Pricing Help

[tnztec]

Was contacted by city officials to put in a bid for services.

Here is what they are asking we do/maintain

server monitoring
network administration
software license support
tech support
includes offices and equipment
email support
patch management
subcontracting
system backups
virus/spyware application outbreak

This will be our first big maintenance/service contract, and need some help with pricing..
Thanks guys!

 

[e2346437]

Was contacted by city officials to put in a bid for services.

Here is what they are asking we do/maintain

server monitoring
network administration
software license support
tech support
includes offices and equipment
email support
patch management
subcontracting
system backups
virus/spyware application outbreak

This will be our first big maintenance/service contract, and need some help with pricing..
Thanks guys!

Not trying to put you down or anything, but if you don't have a rough idea what you would charge for this, and don't already have polished contracts ready to go, I would bow out of the bid process. It sounds like this is a fairly large organization and you can easily lose your shirt if you don't put clearly lay out exactly what you will and will not cover.

That said, there are some excellent books like "Managed Services in 30 Days" that should be required reading. It will show you how to put together a small number of plans that you can offer future customers, which will provide them value, make you money, and protect your interests all at the same time.

 

[colonydata]

Dealing with gov is a whole different deal as well. I'd highly recommend you check with the Chamber, local development authority or local college. That group here put together a workshop for small business on doing business with local government and state agencies(like colleges).

 

[thecomputerguy]

$783

 

[tnztec]

Not trying to put you down or anything, but if you don't have a rough idea what you would charge for this, and don't already have polished contracts ready to go, I would bow out of the bid process. It sounds like this is a fairly large organization and you can easily lose your shirt if you don't put clearly lay out exactly what you will and will not cover.

That said, there are some excellent books like "Managed Services in 30 Days" that should be required reading. It will show you how to put together a small number of plans that you can offer future customers, which will provide them value, make you money, and protect your interests all at the same time.

I do have a rough idea of cost, I just chose not to share it. I was just looking for some reinforcement that I wasn't charging to much. By not stating my price, I allowed discussion of any price point, not that I was stupidly over priced, or rapingly under priced.

 

[tnztec]

Dealing with gov is a whole different deal as well. I'd highly recommend you check with the Chamber, local development authority or local college. That group here put together a workshop for small business on doing business with local government and state agencies(like colleges).

We aren't lucky enough to have those organizations available. The only thing local is an economic development corp, but they tend not to help small businesses.

 

[altrenda]

From what I can see, and the requirements, it looks like you're underpriced.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Had to give pricing without MUCH more info.

Over in the managed services subforum, there are many threads about pricing. You'll see the average starts at around $49 per workstation per month and $195/server/mo and $29/edge device/month.

From there...you can fine tune your quote based many other factors...a few of which I'll list here.
*Hours they want support...just 9-5? Or dual shift? or 24x hours? SLA requirements?
*Local to you? Or farther away? Single location? Or multiple locations?
*Servers and workstations good standardized Tier-1 brand biz grade? Or a hodge podge of mix matched residential grade or cloner built motherboard of the month club nightmares?
*What kind of applications do you need to support?
*What kind of e-mail system?
*Network infrastructure...well setup, cables done right, good biz grade switches, or a bunch of Linksys ranger cascaded soho grade crap with old patch cables hanging down the walls and going across floors?
*Backup...here's a big one....how much data? What kind of back or disaster recovery or business continuity do they want? How many servers? And workstations? And expected turn around time to back up and running? Do they just need basic file backup of say 30 gigs at 25 bucks a month....or full local virtualization/biz continuity of 6 servers at 750 bucks a month?
*Speaking of e-mail...spam filtering service needed?
*Speaking of e-mail, archiving for e-discovery needed?
*Servers....running all Windows stuff? Or...running any oddball or really legacy stuff...if so..you familiar with it?

....that's just a couple of the many more questions I'd want answered before even sitting down to start scratching numbers around...

 

[codegreen]

Not trying to put you down or anything, but if you don't have a rough idea what you would charge for this, and don't already have polished contracts ready to go, I would bow out of the bid process. It sounds like this is a fairly large organization and you can easily lose your shirt if you don't put clearly lay out exactly what you will and will not cover.

No, don't bow out. If you think you can provide the services they are looking for, go ahead and put together your bid. But, I agree that you have to be careful, as it is easy to underprice yourself, and end up losing money on a contract.

I agree with Stonecat -- having a baseline price per server/workstation is the best place to start. Get those questions answered. Find out what kind of service levels they are looking for: next business day? Within four hours? Do they need 24 hour support, or only during standard business hours? The more coverage they need, and the shorter the expected response time, the higher you charge for each system.

You'll also need to figure out if they need any remediation work to get them up to standard. If they have a hodgepodge of random equipment, unplanned networking, and home-grade routers, that is going to cause you more work over the course of the contract. Make sure you quote an appropriate amount for your initial assessment and set-up.

 

[Markverhyden]

Bids for services as well as awarded contracts are usually public documents. Granted you can't just go look at them online when ever you want you can usually go to the appropriate agency/office and request to see the information.

 

[nesrinamb]

Bids for services as well as awarded contracts are usually public documents. Granted you can't just go look at them online when ever you want you can usually go to the appropriate agency/office and request to see the information.

True but they usually only go public once the bidding is closed and their not accepting anymore bids. To much info could tip off a competitor assuming their competitor is looking at technibble which if they where not would make them crazy.

But I agree with everyone here really figure out what it is that they want also do a site visit and look at what they have now. I know my local government has a combination of really old xp systems running vmware view so their basically dummy terminals but they also have a few large exchange servers and a bunch of dell 7010 systems that are a bit older.

Go to score and they might be able to help you out with the bidding process.

 

[codegreen]

True but they usually only go public once the bidding is closed and their not accepting anymore bids. To much info could tip off a competitor assuming their competitor is looking at technibble which if they where not would make them crazy.

However, looking at previous bids could be helpful in determining standard pricing in the local area.

 

[tnztec]

However, looking at previous bids could be helpful in determining standard pricing in the local area.

Anyone know where I could get this info? Since it has to be approved at a city council meeting. Its definitely public record. Just not sure where to look.

 

[CLC]

However, looking at previous bids could be helpful in determining standard pricing in the local area.

This^

 

[Rosco]

This is a big contract... do not underbid yourself or you will take a huge bath. It only took one underbid for me to change my whole outlook. Just because we as techs think its a lot doesnt mean it is. Like oldstone said around 200 per server and at least 50 per station.