THE BORE

General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: abrader on June 25, 2008, 11:35:27 PM

Title: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 25, 2008, 11:35:27 PM: Sometimes as a consultant I will take on a client who wants me to help them either a.) write an RFP to seek software/service solutions or b.) help a companies sales division respond to an RFP with a detailed proposal.

The work pays well and it is many billable hours in a short shot, and you can get good bonuses in your contract... - BUT

IT ENDS UP BEING THE WORST WEEK OF MY LIFE.

I am doing one now - and this week started on Monday and its still Monday.

I havent left my house except to run out to the store and do some other errands at lunch today.

Its like you gotta spend like 45 minutes to an hour just reading the stuff to get into the zone - and if its during the middle of the day I can expect to be interrupted a few times by some annoying cokker. And then guess what? IT takes another hour to get submersed again where you can get any real traction and make progress.

So you end up doing yer best work at night....but yer body wants sleep - but you gotta make progress - you got 600 or so more pages to go and #$HTQV$HTVCY%V%CYEI%HDKH%IKB^HIEA%HCTAHE.

Anyway creepy week - I feel like a mall zombie. My body hurts.....ill nap every few hours but use an alarm so as to not waste more than an hour:30 of valuable nighttime.

I have 6 more days - but Im supposed to go away for my birthday party this weekend so I gotta truck thru on this shyt and send it off to the marketing physicians.

Do you work like this? When i previously recorded music it was the same kind of shifts.

At least im shaving ;)
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: T234 on June 26, 2008, 06:22:51 AM: I dunno what an RFP is, but I'm with you on the manic work part.

Our evilbore brother Genghis Cohen is probably in the struggle right now. This fall I'm gonna be working two jobs while going to school full time. One of these jobs even pays 7.20/hr WHOOOOO
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 26, 2008, 10:30:23 AM: RFP is

Request

For

Proposal

Its basically how an enterprise would send out a lengthy request for a software solution where the response is usually 50-1,000 pages of integration info, source code snippets, detailed info about existing implementations, diagrams, compliance statements, ongoing engineering support, etc...

The deal sizes range from $250,000 to $10,000,000 as a general rule.

As a consultant who helps an organization write an RFP you can charge from $150 to $300 per hour depending on your level of experience on the subject matter. Due diligence for purchases of this size are a bitch.

As a consultant - if you help an organization respond to an RFP from another company you generally make less up front, but get hefty sales guy like bonuses if they win the business. You never run with the sales guys, just help them respond to the RFP or write most of the response sections for them. For example, if I help a client win a $10,000,000 deal, I can expect so much $$ per hour for the time spent plus 1-3% bonus based on the gross profit (likely somewhere in the 180,000$ to 200,000$ range on a 10,000,000$ deal)

You will spend some of your 9 cat lives grinding hard like this.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: Draft on June 26, 2008, 06:44:11 PM: Yup. I'm in insurance, used to work for a broker. Wrote a lot of them. None at the scale your working on, though.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 26, 2008, 06:51:58 PM: Quote from: Draft on June 26, 2008, 06:44:11 PM
Yup. I'm in insurance, used to work for a broker. Wrote a lot of them. None at the scale your working on, though.

Software deals are crazy crazy margin.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: recursivelyenumerable on June 26, 2008, 07:25:28 PM: So does anyone ever read your RFPs?
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 26, 2008, 07:27:22 PM: haha what do you mean?
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 26, 2008, 07:27:50 PM: Quote from: Genghis Cohen on June 26, 2008, 06:46:49 PM
My life is basically that week spread out for years

you write code?
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: recursivelyenumerable on June 26, 2008, 07:30:09 PM: Quote
haha what do you mean?

I recently had a fun experience spending two months of my life working 80 hours a week on a program that never got looked at or used. Among other things my manager wanted to do a code review before deployment, a code review which he was always too busy to actually do.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 26, 2008, 07:42:14 PM: well yeah - at least the people paying me read what i write haha.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: Van Cruncheon on June 26, 2008, 09:59:15 PM: yes, several. they are the most deathly dull things imaginable and a waste of anyone save the lowest level of itpro or software intern drudge's intellect.

why are we discussing this. go hire a visio monkey and save yourself 20-50 pages of incoherent screed, and make a few bored interns pen in the rest.

other boring mid-level it corporate chores turned evilbore topic suggestions

"HAY GUYS I JUST WROTE 5000 LINES OF DATA AGGREGATION SCRIPT"

"WHO WANTS TO HELP ME CODE A POLYMORPHIC SERIALIZER FOR DOWNLEVEL PUBLISHING FILE FORMATS"

"I HAFTA READ 20 SEPARATE IETF DRAFTS ON CROSS-FOREST KERBEROS IMPLEMENTATIONS FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS, DO YOU CARE"
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: recursivelyenumerable on June 26, 2008, 10:04:51 PM: I have trouble imagining abrader writing a clear and precise specification of anything, but maybe it's just that his work exhausts that side of him and EB is an outlet for his other side.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: Van Cruncheon on June 26, 2008, 10:06:50 PM: that too

on the other hand, his orthogonal self-aggrandizing topics are grossly inferior to yours, tennin, if that helps
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 26, 2008, 10:10:02 PM: yes EB is an outlet.

Isnt it for everyone?

