NOTE: This is a draft proposal that has yet to be reviewed by the DLF. It may turn into a project, it may not. Comments welcome below. ...Eric

The Digital Library Federation has prepared an RFP for a new website. It now needs to select a vendor to build this new site and supervision of the process to ensure it meets these requirements. This project would guide DLF through the selection of a vendor and the implementation of the new site.

Vendor Selection

I have already participated in the vendor conference call and provided notes to all vendors about the substance of those vendor questions and answers.

I will develop a tool with which DLF staff can grade vendor proposals. I will also participate in this process by grading the proposals myself. Within four business days of receiving all grades from DLF staff, I will prepare a summary report and facilitate a discussion with staff about the vendors. We will aim to make a decision during that discussion, though it may require a bit more back and forth to come to a conclusion.

DLF staff shall be responsible for all communications with vendors.

Contract Development

I will develop a set of project milestones for use in a vendor contract. These milestones will be discussed with DLF staff and revised.

DLF staff shall be responsible for drafting the contract itself and may insert the project milestones in that document as they see fit. I will read the final contract draft and make any suggestions that occur to me, but the substance of this contract is really a DLF matter.

Implementation Oversight

I will participate in a weekly call with the selected vendor and appropriate DLF staff to monitor progress of the implementation project and offer technical guidance. I will participate in testing the site as it is developed. I also anticipate at least two calls with DLF staff to discuss vendor performance and project progress.

Concerns

DLF staff must be fully engaged in this process, it is not something that should be passed completely to a consultant. I am assuming that Barrie Howard will continue his close involvement in this project and serve as the primary liaison to the staff.

This contract assumes that work developing the new DLF website will be complete by the end of October. Of course, we will have a better idea of the feasibility of this after reading the vendor proposals. In any case, should continued attention be required after 10/31/2008, then an extension to this contract will have to be negotiated.

It should be noted that with this contract I am helping to guide the work of this implementation project, but I can in no way assume responsibility for its successful conclusion. I will do my best to make sure the parties involved (DLF and the vendor) understand each other's needs, but in the end these parties will have much more control of the project's actual success or failure than I. I can make no guarantee of satisfactory outcome with this contract.

Timeline

The timeline for this project has been, for the most part, well established in the RFP.

Monday, 30 June, participated in vendor phone call with DLF staff
Thursday, 17 July, due date for vendor proposals
Friday, 18 July, phone call to discuss quality of vendor responses
Monday, 21 July, grading tool provided to DLF staff
Friday, 25 July, DLF staff vendor grades due
Tuesday, 29 July, phone call with DLF staff to discuss vendor selection
Tuesday, 29 July, draft of contract milestones provided
Thursday, 31 July, vendor selection announced
August, DLF staff negotiate contract with vendor
August, September, October, weekly progress calls with vendor
no later than 31 October, this contract ends

Costs

The full cost of the project would be $9,100. As before, I am prepared to give the DLF a discount of some overhead costs which would bring the costs down to $7,000. I am expecting we could use DLF arrangements for the phone conferences, otherwise arranging these would be an additional expense. An invoice for $3,000 will be submitted upon completion of the milestones draft, the remainder of the contract costs will be invoiced upon completion of the contract or 31 October 2008, whichever comes first.

Eric Celeste

Eric brings over 15 years of library and 25 years of technology experience to his consulting. At MIT Eric shepherded the creation of DSpace, open source digital repository management software developed with HP and now deployed at hundreds of institutions worldwide. At the University of Minnesota Libraries he encouraged the development of the UThink blog service, a wiki-based staff intranet, LibData, and the University Digital Conservancy. He works with non-profit institutions on appropriate uses of technology for informing, communicating, and collaborating with their constituencies.