What Should an RFP for SOA Look Like?

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August 20, 2008

What Should an RFP for SOA Look Like?

I've been meaning to help call attention to an interesting request for proposal (RFP) coming out of the Rhode Island court system, entitled "Service Oriented Architecture Implementation." Jeff Schneider discovered this one, and wonders if this provides a good example of an RFP for others to follow....

The solicitation seeks someone to help the court system implement an "IBM SOA," which appears to involve implementations of IBM Websphere Registry and Repository, IBM DataPower ESB device, and IBM Rational development tools. The goal is to arrive, through a three-phase process, at "BPM enabled by SOA."

As SOA becomes a key strategy for streamlining and better connectivity between business units, partners, and constituents, we're likely to see more of these kinds of requests coming out of businesses and public agencies.

Let me digress for a minute here... There are many within the industry who frequently argue that there should be no such thing as a Request for Proposal simply for "SOA." RFPs need to address "improved information access for constituents," or "improved workflow," or "improving a customer relationship management system." And behind any RFP (and response) these days should be the service-oriented methodologies, with a discussion of building or deploying common interfaces or reusable services that can make particular business problems go away.

That being said, it nevertheless is interesting to see how SOA-based solutions are being sought in the market, and the kinds of plans organizations are making to make SOA happen. Rhode Island's court system is clearly looking forward in a very big way to increasing the agility of its delivery of services and documents. And that will be a tremendous and very noticeable benefit for anyone involved in the court system, whether by circumstance or profession.

Let's just hope the Rhode Island project isn't a real "trial," and is handled "judiciously." But in the end, the end-user customer will ultimately be the judge and jury of the success of any SOA effort. I wish them success on this new journey.

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Posted by joemckendrick in Management • SOA | Digg This | Add to del.icio.us