Evaluating Mechanical/Industrial Design Bids 2

[EnergyMix]

Folks

This is way outside what I normally do and I know that I need to hire someone. However, the question I have is what criteria should I be looking for in a mechanical/industrial design bid? How do I choose who to hire in order and make sure I have a good contract so that I end up with what I want while being fair to the engineer that I hire?

For those of you that do this frequently, or who are in the mechanical/industrial design business:
What makes up a good statement of work? (How do I write it so I get what I want?)
What criteria should be used to evaluate a bid? (How do I ensure that I will get what is in the statement of work?)

On this site, the advice is frequently to "hire someone!" So I'm asking if people are going to hire someone, but don't have a lot of experience in that area, what should they look for.

The backstory: My sister, a physical therapist has asked for my help in designing a piece of low-tech therapy equipment she needs. She has a clear idea of what she wants and I've done some very preliminary sketches based on what she described. While I could maybe dust off some of my engineering books and do more detailed design, it is outside my field. I also don't have the time to devote to this, and I feel uncomfortable because of potential patient liability. So I told her that she needed to hire someone that knows what they're doing. And if I have no clue on how to hire a good engineer; how is a non-engineer going to be able to do so?

Hence the question. All help appreciated.

Thanks from a totally clueless Nuke.



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[KENAT]

I'm guessing you know this but based on the few I've been involved with...

I'd start out with a summary of technical requirements for the device, then a list of the deliverables and only then any intangible type stuff not directly tied to an actual deliverable.

Keep it a bit simpler and briefer than we used to in aerospace and than you probably do in Nuke work but make sure the important stuff is in there. Also make sure to give them any information they require that you have.

As to compliance, well you can ask that their bid demonstrate compliance with the SOW. You could even state that payment will be made against submittable & approval of the deliverable's etc.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[IRstuff]

A bid typically consists of two parts, the technical and the financial. The technical should address the requirements, so job one for you is to ensure that you have a thorough requirements specification with testable and observable requirements. The financial should likewise be thorough and cover all the required work elements, so job two is a statement of work, which typically includes milestones like design reviews, technical meetings, periodic status reviews, etc., coupled with deliverable documentation like analyses, design drawings, test results, etc. The financial bid should have sufficient detail that most work packages are on the order of a person-month; anything larger may should a lack of thought into how much effort it will really take to do the design.

Of course, most proposals are basically vaporware, given the pressure to produce a sufficiently low cost bid to overcome any marginalities in the technical proposal. In aerospace, it's not unusual for the cost bid to be 30% below the original bottoms-up bid, which means that for a cost-plus contract, you'll need to have sufficient margin to cover the inevitable overrun.

Ideally, you should have some form of vetting for the costs, preferrably with your own design and cost history. Cost realism used to be a big deal in defense, where the customer would essentially do their own bid and place upticks and downticks on proposers' bids to even out the playing field.

TTFN
faq731-376

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[tygerdawg]

There are mountains of info out there on "how to write a spec". Some of it is suitable for specifying the design of a commercial airliner or gigantic construction project. Some of it is OK for a gizmo.

While working as a Manufacturing Engineer for too many years I had to get gizmos and machinery designed and built. Over the years I developed a spec style that seemed to work well enough for the chaotic madness that was my life in manufacturing. I simplified it to the concept of a Communications Tool to the Vendor. It went sort of like this:

SCOPE
Defines "which ballpark" you are playing in. Sets the "Vendor expectations" of what they will read in the spec.

DEFINITIONS
If any.
Sketches or pictures may be useful.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Sometimes is useful to provide context into why this gizmo is needed.
Patent or liability information for awareness.
Your gizmo's working environment.

