[11786] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
WA Public/Private Partnerships (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (STEVEN.CLIFT@state.mn.us)
Tue Apr 19 21:29:45 1994
Date: Tue 19 Apr 1994 15:52 CT
To: alt-politics-datahighway@eff.org, nii_agenda@world.std.com,
telecomreg@relay.adp.wisc.edu, com-priv@psi.com,
communet@uvmvm.uvm.edu
From: STEVEN.CLIFT@state.mn.us
------------ Forwarded Message begins here ------------
>From: Mike Stack <MStack@DIS.WA.GOV>
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 94 16:43:00 PDT
To: clif0005@gold.tc.umn.edu
Subject: Public/Private Partnerships
The Policy & Regulation Division, Department of Information Services, State
of Washington, is drafting a policy to permit public/private partnerships for
information technology demonstrations, pilots, prototypes, and partnerships.
We'd like to hear from other states with similar policies, and have a number
of questions:
1) Do you have a partnering policy; can you send a copy?
2) How successful has it been (who's used it, $ volume)?
3) Any problems?
4) How is the "partnering" opportunity communicated (RFP, etc.)?
Washington's situation: The idea was to have a policy that would
allow agencies to test small, innovative technical solutions using an
informal review process. The policy is hung up because the fear is that
this policy could be abused--agencies could go from a small pilot with few
dollars at stake directly into a large project. In so doing, this would
reduce competition because the agency could argue for a "sole source"
acquisition based on the pilot to the advantage of the original partnering
vendor. The vendor community feels that if they are selected to partner,
then they should be able to recover their investment by doing the larger
project (without a rebid); on the other hand, the "losing" vendors want in on
the larger projects too.
4) Have you had experiences where this has occurred?
My opinion is that there are different definitions that people use as to what
is/is not a "pilot, prototype, partnership" etc. It seems to me that if a
long-term "partnership" is desired where the intent has ALWAYS been to
proceed to a larger project, then this intent should be expressed and bid as
such in an RFP. This is currently allowable under existing rules for RFPs.
The proposed policy is different in that the "partnership" is smaller, that
there is not necessarily a larger project at stake, and that it covers "proof-
of-concept" type of ideas. There is no "RFP" released at all, and the
selection process is less formal. Why? So that new ideas from the market
can be tested out faster without the overhead of most acquisition
regulations. Participating vendors then know there is a smaller dollar pool
at stake, so that only those "serious" about the partnerships of the small
kind would submit ideas. The vendors are no doing this for free--the state
will pay for some of the partnership costs. However, if a large project
DOES evolve from a limited project, then an RFP is released. Folks, we need
some input on this, so please respond to me privately below, and thanks.
Michael Stack, Sr. Policy Advisor, 206-956-0558
Dept. Information Services
P.O. Box 42440
Olympia, WA 98504-2440
E-MAIL: mstack@dis.wa.gov
------------ Forwarded Message ends here ------------
These are some excellent questions. If you would cc: your comments to Steven
Clift with the Information Policy Office, Minnesota Department of
Administratiothat would be appreciated. The notion of public/private
partnerships has been discussed in realtion to kiosk initiatives and is
highlighted in current legislation dealing with electronic access to
government information that is moving through our state legislature.
Steven Clift
steven.clift@state.mn.us
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