How does buying IT services work for us? Do we have to go out for a formal RFP?

There are generally three routes, and which one applies is set by your own purchasing ordinance rather than by us:

• Under your quote threshold. Most small governments can buy below a certain dollar amount on quotes. For a town with twenty users this is often the whole answer, and it is the fastest path.
• Piggyback or cooperative purchasing. Many ordinances let you ride another public entity's competitively bid contract or a state term contract rather than running your own solicitation. If your attorney and clerk are comfortable with it, this saves a great deal of calendar time.
• A formal RFP, RFQ or ITN. We respond to these. We will answer the questions directly, including the ones where the honest answer is that we do not do that in house and would subcontract or refer it.

We are happy to help you work out what to ask for if you are not sure. One caution on that, and you should hear it from us rather than find out later: some entities treat a vendor who helped draft a scope of work as having a conflict, and bar them from bidding on it. Ask your attorney before you let any vendor, us included, write your specification. If that is the rule where you are, we will give you a generic requirements outline you can take to anyone instead.

A practical note on evaluating responses. Ask every respondent for their response time commitment in writing, who actually answers the phone, and whether the documentation they build belongs to you. Those three answers separate providers faster than a price comparison will.