole political party website in less than a month, given just how huge and awful the site is now.

Believe me, I’ve seen dozens of IT RFPs, and that was unquestionably created by someone who doesn’t have a clue about what they are or what they are for.

I suspect what you suspect is true.

My folks have been RNC supporters for years, and have lately been prodding me to send in cash to support our ‘10 efforts, but I’m starting to wonder whether this would be a truly wise investment. Steele is just flat-out disappointing me.

Is there a better, more-grassroots PAC with honest-to-god conservative principles and common sense that I can contribute to, instead?

They don’t have any staff members left to write it, do they?

This looks suspiciously like the cover outline for a larger RFP package. I’ve worked on many RFPs and there’s always an intro similar to this followed by a very detailed set of documents. Just wondering…

My favorite part is at the end:

“All RFP’s will be due no later than 12pm on Wednesday, March 18 to webrfp@gop.com.”

This is the RFP dip****! You’re asking for the proposals dummy!

I’ve also never seen a 2 page RFP. Sad…

I’ve seen three types of RFP’s in my career in the technology space. There are those that a preferred vendor writes for you that is slanted to the benefits of that vendor. Those are usually very easy to pick out as biased.

The second type has very detailed specifications around what the requestor wants. Usually they specify format and deal killers because of required need.

The last type is what I just read. Those that display complete ignorance as to what the requestor wants and needs. As a vendor, I would be salivating over this one. I could propose smell-o-vision and a nickel slot and apparently no one would be the wiser.

Who writes this stuff?

Cyrus was, in my estimation fully capable of directing the implementation of the next (and very needed) step in creating a viable web presence to compete with the DNC. Perhaps Rush hit a vary specific point in that Chairman Steele is incapable of the leadership needed at this point.

Cyrus’ resignation: which in my , is a huge loss.

45 days to bring it live, and they probably have done ZERO user research. You just can’t make stuff like this up.

If I would have received that RFP, I would have trashed it because it looks like a fake. Seriously.

Maybe Cyrus wrote the dang thing?

Maybe David All’s company is getting the business anyway?

Maybe they’re just clueless and need help instead of ridicule?

Join the RedState Strike Force

Because you know it really does.

No way is this document legitimate…

Being ‘in’ the business they address allow me to clarify some issues.

1: The 45 days is after completion. They will go ‘live’ after 45 days. That does NOT mean it is expected to be built in 45 days. It means they want a 45 day hidden beta period (an alpha session actually.)
2: Their caveat is the one desiring an existing CMS. What they have asked for is a totally custom CMS but they require an existing platform, which means they want a clone of some other very large political site package. They don’t want their own system.
3: They only want a pre-built, pre-functioning CMS back end which they only want to ‘customize’ and skin.

In other words:

They want someone who can make a married package of Word Press and VBulletin, as they certainly do not want to spend the high 6 figures it would take to make a custom package. And at this time in history they should not be spending that amount of money on something they will never properly use. What they have is good enough to get the job done. What they don’t have is someone to make it work and that is rather obvious, not from the request for proposals, but from what the RFP asks for.

I’m sorry gang, but the RFP is not as lame as one might think, it is rather typical of a ‘non-net-nut’s take on what they want. It does show a massive amount of ignorance on the planning, flow charting, wire-framing and development part of a project of that magnitude and I’m sure they expect proposals to fill in those blanks. But since they stress they are looking for an existing CMS package, very little of that is even needed.

I build custom CMS packages (here and I would not consider submitting a bid for this project for only one reason:

The person in charge is obviously way in over his or her head. That can only mean a disaster of a planning process and a worse execution. Anyway, the required ’sit down’ sessions, mean a local D.C. development company only! This is not really a call for proposals. It is a notice to the same-ole sale-ole to start the engines and warm up the standard to get the same-ole lame user experience, just cast in a nice (obviously Obama style) design, because web CMS companies are like dinosaurs on skateboards: they can get there pretty fast, but they’ll knock down everything in the path and they became extinct years ago. They just don’t know it yet. Its the ‘add-on’ outfit to watch.

I call this the “Field of Dreams” web design.

If we build it, they will come.

Really?

I would laugh at anyone who put something like that in front of me.

I live in one tiny part of this world, but in my world, it’s all about results.

What are the goals?

How do they define a conversion? Sign up? Money? Volunteer?

What is their conversion rate across their different goals? Across different persona’s? Where are people falling off the conversion train? What are they going to do to increase it? How will they know? What else are they going to test? Etc.

Like I said, I live in one tiny part of this world. A decent RSP for my tiny world would be so much more detailed than this.