I hate to think someone is in office here.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 26, 2008, 10:11:17 PM: I also only do one or two of these things a year max - this week is just especially painful hence this little bit of outletting in this thread fegs.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: Van Cruncheon on June 26, 2008, 10:13:23 PM: eh, yeah, i shouldn't have snapped at you, but your facile remarks in the picture thread irked me. i'm sure it's all your fault somehow
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 26, 2008, 10:18:12 PM: This week has sucked so yeah iv prolly been a bitch - let me recap;

- scary seizure person at my house tuesday night.
- more late nights and writing
- last-night i get called into a meeting that was supposed to last from 9:30 till 11:30 but instead it lasts till 5:30 PM - this was after I was up all night again writing.
- not only that but during said meeting one of the non founder VP's had a heart atack and we needed to call the paramedics.
- Now im home again and time for more writing.
- I wish interns could respond to documents in this specific niche sector I am consulting in. They always have to bring in outside consultants.
- I need to leave to go out of town Sunday for my birthday party but I gotta get this done first and I keep getting fucking writers block and then running out of redbull.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: recursivelyenumerable on June 26, 2008, 10:22:33 PM: Quote
on the other hand, his orthogonal self-aggrandizing topics are grossly inferior to yours, tennin, if that helps

aw shucks :-[

spoiler (click to show/hide)
orthogonal :heart
[close]
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: Brehvolution on June 26, 2008, 10:35:18 PM: If any of your clients are looking for Business Intelligence software, let me know. Some of our customers are

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Pepsi, Coke, SAB Miller, Interbev, Seicomart, and Frito Lay
[close]

We have even customized our software to show medicaid fraud. In the past year, we have shown Albany that there was over $25M paid out in fraud and we can even show you who did it. Which doctor. Which pharmacy. Which patient. In 2 seconds or less.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 26, 2008, 10:40:08 PM: Quote from: Zero Hero on June 26, 2008, 10:35:18 PM
If any of your clients are looking for Business Intelligence software, let me know. Some of our customers are

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Pepsi, Coke, SAB Miller, Interbev, Seicomart, and Frito Lay
[close]

We have even customized our software to show medicaid fraud. In the past year, we have shown Albany that there was over $25M paid out in fraud and we can even show you who did it. Which doctor. Which pharmacy. Which patient. In 2 seconds or less.

It sounds like chain/workforce/truck-roll management stuff.

AMIRITE?
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: Olivia Wilde Homo on June 26, 2008, 10:40:35 PM: For Design-Build Engineering projects, yes, but not entirely by myself.

I think my greatest (page wise) contribution was about 250 pages, that was written in about a week and a half.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: Brehvolution on June 26, 2008, 10:47:48 PM: Quote from: abrader on June 26, 2008, 10:40:08 PM
Quote from: Zero Hero on June 26, 2008, 10:35:18 PM
If any of your clients are looking for Business Intelligence software, let me know. Some of our customers are

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Pepsi, Coke, SAB Miller, Interbev, Seicomart, and Frito Lay
[close]

We have even customized our software to show medicaid fraud. In the past year, we have shown Albany that there was over $25M paid out in fraud and we can even show you who did it. Which doctor. Which pharmacy. Which patient. In 2 seconds or less.

It sounds like chain/workforce/truck-roll management stuff.

AMIRITE?

No. We take the data from those systems and tie it together for the decision makers. Upper/top management types use this.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 26, 2008, 10:52:00 PM: Quote from: Zero Hero on June 26, 2008, 10:47:48 PM
Quote from: abrader on June 26, 2008, 10:40:08 PM
Quote from: Zero Hero on June 26, 2008, 10:35:18 PM
If any of your clients are looking for Business Intelligence software, let me know. Some of our customers are

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Pepsi, Coke, SAB Miller, Interbev, Seicomart, and Frito Lay
[close]

We have even customized our software to show medicaid fraud. In the past year, we have shown Albany that there was over $25M paid out in fraud and we can even show you who did it. Which doctor. Which pharmacy. Which patient. In 2 seconds or less.

It sounds like chain/workforce/truck-roll management stuff.

AMIRITE?

No. We take the data from those systems and tie it together for the decision makers. Upper/top management types use this.

Like it integrates with Siebel and shyt?

So its just executive view chain/workforce trend management with alarm rules? Does it also tie in NET-PROMOTER score action points?

Can the BI reporting show how a trend in certain region could be converting promoters to detractors?
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: Brehvolution on June 26, 2008, 11:19:05 PM: Quote from: abrader on June 26, 2008, 10:52:00 PM
Quote from: Zero Hero on June 26, 2008, 10:47:48 PM
Quote from: abrader on June 26, 2008, 10:40:08 PM
Quote from: Zero Hero on June 26, 2008, 10:35:18 PM
If any of your clients are looking for Business Intelligence software, let me know. Some of our customers are

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Pepsi, Coke, SAB Miller, Interbev, Seicomart, and Frito Lay
[close]

We have even customized our software to show medicaid fraud. In the past year, we have shown Albany that there was over $25M paid out in fraud and we can even show you who did it. Which doctor. Which pharmacy. Which patient. In 2 seconds or less.

It sounds like chain/workforce/truck-roll management stuff.

AMIRITE?

No. We take the data from those systems and tie it together for the decision makers. Upper/top management types use this.

Like it integrates with Siebel and shyt? Siebel, Oracle, SQL, Access, to fucking antiquated databases. At the same time.

So its just executive view chain/workforce trend management with alarm rules? Yes
Does it also tie in NET-PROMOTER score action points? I can find out.

Can the BI reporting show how a trend in certain region could be converting promoters to detractors? Yes. With maps and current demographics of each market. Trend and profit margin in each market is what we do best.
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: abrader on June 27, 2008, 12:04:53 AM: yeah dood - I dont work on any of that stuff.

Right now I am working with software that supports carrier grade SIP over these large surface mounted RF antennas and receivers built into things like ships and large aircraft for military application.

No ISDN signaling no TDM - its all SIP INVITES and REFER's registrations and such....app servers in the mix - and so on and so on...
Title: Re: You guys ever do any RFP writing?
Post by: Van Cruncheon on June 27, 2008, 01:11:19 AM: i worked on a SIP stack implementation