Erin Haines Feb.13, 2005
Article Critique SLM-521
New
This article discusses a new resource that will be available to educators in the near future. This new resource will help vendors and educators in the whole RFP process. The RFP process requires a written proposal to be prepared in order to obtain bids for new technology services. RFPs have always been a struggle for both the educators who prepare them and the vendors who need to make sense of them. Many problems have been encountered during the RFP process. Technology is advancing so quickly that educators don’t always know exactly what they need. They also don’t always know who provides the technology services they need. This makes it hard for vendors to get the schools what they need. To help solve these problems, a non-profit organization named, Software and Information Industry association plans to help.
This non-profit organization, SIAA is going to make the RFP process a lot easier by provide a detailed tool for educators to write their requests. This is the first time I have ever heard of RFPs. They sound like a nightmare. I think this tool sounds like it isn’t a full solution to the problem but it is a good starting point. This should help guide educators through a process that they consider tedious. This should also help vendors to better understand the technological needs of particular educators. I think it may take a while for these two groups of people to collaborate in this process but it is certainly a great start to creating a smooth process.