Request of Proposal of Product (ANSWERED)

QUESTION

Chapter 12 discusses and dissects an RFP (Request for Proposal). Once an organization decides to outsource project work, parties are frequently responsible for developing a Request for Proposal. This can be done from either the perspective of the company offering the work or the company “fighting” for the bid.

For the final project, I would like for you to develop an RFP from the perspective of the company or agency outsourcing the work. Your RFP will formally announce to external contractors/vendors the need for partnership to implement a specific project. For example, municipalities often outsource the maintenance of their parks and publish RFPs seeking experienced companies to apply to ‘win” the work, ultimately selecting one worthy business.  You will write the RFP as the Project Manager spearheading the project. Your RFP to external contractors must include the following:

1. The name of the company/agency you work for and an overview of what your company/agency does. You may make up a fictitious company or pretend you work for an existing, big-name company. (½ page)
2. The body of your proposal must include the 9 components of an RFP as outlined in Chapter 12 of the text:
   1. Summary of needs and request for action (½ page)
   2. Statement of work (SOW) detailing the scope and major deliverables (½ page)
   3. Deliverable specifications/requirements, features, and tasks (½ page)
   4. Responsibilities—vendor and customer (½ page)
   5. Project schedule (½ page)
   6. Costs, budget, and payment schedule (½ page)
   7. Type of contract (½ page)
   8. Experience and staffing required (½ page)
   9. Evaluation criteria (½ page)
3. Please also include a deadline for the submission of companies’ proposals.

Details and format:

• Each part of the paper must be ½ page. All of the above listed components require this paper to be at least 5 pages.
• 12 pt. font; 1-inch margins; double-spaced
• Please include a simple cover page including minimally: “Request for Proposal”, your name, and your company’s name.
• The paper must be written a majority in paragraph form. No lists, no bullet points, no fragments. I will only permit the use of tables/charts for the Project Schedule (component e) and Costs, Budget, and Payment Schedule (component f). However, at least one complete paragraph must accompany the chart if you choose to incorporate one.

ANSWER

Request for Proposal

Project’s Name: Product development/ HBO app

Company: Home Box Office Inc.

Date: December 15th, 2021

1. Company Profile

Home Box Office Inc. (HBO) is the most successful American premium cable and satellite television network. HBO is a pay television network offering two 24 hour television services incorporating a mix of movies and original programming. HBO programming is sold into over 150 countries worldwide, including North America, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. HBO was established in 1972 and is headquartered in New York, United States. HBO’s parent company is Warner Media, LLC. The pay television network offers sports, documentaries, series, movies, and comedy programs. The company’s growth strategy is to compete in the streaming services sector with Netflix, Disney Plus, and Amazon Prime Video. The company launched its streaming service, HBO Max, in 2020 for $14.99 per month. The app streams a massive catalog of blockbuster movies and series provided by the parent company.

2. Summary

The product development team for HBO is on a talent acquisition mission for innovative app developers. The product development team seeks to develop a new HBO streaming app from scratch to meet the needs of the current service. The HBO max app has been prone to glitches in its UX interface that have led to numerous complaints on its website and social media. The current app glitches include playback control and scrubbing issues, repeated crashes when trying to play content, user interface freezes, and issues surrounding subtitles and closed captioning (Adalian, 2021).  The current HBO Max app runs on a retrofitted version of the old HBO apps designed for different services. The current interface design issues on the HBO Max app are also due to the integration of commercials into the previously ad-free platform and expansion into new countries. These projects require the integration of a new layer of coding, which increases technical malfunctions. In addition, the company expects the developers to code the new application to ensure seamless content distribution into new non –English speaking markets through engineering bandwidth with the Herculean effort to add subtitles to the programs.

3. Statement of Work/ Major Deliverables

The product development team will be dedicated to improving the app’s user interface to allow for easy navigation in the content library and code an inbuilt personalization model based on a user’s watch history and content added to the watch list. The product development team will also add the feature of ‘continue watching’ and my list sections to enable users to browse easily. Lastly, the app development team will engineer backtracking to a previous episode and replace every connected HBO app. To make our HBO app re-launch successful, the product development team needs to attain specific tasks. The company will assemble a communications and marketing team to improve our brand recognition and complete a lead generation campaign. The marketing team will also be in charge of talent acquisition, reviewing customer complaints, and assessing possible areas of improvement. The integrated marketing team will also prepare a comprehensive communication plan regarding the new app based on online marketing campaigns, search engine optimization, and app search optimization.

4. Responsibility

The product development team and marketing team will work alongside each other to develop and launch the new HBO app. The integrated team will ensure the app meets the agreed specifications and is completed within the set timeline (Swords, 2017). The integrated team shall facilitate the contract audit related to the execution of the work and the compliance with the set obligations stipulated in the contract. The marketing team will create the contract with a designated attorney, develop advertisements and generate campaign slogans such as the application’s unique selling points. The contractors shall also be required to provide relevant information regarding the project to authorized personnel and provide satisfactory explanations to all questions emanating from the presented information. The contract does not constitute either party as the agent of the other or a partnership between the parties. The developers will create an app compatible with different proprietary technology focusing on design and usability.

