Licensing System

Process & Timing

Start Early

Gathering requirements is no simple feat. Most likely, from the last time your agency did a procurement, a lot has changed in the industry. Gather marketing-related system and services requirements from recently completed RFPs to get a head start, and then adapt those to your needs. This process takes time, sometimes up to a year, to get to the final RFP document.

Save buffer time in procurement schedule

More than likely, there will be moments during the procurement process that will delay contract execution. Build buffer time into your schedules to ensure the contract is executed with enough time to complete system implementation prior to your current contract expires. Potential delays include too many questions from vendors to respond to all within the Question & Answer time period, vendor award protest, and contract negotiations.

Stay Involved

Your work is not done once the RFP is out. A marketing team member must have a seat on the evaluation committee. There will be vendor clarifications and opportunities during demonstrations to ask additional questions and make your priorities heard.

Requirements

Simple & Goal Oriented

It is very easy to get into the weeds of every single detail the system needs to be able to accomplish. Your licensing division may already have a system guide from its current system that explains all business rules and functionality. Resist the urge to use this as a starting point. If you begin with replicating your existing system requirements, you will most likely get a similar end result.

Focus on the goals of what you would like to accomplish, what it needs to be able to do, and allow the vendor to propose the solutions. Ask the vendor to provide specifics on how their solution meets your needs including screenshots and examples.

Add-On Options

If items you are looking for do not make the list of the final requirements, include optional add-ons for future use. If they are included in the base procurement as potential future options, you will not be required to go back out for a public bid to expand the solution to include these items. Potential add-ons may be Event Management, Campground Reservations, and Merchandise Store.

Marketing Funds

Several vendors are including the ability to sell hard cards where a portion of the proceeds may be used as discretionary funding for marketing services. This provides a budget for marketing to place digital ads, create promotional content and further promote license system sales to grow participation and revenue.

Evaluation Criteria

Experience vs. Capabilities

It is very easy for a vendor to say that they will implement a requirement for you in the new system. It is more telling of their capabilities if you not only ask if they are capable of doing it for you but what their previous experience is with the requirement. Include scaled scoring where “Currently Live” receives more points than “Will Include”.

Cost vs. Best Value

Most likely, you will have state procurement regulations requiring cost to be a certain percentage of the evaluation criteria. We must ensure that we are spending our funds in the most efficient way possible. The traditional approach to evaluating cost is by calculating points based on the proposed system cost amount. The issue with this approach is that it incentivizes the vendor to do the bare minimum to keep their costs down and win the bid. Over time, there will be limitations regarding expanding the system and vendor services that may create change orders and added costs that were not taken into consideration during the initial award.

In order to avoid this, ask vendors to disclose total contract expenses for referenced projects to have a better understanding of the potential total cost of ownership. Additionally, ensure the evaluation criteria are heavily focused on best value offering rather than cheapest price.