XM Bids

=Introduction=

Bidding is suggested for volunteers and required for paid contributor. A documented is useful in all cases to document development cost and process - allowing for transparency, review, and broader collaboration.

Competitive bids should occur for any part of the development process. If the product under development is broken down to its most fundamental components in the XM Systems Engineering Breakdown Diagram, then development risk is minimized because the definition of the task is more granular. Furthermore, according to the Open Capitalist Method, bid platform should be developed to optimize cost. Producing multiple bids is favorable in the XM Development Process, and a process for this needs to be established.

=Howto=

A bid should cover basic information as shown below. For paid contributors - upon acceptance of the bid, a contract is drawn up.

Bid Template

 * 1) Deliverable Abstract - detailed description of deliverable. Includes any supporting materials, such as conceptual diagrams, models, CAD, calculation, etc.
 * 2) Description of build process broken down by clear stages. Tools used, steps, estimated time for each step. This is useful information for a strategic review upon submission.
 * 3) Proposed start date, proposed date of delivery.
 * 4) Definition of ready (what bidder requires to get started)
 * 5) Definition of done (characteristics of the finished work)
 * 6) Bill of Materials and any other costs. Labor costs. Total cost to OSE FOB FeF, Missouri. Payment terms, quality control.

In general, bids with clear deliverables, process, cost structure will have a higher chance of being accepted if they reflect a low level of risk.

Absence of Bid Template

 * 1) All bids, whether they follow the Bid Template or not, should be documented on the wiki at the XM_Tool Name_Bids