pilot toolkit dev

Technology has the power and reach to be a force for good. Fast Forward unlocks the power of the tech community to tackle social issues. From poverty, to education access, to improving health and resolving environmental degradation — technology can impact lives at scale unmatched in human history. But there's a gap in support for tech nonprofits who, in the early stages, need to build their product and prove their model. We look for product-driven nonprofits that leverage open source software, always connected mobile devices, open APIs, and inexpensive variable cost web infrastructure to solve education, environmental, health, and human rights issues. Fast Forward then provides financial and human capital to help scale these technology solutions and maximize impact.

What is Problem Based Procurement?

Government procurement has traditionally been prescriptive — an RFP states the exact problem to be solved and specifies in detail how it should be solved, leaving little room for vendors to develop creative solutions or propose innovative approaches.

Problem-based procurement enables those organizations to engage a vendor community by providing a problem and soliciting possible solutions within the same procurement processes already made available.

What is a Pilot?

A pilot project ("pilot") is an opportunity to test new products, goods, services, approaches and potential solutions on a small scale and for a short period of time, generally six months or less. Pilots are particularly useful where the solution is new, either to the market or the department and/or where the implementation represents a significant change in the way staff works and the potential for improved outcomes from the work.

There is a wide spectrum in types of pilots:

They can include a staff person trying something like a new software program in an effort to better or more efficiently solve a problem sitting in front of them.
They can also include trying something, like a new approach combined with new technology that might lead to better outcomes from a City process or program over time.

The hope is that more pilots, undertaken before larger scale buying and associated activities are done, will help the City learn more, buy better, support innovation, improve performance, and support attraction and retention of start up firms.

What does a Pilot Entail?

Pilots should be well planned and include the following considerations:

Research and investigate existing pilot programs

Engage strategic partners (gov agencies, affiliated non profits, stakeholders, internal + external)

Frame a clear problem and environment for possible solutions to live within

Consider and address legal, policy, and procedural considerations

Engage broad local vendor community and consider civic impact

What are you trying to do?

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How did we get there?

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