December 10, 2008

Management By Design: What you can gain from shared rosters

Not too many marketers enjoy submitting for rosters. Most are selective, applying to no more than a handful each year — carefully assessing their chance of being asked to provide services, while other firms feel that they have nothing to lose by applying to one and all.

Most agencies enter respondent's categories into the agency's database, and then store the roster responses. If a project comes up during the year, the appropriate submittals are studied and a few will receive a request to submit a proposal. A number of agencies carefully review statements of qualifications right after submittal, and notify those deemed the most responsive that they have been placed on a short list. A growing trend is to offer one or more of these preselected firms an “on-call” or “term” contract for projects that may come up during a one- to three-year term.

In February of 2003, I conducted a study of roster formats, and called for standardized rosters in this column. My idea was to allow each firm to customize each submittal, within a standard framework. The city of Lynnwood stepped up to create a shared roster program for our region, carried the baton for a few years, and then passed it to the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington. MRSC is a Seattle-based non-profit organization, founded in 1969.

Ellen Hutchinson, MRSC's rosters manager, said MRSC started operating the roster in December of 2007 after the city of Lynnwood decided it could no longer maintain it.

“MRSC Rosters first transitioned over those public agencies, contractors and consultants on the Lynnwood roster and is now expanding statewide,” she said. “Currently, 91 public agencies, 1,155 contractors and 526 consultants throughout Washington are participating.”

MRSC does not charge a fee for its basic services. Firms have the option to submit to any particular agency for no charge, or submit to multiple agencies — more than 90 — with a single submittal. The fee for this enhanced option is based upon the size of the consulting firm. Contractors submitting for small works follow a similar process. This cost-effective approach is further simplified by being an electronic submittal. While one has to follow the MRSC structure, the submittal can be creatively presented within the given format. Learn more at http://www.mrscrosters.org.

A second resource is provided by eCityGov Alliance, an interlocal government agency. The alliance provides online Web service portals for 39 member cities and public agencies. One of these services is the Shared Procurement Portal, which features six rosters and is used by 14 public agencies. The rosters include small public works, A&E and professional services, goods, general services, information technology and legal services. A single submittal to http://www.WaGovBiz.net enables businesses to register with all member public agencies and with as many rosters as they choose at no charge.

The Shared Procurement Portal's mission is to work towards consolidating all common procurement services that government agencies provide to the public. Plans are currently underway to add features and enhancements such as bid postings. Member agencies also have access to interlocal purchasing agreements which can save staff considerable time and effort.

The eCityGov Alliance offers six other Internet service portals. The alliance portals are unique in that they provide services across municipal government boundaries. In these tough economic times, public agencies must find ways to improve efficiency, effectiveness and lower their costs of delivering these services.

“Our mission is to provide convenient customer-centric government service portals for our citizens and business,”" said John Backman, executive director of the eCityGov Alliance, “And we can use the Internet to bring together information and services not possible in the physical world.”"  More information on the Alliance and its services is available at http://www.eCityGov.net.

I asked two seasoned marketers about their experiences with shared rosters: Jennifer McKinney, marketing coordinator with BCRA and DeMica Riley, Seattle marketing manager for Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Both firms use both MRSC Rosters and SPP. McKinney said the portals are more efficient, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable:

“Where the real advantage comes for us is when we've got a project manager out in the field making contact with a potential client who would love to give us work. If they ask us if we are on their roster, we want to be able to say yes. So, being able to land on 90 rosters at once is important and helpful. And, some municipalities have large and oftentimes confusing processes just for rosters. Having one standard for a submittal is a time-savings that we really appreciate. Another benefit links to our specialized services, such as Building Science. When you are one of only two or three firms that offer that service, you might be the only firm on a roster for that service.”

Riley said the programs' geographic structure allows them to tailor their qualifications based on needs:

“I like the electronic format because it is an efficient and cost effective way to submit qualifications to a large audience, and to make changes throughout the year without submitting a new roster. The cost savings associated with doing rosters versus submitting full RFPs, for both agencies and consultants, are staggering. Both of these roster programs help offset that reality. The firms select which disciplines they would like to be considered for, and as a result, municipalities and local agencies get a greater selection of qualified firms to choose from. It's a win-win situation.”

Previous columns:

• Management By Design: Five workplace cultures, 10-15-2008
• Management By Design: Communication key for project managers, 09-10-2008
• Management by Design: Catching the big one may not be the best marketing strategy, 08-13-2008
• Management by Design: Bias, preconceptions can mess up managers, 07-09-2008
• Management by Design: Overlooked marketing post: Your front desk, 06-11-2008
• Management by Design: Office dictators: Not all fit the stereotype, 05-14-2008
• Management by Design: Self-esteem can mask lack of skills in workplace, 04-16-2008
• Management by Design: It’s never too late to procrastinate, 03-12-2008