Blighted RFP Sighted Over UK and US

Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief

The blighted RFP last seen floating over Ealing, London seems to have moved onwards and upwards and is steadily making its way towards the US so watch out!

BP is looking for an investment partner (read that as ‘someone to fund everything and take all the risks’) to develop and roll out a digital media network on BP sites in BOTH the UK and the US.

Two weeks ago BP issued a Request For Proposal (RFP), in their own words “in order to establish the right partner with whom to work” however the deadline for submission seems to be this Friday, which all seems a bit short notice…

Bidding Start Time: Jul 11, 4:00 PM
Closing Rule Using a fixed end time
BiddingCloseTime August 1, 2008 4:05:06 AM WEST

We wrote earlier this year in January “BPTV UK Trials to End Feb 2008″ saying what a shame it would be if BPTV disappeared altogether.

For now it seems that the (trial) screens remain in the shops in the UK and on the forecourt in the US – much longer than the original “they will stay til’ March or April” which we initially understood to be the case.

Anyway, the folks in BP’s Procurement Team in the UK who are more than likely more used to managing tenders for kleenex, sand buckets and fire extinguishers have ownership of the RFP which reads very much to us like it’s another done deal as to who will eventually get the work – Hughes Network Systems already seem to think that they are guaranteed to be the network provider for example – having spoken to several of those who have received the RFP on how they will be able to work together!

Interestingly, the UK’s abc media group have teamed up with another UK solutions provider to pitch (abc’s experience of convenience store digital media sales will be incredibly advantageous – after all BPTV is not much more than a c-store play) and EVEN more interestingly we hear that at least on the US side of the pond two well known outdoor media contractors will be bidding for the project.

I wish we could say this is exciting but we believe it’s more likely to be another sad reflection on the corporate tender process, we already know of two companies who received the RFP that will not bid.


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