DESCRIPTION (of need, of product requirements, etc)
This is where all the details are.
Configuration.
Loads, rates, other quantifiable indices.
This requires the most work of the writer, to define in quantitative terms what it is that they need. Most non-techies fail at this.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
In later years I tried to communicate my need for a real project plan of the design & build. I wanted it so I could monitor project progress, but rarely got it.
Quoting Period.
Evaluation Period.
Vendor Selection.
Release of Purchase Order.
Kickoff Meeting.
Preliminary Design Review Milestone.
(other prelim design reviews as reqd)
Final Design Review Milestone
(other "final" design reviews as reqd)
Build.
Vendor Trial & Acceptance.
Shipping Milestone.
Customer Trial & Acceptance.

TRIAL & ACCEPTANCE
Defines quantitative measures of how trials will be conducted and how acceptance will be granted.
Defines steps taken if trials fail.

CUSTOMER RESPONSIBILITIES
Defines what the customer must do, need not do.
Provide plans & parts in timely manner to support schedule.
Be available for design reviews.

VENDOR RESPONSIBILITIES
Meet project milestones.
Meet design & function requirements.
Trials, acceptance.
Release / ownership of design documents.

PAYMENT
Defines how money is transferred between Customer & Vendor.

No matter all of these spec requirements in writing and agreed to in Purchase Orders, it was usually a very fluid project and many of the administrative requirements never got met. The sales team that pushed for and accepted the PO seemed to never communicate admin requirements to the design team. A lot of follow-up & monitoring was required. Many times project schedules weren't met, and that was usually OK in the manufacturing environment because it was so chaotic & flexible.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[EnergyMix]

Thank you all. This is totally outside what I do; I don't handle any type of contracts at work -- if I need to purchase something, I specify what it is, then turn it over to someone who handles that. So the information is very helpful.

Any hints on selecting the best (or at least a reasonable) firm? After years of working for an unnamed entity that always goes for the lowest bidder, I'm leery of using cost as the sole criteria.

Want to know the do's and don'ts of Eng-Tips? Read FAQ731-376.
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[KENAT]

You could ask for examples of their prior work/a portfolio and then ask them questions about aspects of the job you want done.

Trying to get a warm feeling just from SOW & Bid can be tricky.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[cvg]

start with a request for qualifications to several engineers and then after reviewing their qualifications, invite at least two in for an interview. select the one that gives you the warm and fuzzies and then develop a scope of work and fee proposal with him. if you are unsuccessful with negotiations with the selected engineer, than go to the runner up and start again.

 

[tygerdawg]

When determining the best choice for me from multiple vendors, I got the most success by using a "weighted comparison matrix" or "Pugh Matrix."

Set up your categories by which you will judge the vendors, set up a scoring method, apply a "importance to me" weighting factor to each category. Evaluate, score, and tally. Usually (not always) the most preferred choice will result in the highest score.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[GregLocock]

If your gut feel choice doesn't win it should make you re evaluate your criteria and weightings. In a team environment this means he who is writing on the whiteboard probably has an advantage.



Cheers

Greg Locock


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[EnergyMix]

Thank you all, especially TygerDawg for the detailed reply. I appreciate you each taking the time to help me out in venturing into this completely new world.

Thanks

Energy Mix.

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[hendersdc]

Because you are starting from a basic concept that sounds like it does not have detailed specs I would suggest that you start the request for proposal process looking for a detailed proposal on only a feasibility phase with a rough order of magnitude proposal for the full development. Architecture/Specification Phase -> Alpha Design Phase -> Engineering Confidence Testing -> Beta Design Updates -> Design Verification Testing and Validation -> MFG

I don't know the kind of device your sister has in mind but I can say that designing medical electronics is a very documentation and testing heavy process. By starting with a "feasibility" phase you can explore the design concept without being subject to all the quality requirements of the FDA. This will allow you to create a proof of concept prototype to see if it is possible to meet the design goals and cost targets without spending too much effort on documentation early on only to find there is no business case for the product.

Most product development firms are very willing to work with you to define the scope and deliverables for a project, they will then explicitly state what is included in their proposal to you. Expect to spend a lot of quality time on the phone/email with whoever you contact for the proposals.

Doug

 

[EnergyMix]

Thanks hendersdc, thats very helpful advice.

Want to know the do's and don'ts of Eng-Tips? Read FAQ731-376.
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