Bluebeam Revu is a construction design markup tool that claims it is "used by 94% of top US contractors", but what role does it have for physical security professionals? In this report, we share our tested findings of Bluebeam Revu, including 2...
By Brian Rhodes - about 1 month ago
The US and Chinese governments are working together. Now, US government entities are not only buying video surveillance products from the Chinese government's primarily owned manufacturer, Hikvision, they are requiring all bidders to use Hikvisio...
By Brian Karas - about 1 year ago
State College, PA issued an RFP for a neighborhood surveillance system that leaves out many key details required to invite qualified bids. We review this RFP, and the problems that can arise when too many components are left to the bidder to spec...
By Brian Karas - about 1 year ago
This 14 page guide explains the key uses, design factors, and players in the large system surveillance market. A global group of 80 integrators responded, each offering insights in selling, implementing, and maintaining video surveillance syste...
By Brian Rhodes - over 1 year ago
Terrible RFPs are commonplace. If only there was a way to make it easy to generate terrible RFPs. Well, Honeywell, Vicon and Aiphone are working hard to make that happen. In this note, we look at the process and the problems involved.
By John Honovich - over 2 years ago
Update 10/31: When we first published this in July, we broke down how flawed the RFP was. Now, the city is delaying the project as it works through its concerns. Industry professionals often complain about the effectiveness and fairness of RFPs. ...
By Carlton Purvis - over 3 years ago
Bad RFPs continue to plague the industry. In the case of one city, a poorly written RFP led to a contract that likely fails to address one of the main problems they were hoping to avoid. In this note, we review the RFP and what this Illinois city ...
By Ben Wood - over 3 years ago
This year, IPVM launched its own discussions, with over 10,000 comments so far. Now, we have improved it with 12 new features. Here are 10 Top discussions that show their quality and range: Choosing a VMS: Exacq, Milestone or Avigilon An end us...
By John Honovich - almost 4 years ago
Almost everybody in the security industry has a horror story of a "low bid" system installation that has gone terribly wrong. Many city, county and state government entities are avoiding those pitfalls with a "design-build RFP" approach to procuri...
By Ben Wood - almost 4 years ago
Anyone reviewing RFPs knows there are countless common problems, with 'good' specs seemingly few and far between: RFPs copied from more than 10 years ago, vague and confusing ones, those specifying older tech at extremely high costs, systems costi...
By John Honovich - almost 4 years ago
Bad RFPs - out of date, vague or just plain confusing - are common. But this RFP is on a whole other level. It is as if no one even looked at it before the project was put out for bid. A small town doing this is perhaps understandable, but it is f...
By Ben Wood - almost 4 years ago
What's worse than having a crappy consultant prepare your RFP? Perhaps doing it yourself, as this case shows. Everyone thinks end users should be more educated and more proactive about spec-ing equipment for surveillance projects. "They should do...
By Ben Wood - about 4 years ago
Philadelphia's surveillance system is a huge mess. The last we checked, they were paying $136,000 per operational camera, with most cameras broken. Now, a new audit has been released, with more grim details, followed by more debate amongst city of...
By Carlton Purvis - about 4 years ago
Contracts for US public schools, airports, city, state and military security systems can typically be obtained. This can be extremely useful if you want to understand what was selected or who 'won' a project (see our reporting on contracts in Penn...
By Carlton Purvis - about 4 years ago
It is far too common to find RFPs and proposals with missing details, inadequate equipment, and out of date specs. Indeed, it is a top industry complaint. While we find a lot of examples of what not to do, recently we came across a good example of...
By Carlton Purvis - about 4 years ago
Bad RFPs are an unfortunate fact of life in video surveillance - hurting end users and frustrating quality integrators. A new RFP from Oklahoma is a great example - incredibly out of date and hard specified to a manufacturer in steep decline. In t...
By Carlton Purvis - about 4 years ago
Qatar, the world's wealthiest country, is known for its opulence and may soon be for its mandatory first-rate surveillance systems. While many countries struggle with low quality, antiquated systems, Qatar seems intent on making every business in ...
By Carlton Purvis - over 4 years ago
Mesh wireless has a dubious reputation, with many stories of system failures and finger pointing between manufacturers, integrators and end users. A Califonia city is actively looking for a new municipal surveillance system and is requesting a me...
By Ben Wood - over 4 years ago
City surveillance systems often cost huge amounts of money - $10,000 per camera deployed is common. One Pennsylvania city took a different approach spending less than $10,000 for the core network and adding on cameras for just $1,000 each. Unfortu...
By Carlton Purvis - over 4 years ago
Users depend on architects and engineers (A&Es) to design buildings that best meet their needs. However, many A&Es use specifications from door hardware manufacturers that give away specification writing 'services' for free, raising concer...
By Brian Rhodes - about 5 years ago
One of the hottest procurement trends is using a ‘reverse auction’. Unlike an RFP, which typically awards a project based on multiple criteria, a ‘reverse auction’ awards solely on lowest price, usually in a manner where 'the lowest price when tim...
By Brian Rhodes - over 5 years ago
While the City of Dallas is was a flagship 'win' for wireless mesh vendor Firetide, a recent RFP and numerous reports to IPVM indicate major problems for the system in Dallas. In this note, we examine what those problems are, the alternative solut...
By Ethan Ace - over 5 years ago
Integrators who fail to take prebid meetings and walkthroughs seriously can lose the job or lose their shirt when responding to RFPs. While prebid meetings and walkthru meeting are common elements of many RFPs, some integrators may not fully under...
By Brian Rhodes - over 5 years ago
Dealing with RFPs (or Request for Proposals) is a major component of buying or selling video surveillance systems as large projects typically use them. The process, however, can be complex with many stages and nuances involved. In this note, we ex...
By Brian Rhodes - over 5 years ago
In our international integrator survey, respondents raised numerous concerns about low quality surveillance RFPs. In this report, we explain and examine their specific concerns. Overview Request for Proposals (i.e., RFPs) are a common method of ...
By Brian Rhodes - over 5 years ago
