An RFI (Request For Information) is a document in which the buyer, before settling what to procure, asks vendors to supply information (情報) on technologies, products and the like.
The buyer tells vendors what it wants to achieve and outlines its business, and they reply with usable technologies, products and examples of past deployments. The buyer uses this information to judge whether the system is feasible and which vendors are fit to take on the work. It also lays the groundwork for drawing up the requirements.
AnalogyIt is like collecting listings and typical rents from a few real-estate agents before deciding where to move, just to see what options exist.
How to rememberR and F stand for "Request For", and I for "Information". Put together, the letters spell out a plain request: "please send us information".
Exam points
ExamThe purpose of an RFI is to get information on technologies, products and case studies from vendors, so the buyer has material for judging feasibility and shortlisting vendors it could ask to do the work.
Mix-upAn RFI gathers information so the buyer can settle what to order. The step of asking vendors for concrete proposals and quotes belongs to the RFP.
An RFP (Request For Proposal) is a document in which the buyer sets out the requirements and procurement terms for the system it plans to buy and asks vendors to submit a concrete proposal (提案書).
Gather information with an RFI if needed
Issue the RFP
Evaluate the proposals
Choose the contractor and sign the contract
Based on the evaluation, the buyer picks the contractor and signs the contract.
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A vendor that receives the RFP writes up how it would meet the requirements, with what team, at what cost and on what schedule, and returns this as a proposal. By giving the same RFP to several vendors, the buyer can compare proposals made against identical terms.
AnalogyIt is the stage in building a house where you hand several builders a brief listing your preferred layout, budget and completion date, then compare the plans and quotes each one sends back.
Exam points
ExamThe RFP is written by the buyer and handed to vendors. The document vendors prepare in response and send back to the buyer is the proposal (提案書).
ExamThe core of an RFP is the requirements, such as the functions the new system should provide, plus the procurement terms. How to meet those requirements is for the vendor to show in its proposal.
ExamProposals are compared against evaluation criteria (評価基準) fixed in advance to choose the contractor. For example, each item's score is multiplied by its weight, the results are added up, and the company with the highest total wins.
Green Procurement (グリーン調達) is an approach to buying products, parts or services that adds a low environmental impact (環境への負荷) to price and quality as a selection criterion.
Typical targets include low-power equipment, products made from recycled materials and parts free of hazardous substances. Buyers may also make a supplier's own environmental efforts a condition for choosing business partners. In Japan, a law (the Green Purchasing Act, グリーン購入法) requires national agencies and similar bodies to procure environmentally friendly goods.
AnalogyThink of how you compare energy-efficiency labels, not just prices, when replacing a home appliance, and then apply that habit to a company's purchasing.
Exam points
Mix-upGreen Procurement (グリーン調達) is a criterion for what the buyer chooses. When the maker cuts environmental impact from the design stage onward, that is called environmentally conscious design, or eco-design (環境配慮設計).
AI・データの利用に関する契約ガイドラインContract Guidelines on the Use of AI and Data
The Contract Guidelines on the Use of AI and Data (AI・データの利用に関する契約ガイドライン) were published in 2018 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (経済産業省) and organize the issues in contracts for developing and using AI and for trading data, in a Data section and an AI section.
Assessment
PoC
Development
Additional training
Additional training: keep training the model with new data while it is in use.
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Because an AI's performance is hard to predict until it has actually been trained, the AI section lays out an exploratory, phased (探索的段階型) approach that signs a separate contract for each stage: an assessment of feasibility, a trial for verification (PoC: proof of concept), full development and then additional training. The Data section sets out how to agree in a contract on matters such as the permitted scope of use, payment and the split of liability when data is provided or shared.
AnalogyIt resembles developing a new dish whose outcome is hard to predict, where the restaurant and the chef decide afresh after each tasting whether to move on to the next step.
Exam points
Mix-upThese guidelines show how to think about what to settle in a contract and how. No law obliges anyone to follow them.
Key points
In procurement, it is the buyer who puts its needs in a document for vendors and the buyer again who compares the proposals that come back and picks the contractor. Vendors respond to that document with proposals.
Proposals are compared against evaluation criteria, such as weighted scores, that were fixed before they arrived, and the contractor is chosen on that basis.
Green Procurement (グリーン調達) adds a low environmental impact to price and quality as a purchasing criterion.
The Contract Guidelines on the Use of AI and Data (AI・データの利用に関する契約ガイドライン) carry no legal obligation and set out ideas such as moving AI development, whose performance is hard to predict, forward through contracts signed stage by stage.