Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!barmar
From: barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: RFC-1122 and 1123
Keywords: conformance bids
Message-ID: <1991Feb14.043514.5729@Think.COM>
Date: 14 Feb 91 04:35:14 GMT
References: <85285@sgi.sgi.com>
Sender: news@Think.COM
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
Lines: 33

In article <85285@sgi.sgi.com> vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver) writes:
>As you might guess from my return address, I've no shortage of bids, RFQ's
>and RFP's that have either checklist items for "conforms to RFC 112[23]" or
>copies of the entire checklists from the RFCs.

From my minimal experience with RFQ's (one big project about seven years
ago), I don't think such items are a critical factor.

An RFQ typically contains quite a few requirements for a facility, and it's
rare that any vendor can meet all of them.  For instance, a TCP/IP RFQ
might specify conditions on performance, usability, and conformance to a
standard.  Some respondents will do better jobs than others on various
pieces of the requirements; implementation A may conform to the standard
completely, implementation B may have a more complete API, while
implementation C may perform better.  The customer will have to decide
which aspects are more important, and decide among the respondents on this
basis.

A vendor should look upon host requirements RFCs as additional guidelines,
and add them to their to-do lists.  They must still reconcile these with
the problems and suggestions from users, marketing requirements, etc., and
prioritize the list.

When responding to the RFQ, all you can do is hope that your strengths in
other areas outweigh your deficiencies in others.  Of course, if there *is*
a vendor that meets all the requirements, you may be out of luck, but
that's the nature of competitive bidding and the free market.

--
Barry Margolin, Thinking Machines Corp.

barmar@think.com
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