5. Project Schedule

The project should be completed within 12 months. The Request for Proposal (RFP) timeline will start on December 15th, 20201. This will be followed by the deadline of bidders to submit queries regarding the project on December 30th, 2021. The RFP will be available through the company’s website or upon request. Bidders must submit two copies of the proposal to be considered for selection. The RFPs should be mailed to the company’s email address provided on the website, and HBO will respond to the queries by January 1st, 2022. This period will also entail setting up interviews for shortlisted candidates. The selected bidder will be informed on January 7th, 2022, and negotiations will cover a week, culminating in the award of the contract by January 15th, 2022. Once the app development positions have been filled, the team will begin research and brainstorming, focusing on the central issues on the current streaming app. The research deadline will be on March 15th. The team will then move to re-designing the new app fixing the bugs found in the research stage. The prototype should be available to management by November 1st. The prototype must be approved by management. The integrated team will submit the new app in app stores like Apple and Google. The marketing team will provide new information regarding the new fixes relating to the app and plan a launch party. The new app should thus be available to users by December 1st, 2022.

Cost, budget, payment schedule

The project’s total cost is capped at $ 4,500,000. This includes staff bonuses, miscellaneous expenses, non-essential staff stipends, and marketing campaigns. The payment will be made against presentation of an invoice according to the payment schedule contained in the agreed contract. The contract’s payment schedule indicates that 70% of the initial agreed amount will be paid upfront, while the remaining 30% will be paid upon satisfactory completion of the work. The contractors shall also list charges such as indirect taxes and duties on a separate invoice as stipulated in the contract to enable seamless reimbursements.

7. Contract

HBO will use a fixed-price contract on the project. The contract will entail defined deliverables to the bidding parties and contract terms and conditions. The contract will incorporate the pay rate for the project under a fixed price contract arrangement for the duration of the project. The contract will also incorporate the payment methods for the total amount payable for the project in US dollars, either choosing a lump sum payment or installments (McKee, 2015). Advance payments to the project team will be used exclusively for the project per the budget allocations, and any unspent balance will be credited to the HBO account. Financial reporting and audit shall follow the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAPs) for accurate reporting and accounting entries in the company books. According to Webiotic (2019), termination of an application development contract is subject to the failure to work according to the contract terms.

8. Experience and staffing required

The selected contractor is expected to have worked in a similar environment and experience project management, software development, and marketing. The following are the requirements for a bidder’s RFP. Three junior developers with 2-5 years experience with open source technologies such as Google App development and scripting and Apple App development.  The contract also requires two senior developers with 5+ years in front-end and back-end software development. The developers should be conversant with coding technologies such as JavaScript, Python, HTML/CSS/XML/JSON, Drupal/PHP, and MySQL. All developers should have accredited certificates such as Amazon Web Services, Cloudera (CCDH), Microsoft (MCSD), and Oracle (Watts, 2018). The team will include a database administrator with 5+ years managing MySQL databases and Linux servers. There will also be two project managers with experience in product development and marketing strategies to ensure project deliverables and reports are submitted in time (‌Better Hiring, 2015). Lastly, the team will entail a business analyst with 5+ years working in product development, analyzing and collecting data on the project’s business viability.

9. Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation criteria will focus on the bidder’s past operations and the list of references. The bidders must be in operation for a minimum of two years and possess the technical capabilities for developing a streaming service from scratch. Furthermore, the bidders must possess the education, experience, and skills required in the contract. The management will also evaluate the competitive cost of services and each bidder’s quoted price relative to the company’s price.

References

Adalian, J. (2021). Inside HBO Max’s scramble to Fix Its Glitchy App. Vulture. https://www.vulture.com/article/hbo-max-app-crash-problem-fix.html

‌Better Hiring. (2015). Application Developer job description. Recruiting Resources: How to Recruit and Hire Better. https://resources.workable.com/application-developer-job-description

McKee, L. (2015). How to Draft an Application Development Agreement. Legal Vision. https://legalvision.com.au/how-to-draft-an-application-development-agreement/

Swords, S. (2017). Software Development Project Roles and Responsibilities | Atlas UK. Atlas UK. https://www.atlascode.com/blog/software-development-project-roles-and-responsibilities/

Watts, S. (2018). Application Developer Roles and Responsibilities. BMC Blogs. https://www.bmc.com/blogs/application-developer-roles-responsibilities/

Webiotic. (2019). App Development Contracts – The Complete Guide for App Working Agreements. Www.webiotic.com. https://www.webiotic.com/app-development-contracts-complete-guide-app-working-agreements/

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