Ariel Banos, expert in pricing strategy, presents in this article a key aspect to consider when quoting proposals for professional services.
"... In his book "Pricing Creativity", Blair Enns exemplifies the big differences there can be in the price of professional work, using the cases of some famous logos.
In 1971, in the early days of his company, Nike CEO Phil Knight paid a design student named Carolyn Davidson the sum of US$ 35 (about US$ 200 at today's values) to create the "swoosh" logo. We are talking about the mythical logo that still identifies the Nike brand today.
The Superintendence of Banks tenders professional services to perform external audits of the institution's financial and budgetary operations, for a three-year term.
Government of Guatemala Purchase 14859807:
"The Contractor shall audit the financial statements of the Superintendence of Banks, for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2022 and 2023, review the budget execution for the years ended on those dates.
Banco Popular y de Desarrollo Comunal tenders collection management services for accounts declared by the institution as written-off operations.
Costa Rica Government Purchase 2021LN-000005-0020600001:
"The model of this contracting is conceptualized under the consumption scheme according to demand, with which it is intended to have the services of a company that meets the needs that the Bank requires in the collection management service of accounts declared as written-off operations and/or estimated at 100%, it shall locate the debtors, guarantors and/or co-debtors of these operations and recover all or part of the amounts owed by them either through the total cancellation of the customer, refinancing, payment plan and/or payment arrangement in accordance with the policies in force and established for that purpose by the Bank, prior analysis of each case by the company and the definition of the technological tools to be used for negotiation with the customer (understood by tools to: telephone calls, e-mail, sending messaging, SMS, IVR or WhatsApp and all those tools available in the market for negotiation).
Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados tender’s services for a contact center for omnichannel customer service.
Costa Rican Government Purchase 2021LN-000003-0021400001:
"This contracting is required to have a Contact Center that provides Attention Services to the users of the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers in a timely and reliable manner, through an Omnichannel assistance that includes the attention of incoming calls, outgoing call campaigns, attention through digital channels such as: emails, text messages, chats, social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, WhatsApp, among others), campaigns in different channels of attention and face-to-face attention of managements at the service platforms level.
The competitive advantage of low costs of Central American companies and the possibility of making strategic alliances in Mexico and the U.S., are some of the opportunities that architectural services companies could take advantage of.
For the internationalization of this type of service, companies in the sector recognize some challenges and barriers such as the lack of information on internationalization of services, lack of knowledge on how to reach international clients, differences in design codes and applicable laws, and regulatory difficulties to internationalize plans, highlights an analysis prepared by the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer).
The Banco Popular y de Desarrollo Comunal de Costa Rica is bidding for the credit card processing service and the dataphone rental and maintenance service in its various modalities, under the modality of consumption on demand.
Costa Rica Government Purchase 2020LN-000009-0020600001:
"Services are required for the processing of VISA and MasterCard for products, credit, debit and prepaid, whether they are their own or sponsored to a third party, additionally, it is required to hire the services of rental of dataphones (POS) in its various forms and preventive and corrective maintenance services of the terminals.
In Central America, nearly 5 million people are looking to purchase home services online, and 8% of these consumers are exploring options for contracting residential cleaning services.
The interactive information system developed by CentralAmericaData, monitors in real time the changes in consumer habits in all markets of the region, with fundamental information to understand the new commercial environment that has emerged in an accelerated manner.
The National Service of Groundwater for Irrigation and Drainage of Costa Rica is bidding for the topographic survey with LIDAR technology and bathymetry in the Coto Colorado River basin.
Costa Rica Government Purchase 2020CE-000001-0018800001:
"According to the current situation of the riverbeds, several studies are required in the basin, within which they are located:
In Guatemala, Intecap tenders the service of the certifying entity, to perform the follow-up audit and re-certification of the Quality Management System of the institution, certified under the International Standard ISO 9001:2015.
Guatemala Government Purchase 12156469:
"The Quality Audits will include at least the following subject matter:
-Verification of the fulfillment of the System of Management of the Quality of the INTECAP -SGCI- by means of the Audit of Pursuit and the Audit of Re-certification, applying the International Norm ISO 9001:2015, Systems of Management of the Quality, requirements.
The Central Bank tenders professional services to issue an opinion on the reasonableness of the institution's financial statements.
Honduras Government Purchase CPrivado No.01-2020:
"Hiring of an external audit firm, duly registered in the Registry of External Auditors (RAE) of the National Commission of Banks and Insurance Companies (CNBS), to issue an opinion on the reasonability of the Financial Statements of the Central Bank of Honduras (BCH) with figures as of December 31, 2020, compared to those corresponding to December 31, 2019.
The Bank of Costa Rica tenders the professional services of consulting and accompaniment in the design and operationalization of the Strategic Plan.
Costa Rica Government Purchase 2020LN-000002-0015700001:
"The services of a consulting company will be hired to carry out a strategic diagnosis of the Bank of Costa Rica so that, based on this diagnosis and the application of techniques and methodologies specific to the industry or the bidder, the Board of Directors will be advised and accompanied in transforming the strategy of the BCR and formulating a Strategic Plan for the Bank of Costa Rica for a 5-year period.
The National Electric Power Company is tendering the study of soil mechanics in Guanaja and Brus Laguna, sites where the institution will install a generation system with renewable energy through micro networks.
Honduras Government Purchase PERLA-6-SBMC-CF-:
"The Soil Mechanics Study Reports that the consultant will present, must contain the results of the analyses to determine:
The Social Security Fund of Panama tenders the service of updating, implementation and integration of the processes of storage, distribution and final dispensation of medicines at the national level, for a four-year term.
Panama Government Purchase 2019-1-10-0-99-LV-356528:
"The purpose of the services to be contracted is to train the human resources of the Social Security Fund for the adequate planning of the acquisition and logistics of the distribution and dispensation of medicines and surgical medical supplies in all its dependencies, for this purpose it is required that the contracting be for a period of at least four years, to implement and to provide the service.
An appeal of disagreement filed by Mayoreo de Computación S.A. was rejected after the Guatemalan authorities dismissed its proposal, the only one presented in the contest.
A few days ago the Qualifying Board of the tender informed that it was resolved to reject the offer presented by Mayoreo de Computación S.A. (Maycom), because the file did not comply with some of the required formalities.
Because the proposal submitted by Mayoreo de Computacion S.A. does not comply with some of the formalities required, in Guatemala decided to discard the only bid submitted in the tender for the service of issuing licenses to drive vehicles.
The company, which has been in charge of providing the service for 20 years and whose commercial name is Maycom, was the only one that presented its offer at the public ceremony, which totaled Q857 million ($111 million), but derived from some errors found in the documents, the authorities disqualified the proposal.