The Colorado Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel (ORPC)
Service: Bid Builder
Industry: Legal
Location: Denver, Colorado
Company Bio: Established in 2016, the Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel (ORPC) is an independent state agency that supports Colorado parents in the fight to preserve families, their dignity, and the constitutional right to parent in dependency and neglect cases. ORPC advocates for family-centered policies by recruiting and training attorneys to help promote systemic equity and transparency for all families in the state of Colorado.
“The Bid Lab managed the entire procurement process for us, and we are so thankful that we found them. I was pleasantly surprised at how thoroughly they got to know our team, project, and needs. From honing in on what we needed to drafting our requested Scope of Work, they took care of our RFP campaign from beginning to end.”
– Melissa Thompson, Executive Director
Overview
- Collaborated with stakeholders to assess the Scope of Work
- Managed teams with different priorities in order to agree on a final scope
- Drafted and issued an RFI as part of vendor research
- Drafted and issued the RFP, managed the Q&A process and utilized the state procurement portal to post solicitation documents
- Hosted a pre-proposal conference attended by some of the largest technology vendors available
- Assisted with proposal evaluations, scorecard development, and vendor selection
- Connected the ORPC with a vendor who could complete the project ahead of schedule and within their budget
Key Stats
The Challenge
The ORPC exists to protect the fundamental right to parent by providing effective legal advocates for indigent parents in child welfare proceedings. Because the ORPC needed to scale up quickly to serve the families in Colorado, the original software utilized existing code bases from other organizations. However, as operations scaled, the need to effectively and efficiently pay contractors became a technological and operational burden for all staff and end users involved.
To scale their efforts to build a strong community of parent defenders across Colorado, the ORPC needed to refresh their software’s user interface (UI), reliability, and maintenance configurations. Since the duties of their office include providing accountability, training, and resources, along with advocating for systemic and legislative changes in Colorado, they needed more than just a flashy, one-size-fits-all program. The more they discussed potential solutions, the more they realized they had a once-in-a-decade opportunity to completely redesign their UI. They were ready to create a transformational process solution.
The ORPC wanted to rethink how data could be collected from contractors to make processes easier and more efficient. They needed a long-term partner who could develop a 100% customizable software solution; however, they did not have the existing resources to independently procure this vendor.
That’s when they decided to visit The Bid Lab.
The Solution
The Bid Lab began by bringing all the stakeholders together from the ORPC, hosting a kick-off call, and creating a schedule of meetings that worked for everyone that was planned out from the get-go. The team developed agendas and conducted stakeholder interviews to identify priorities for the new software. We interviewed end users to understand contractors’ pain points. This included a diverse set of people with varying roles, existing software experiences, and technological understanding.
We initiated constructive stakeholder meetings to gather valuable insights and perspectives, then took what we learned and partnered with ORPC to compose a comprehensive scope of work. With ORPC’s stamp of approval, we drafted and released a Request for Information (RFI) to ensure the developed Scope of Work fit market expectations regarding budgeting, capabilities, and understanding of the project. The Bid Lab took lessons from the RFI process, enhanced the RFP, and hosted a pre-proposal conference to engage vendors.
The pre-proposal conference attracted some of the biggest names in technology. As vendors submitted their questions for the RFP, The Bid Lab worked with the ORPC team to craft responses and communicate with vendors directly.
Did we stop there? No way!
We meticulously evaluated each proposal to ensure that only the most qualified vendors advanced to the review. The Bid Lab also developed next-round bid evaluation scorecards and guidelines for the ORPC. Once the evaluation committee completed its reviews, The Bid Lab held vendor demos to learn more about their capabilities before finally assisting ORPC with the winning vendor’s contract negotiations.
“The process was handled professionally, and whenever we had any questions, The Bid Lab was ready to jump in with clear and obviously-experienced guidance! We can’t say enough about how impressed we were with their services. This project was so important to our organization’s success, and we know we put our best foot forward by working with The Bid Lab. These upbeat RFP experts are the real deal, and we recommend them to everyone we know.”
– Ashlee Arcilla, Deputy Executive Director
The Results of the Engagement
The RFP attracted seven (7) proposals, with two (2) finalists reaching the presentation stage. The ORPC was thrilled to report that, following presentations, they successfully selected a clear winner.
Not only did the ORPC contract with their preferred vendor, but the project was also ahead of schedule. Even better? The project is under budget.
The ORPC was highly satisfied with our exceptional services. In fact, they’re already spreading the word to other agencies! The Bid Lab is happiest when we exceed our clients’ expectations.
Interested in Working Together?
Are you ready to redesign your systems and processes for the long term? Reach out to The Bid Lab for a free consultation today! Give us a call at 1-844-4BIDLAB or email respond@thebidlab.com to learn more. Let us help you build a bidding process that brings the best out of your business or organization.
