Consulting: requirements and procurement
Requirements and procurement: from a need to the right provider
In requirements and procurement, LETO SPACE turns what your organisation needs into requirements that providers can answer. We align the stakeholders, write the requirements specification, scan the market, design the tender and evaluate the offers against your requirements. Cities, regions and companies receive a stakeholder map, a requirements specification, a market scan, a tender design and a provider evaluation matrix.
- Stakeholder map
- Requirements specification
- Market scan
- Tender design
- Provider evaluation matrix
01When you need it
When you need this
You know what you want to achieve. What is missing is a description that providers can quote for and that lets you compare their offers.
Typical starting situations:
- A climate, planning or operations goal is set, and nobody has written down what a satellite-based service would have to deliver.
- You have received offers from several providers, and each one answers a different question.
- You are preparing a tender and want requirements that do not describe one provider's product.
- Several departments, or several municipalities, have to agree on one specification.
- A pilot has worked, and the service now has to be procured for regular operation.
If you have not yet decided which use case to pursue, start with strategy and use cases.
02How we work
What we do
We work for you as the buyer, from the first stakeholder meeting to the recommendation of a provider. In our consulting work we are vendor-neutral. We recommend what meets your requirements, whichever provider offers it.
1. Align the stakeholders
We identify who will use the results, who operates and pays for the service and who decides. In interviews and workshops we agree on the decision the service must support and resolve conflicting expectations before they reach the specification.
2. Engineer the requirements
We translate the needs into requirements: the area, the update interval, the accuracy and level of detail, the delivery format, the integration into your systems, data rights and support. Each requirement describes a result, not a sensor or a brand, and states how it will be checked at acceptance. The international standard ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148 describes requirements engineering as a function that mediates between the organisation that acquires a system, software or service and the one that supplies or develops it Source: ISO, November 2018ISOISO/IEC/IEEE 29148:2018, Requirements engineeringNovember 2018Open source (opens iso.org).
3. Scan the market
We find out which providers and solutions exist for your problem and what they can deliver, including free public data and services that may cover part of the need. The scan shows whether your requirements are realistic before they become binding.
4. Design the tender
With your procurement office we prepare the tender: scope and lots, a pilot phase where it makes sense, award criteria, the evaluation method and the documents providers receive. For companies, the same work becomes a structured request for proposal.
5. Evaluate the providers
We evaluate offers against your requirements with an agreed, weighted matrix, review demonstrations or tests with your own data where possible, and give you a written recommendation. The decision stays with you.
03Deliverables
What you receive
Deliverables
What requirements and procurement delivers
- A stakeholder map: who uses, operates, pays for and decides on the service, and what each of them expects.
- A requirements specification: verifiable requirements with acceptance criteria, written so that several providers can answer.
- A market scan: the providers and solutions that fit your problem, and how they compare with your requirements.
- A tender design: scope, lots, award criteria and the documents for providers, prepared with your procurement office.
- A provider evaluation matrix: weighted criteria, scores for each offer and a written recommendation.
04Your part
What we need from you
- A project owner who can take decisions on scope and budget.
- Access to the future users of the service and to the people who will operate it.
- Your procurement office or purchasing department, involved from the start.
- An overview of the data, systems and GIS formats the results must fit into.
- Any previous offers, studies or pilot results.
05Our work
When satellite data is not the answer
Part of a good requirements process is finding out that a tender is not the next step.
Limit 01
The market cannot deliver it yet
If the scan shows that no provider can meet a requirement today, a standard tender will fail. We then recommend changing the requirement, waiting, or a procedure that includes development, which our procurement guide describes.Limit 02
A free public service already covers it
Some needs are met by free public data and services. Then the task is integration and use, not a tender for data.Limit 03
The need is not settled
If the stakeholders do not yet agree on the decision the service must support, a specification would only fix the disagreement. We go back to the use case first.
06Limits
Next steps
- How to procure Earth observation and satellite servicesOur guide to the six steps, with checklists.
- ImplementationAfter the contract: pilot, provider steering and operation.
- Cities and regionsWhat satellite data can do for public administrations.
- Our consultingFour practice areas from a business problem to a solution in operation, and the choice between buying, partnering and building.
Frequently asked questions
Q1What is the difference between a market scan and a tender?
A market scan is an overview: which providers and solutions exist for your problem, what they can deliver and roughly how they compare with your requirements. It commits you to nothing. A tender is the formal request for binding offers against a fixed specification, followed by an evaluation and a contract. The scan comes first, so that the specification describes what the market can actually deliver.
Q2Do you support companies, or only public buyers?
Both. Public bodies have to follow procurement law, so we work with their procurement office on the procedure. Companies that are not bound by public procurement law can choose how they buy, and the same steps then become a request for proposal: requirements, market scan, selected providers, structured evaluation and a recommendation.
Q3Can you choose the procedure for our tender?
We prepare the tender with you and your procurement office: the scope, the lots, the award criteria and how offers will be evaluated. The choice of procedure and any legal questions stay with your procurement office or legal counsel. Our procurement guide explains the options in general.
Q4How do Spacegraph and your consulting work relate?
LETO SPACE develops Spacegraph, a discovery platform for space-enabled solutions. In our consulting work we are vendor-neutral, and three rules apply in every mandate: our market scans and provider evaluations are not limited to providers listed on Spacegraph, a paid partner status on Spacegraph plays no part in them, and LETO SPACE receives no Spacegraph revenue share from contracts concluded in a procedure we accompany. Before we hand over an evaluation, we also tell you which of the providers assessed hold a paid partner status.
Q5What does it cost, and how long does it take?
That depends on the scope, for example how many departments or municipalities take part and whether we support a market scan only or the whole tender. We name the cost and the time frame in the free initial call, once we know your task.
Contact
Preparing a tender for a satellite-based service? Talk to us before you write the specification.
Book a call, or send us a message if you prefer to write.
Prefer to talk?
Tell one of our experts about your project. Together we work out where you stand, whether satellite data and AI can help and what a sensible next step would be.
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