Hohohohohoo heeheehee oh! *gasp* hahahahahahaha! Oh, that was a good one.

Wait, you mean that RFP isn’t a joke? Oh. Never mind.

I just heard the tail end, he didn’t identify himself when he signed off but I recognized his voice. I read comments about what he said on another site, got the impression he was OK. We are listening closely wherever you are, Mr. Steele.

These people couldn’t pour … ummm… liquid out of a boot with directions written on the bottom.

As one of those wussy Independents, I was going to write a snarky response on how “outside the box” and “Republican Party”, HAS to lead to an amateurish solicitation….BUT THEN….while I’m writing this, MSNBC has this story about Steele and using “baby” in every sentence that he offers and I’ve got to go with the masses here…I believe that this RFP is a LEGITIMATE OFFERING from the RNC. I don’t think that this RFP is thown together because the vendor’s already been chosen…I believe the exact OPPOSITE. This RNC is THAT incompetent. It’s a Mickey Mouse RFP written by Mickey Mouse. I’m sorry but Michael Steele’s going to be ousted. He SHOULD resign. He won’t. He’s a straight-up con artist who’s running game on a Party that needs to present a fresh young face in the “era of Obama”….Republicans may not see this stunt for what it is. Steele’s hurting your Party. He all talk with little substance. I’ll quote the words from Al Quaeda’s favorite “Black Conservative”: “You’ve been, had!…you’ve been.. took!,..you’ve been, Hoodwinked!….Bamboozled!…Led astray!…Run amouk!” - - Malcolm X….. Michael Steele needs to go. He’s a con artist and unworthy of the Party of Lincoln.

You are right on Erick! GOP.com is lame, the GOP Tech Summit was lame and I decided to do something about it:

http://gopguerrillas.ning.com

Yes, we are going to do a hijack and do the job the GOP won’t do.

Yes, we are going to get a bunch of open source type programmers together and put up what will become the authoritative Action Center. FOr GOP activists.

So if you are a coder, an artist, designer, database guru, or even just a blog moderator type, we are going to need you. Please go to

http://gopguerrillas.ning.com

…and get involved. We will provide the activism tools not even discussed in the GOP RFP like:

1. If I register and desire a call, then I get a phone call within a day from a LOCAL GOP worker telling me how I could help
2. I can BE the GOP worker calling #1 above from my area
3. Phone list of LOCAL voters I can call for party outreach RIGHT NOW
4. A calendar of events within 100 miles I can attend RIGHT NOW
5. Ability to add a new event to the #2 (above) calendar RIGHT NOW
6. A phone/email list of LOCAL party workers who have said they want to be contacted to help with events RIGHT NOW
7. A defined LOCAL geographic area (dynamically and demographically examined for potential effectiveness) where I can walk a district and knock on doors RIGHT NOW

These are the activism tools we need. Let’s make them.

If we build it they will come.

if so, then this needs to be RedState supported project with front page space and a kick-off announcement.

Indeed, we may well need a RNC 2.0 to supercede the existing dysfunctional structure.

Yes the project is clear: to redesign the GOP website. But the requirements specified are blurred and in disorder.

On the document itself, my specific comments are as follows:

1. Too lengthy objectives.

2. The Tasks are not fully defined.

3. The Deliverables are not clearly stated.

4. The Qualifications for the tenders are not specified.

5. The Technical procedure for selection is not fully specified, including the criteria for the ranking and selection of the proposal.

Item 4 is important that the website should be built by “people with conservatism in their heart”. This is not just an ordinary RFP.

In summary, the paper is more of a concept paper…. NOT RFP.

Michael Steele’s most-reported suggestion so far is to say the RNC needs to be more Hip-Hop.

Anybody under 30 can tell you Hip-Hop’s been dead for over five years.

I bet he wears Bermuda shorts and sock garters.

“No limitations on design; the RNC will be in on the entire process and will ensure everything is to our exact specifications.”

I’ve been a freelance web designer for the better part of six years. You know what that sentence says? “If we need something from you that you didn’t include in the cost, well, f*** it, it’s included anyway.”

So. You submit a bid that meets the requirements, spec out a cost of X dollars, and then all of a sudden they ask you develop an application from scratch? Repeat after me: “Well, f*** it, it’s included anyway.”

This is NOT how you get a good designer and a good developer to team up and bring together a revived GOP.com site. Given his functional requirements if anyone bids less than 40 Gs on this… I don’t care what the job market is like in web design and development these days. This is a project that requires you to perform 6 months’ worth of man-hours in a 45-day period.