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Directory:Philippe Beaudette (view source)

Revision as of 20:27, 14 October 2010

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==Wiring a project to past employer==
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In October 2010, Beaudette was caught in a "wired deal", where a research project was awarded to his former employer, without a competitive request for proposal (RFP) being issued.  This may have been a violation of the Wikimedia Foundation's own policy on purchasing and disbursements.  The news media wrote about [http://www.examiner.com/wiki-edits-in-national/wikimedia-foundation-wires-biased-study-of-donors this scandal].
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Soon after, several Wikimedia volunteers [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2010-October/061529.html asked] to know [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2010-October/061534.html more] about the [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2010-October/061536.html award] of the research contract to '''Q2 Consulting, LLC'''.
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They were told by the Deputy Director of the Wikimedia Foundation to [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2010-October/061551.html stop bothering] the Wikimedia mailing list, and to direct the question to the next Internet Relay Chat session of "Office Hours".
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Here is a partial transcript of that next [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours/Office_hours_2010-10-14 IRC "Office Hours"] session:
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<blockquote>/join #wikimedia-office<br>
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*** sgardner [~sgardner@wikimedia/Sue-Gardner] has joined #wikimedia-office<br>
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<Thekohser> QUESTION: The recently completed 2010 Donor Survey, by Q2 Consulting... was a competitive bid put out for that work, and if not, why not?  If so, by what criteria were Q2 Consulting selected?  How much did the project cost the Foundation?<br>
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<Nihiltres> thekohser: I'm guessing on that last one that if no, it's because fair competitive bids are themselves a good deal of work<br>
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<sgardner> Okay! Good morning, folks. (Or at least, it is morning for me.)<br>
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*** mode/#wikimedia-office [+b *!*@gateway/web/cgi-irc/wikizine.org/ip.68.87.42.110] by Jamesofur<br>
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*** Thekohser was kicked from #wikimedia-office by Jamesofur <nowiki>[Thekohser]</nowiki><br>
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'''...(all of the above was censored from the discussion when the Foundation posted the archive)...'''<br>
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[13:08] * Jamesofur sets mode: +v sgardner<br>
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[13:08] <+sgardner> It's true! Someone is always awake :-)<br>
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[13:08] <killiondude> Why was he banned? I didn't think he was being obtuse.<br>
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[13:09] <killiondude> He actually came in to #wikimedia asking if that was okay to ask, and a few people thought it was okay.<br>
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[13:10] <@StevenW> Killiondude: There is a list of exactly two people that the WMF feels obliged never to engage with.<br>
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[13:10] <+sgardner> Steven's going to answer killiondude's question about Greg Kohs.<br>
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[13:10] <+sgardner> ooh, he is answering.<br>
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[13:10] <Nihiltres> killiondude: his question isn't intrinsically bad, but it's not helpful<br>
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[13:10] <@StevenW> Kohs and an IRL stalker that the office has had.<br>
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[13:10] <killiondude> Are these office hours ever helpful, Nihiltres?<br>
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[13:11] <Nihiltres> killiondude: I like to think so<br>
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[13:11] <+sgardner> While Steven is typing, maybe I will say some other stuff also.<br>
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[13:11] <@StevenW> We didn't answer him on the mailing list for that reason, and IRC is no different.<br>
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[13:11] <killiondude> He was told to use IRC.<br>
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[13:11] <Dragonfly6-7> oh, but was kicked off?<br>
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[13:12] <@Jamesofur> the IRC discussion was meant for the mailing list as a whole<br>
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[13:12] <@StevenW> Killiondude: We were responding to John Vandenberg IIRC. Who is obviously a good faith Wikimedian who deserves to be answered.<br>
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[13:12] <killiondude> w/e, i don't care too much. I just find it disappointing. :-)<br>
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[13:12] <+sgardner> So. The board met over the weekend, and SJ has published four resolutions from the meeting: one on Movement Roles II, one on trustee term length, one on fundraising principles and one on the five-year-targets. So I am happy to talk about that, or about any other topic associated with the board meeting.<br>
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[13:13] <+sgardner> And, I am happy to talk about any other topic as well, and I'm happy to answer the Greg Kohs question if you folks want me to.<br>
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[14:02]      <sgardner>      So I think the question is, did we run an RFP for the process of picking a firm to help us with the fundraising. And the answer is no, we did not. The Wikimedia Foundation doesn't have a policy for when we run RFPs versus when we have less-formal processes for selecting vendors. I think that's completely fine: there are a variety of factors that go into the decision each time, and I don't think it would be easy to write a really good, robust policy designed to dictate the circumstances that require an RFP.  In this instance, we didn't run an RFP. We chose a firm that we thought would do a great job for Wikimedia – in part because we felt they could work well with our community, in an open setting. I don't regret that, and I don't think it was the wrong way to handle it.<br>
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<sgardner> That's the gist, on Q2.<br>
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<sgardner> (Q2 is the name of the firm.)<br>
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<sgardner> Any follow-up questions on that -- I'd be happy to answer them, if there are any.,<br>
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<Nemo_bis> Do you usually run an RFP above some spending limit?<br>
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<sgardner> No, not necessarily.<br>
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<sgardner> (Nemo_bis)<br>
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<Werespielchqrs>  Do you have a policy on what size of contract can be awarded without a bidding process?<br>
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<sgardner> The thing is that dollar-amount isn't necessarily the best indicator of whether an RFP is required/helpful.<br>
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<sgardner> Same question, Werespielchqrs, and it's the same answer.<br>
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<Nemo_bis> You can have exceptions. :-)<br>
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<sgardner> I think it's possible that in the fullness of time, we will develop policy for when to run an RFP.<br>
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<Nemo_bis> Obviously we should consider that time to run an RFP is a cost.<br>
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<sgardner> For example, at the CBC we certainly did have policy on this.<br>
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<Jamesofur> FYI: The log will be posted (unedited)<br>
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<sgardner>  But Nemo_bis is correct: it comes at a cost. Running an RFP is complicated and time-consuming, particularly if individual staffers need to run their own RFPs every time, rather than having support from for example a Purchasing Department.<br>
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<sgardner> In many ways, large organizations are better suited to running RFPs relative to small organizations.<br>
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<killiondude> How much did the research study cost, by chance?<br>
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<sgardner> I don't know how much it cost.<br>
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<sgardner> (Which means it was not a very, very large amount of money.)<br></blockquote>
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All of the above, just to protect young Philippe Beaudette's mistake of awarding a contract to his former employer, without an iota of competitive bidding.
    
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