Hi LIS Community, We would like to share our feedback on the tendering requirements that Librarians are making for Koha cloud hosting for your consideration for the next tender. We welcome your feedback on this. I will take a moment to introduce SocialWell. We are a data + content startup recognized by Odisha Startup and Microsoft Startup programs. We are supporting libraries in Koha cloud hosting as part of our digital content strategy. We have designed, developed, and implemented two large-scale, multi-lingual, and multi-content digital libraries at global and national scale - Globethics Library (https://globethics.net) and Mekong School Digital Library (https://library.mekongschool.org). We are in the process of implementing of a national digital library in an East African country. Koha Cloud Hosting tender requirements 1. Tenders require the agency to be based in the institution's state - This is not required. If you have implemented any ILMS, it's trivial to get the data and import in Koha. Should be accomplished within 3 days. 2. Tenders require the agency to have implemented Koha cloud hosting for the same university: This clause is not required. There is no technical challenges and expertise required in Koha cloud hosting that you would need a validation from your own university. 3. Tender require Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 EMD: We literally charge Rs. 10,000 per year for the cloud hosting, as we charge only what our cloud provider charges us. If the contract value itself is Rs. 10,000, how can we justify giving an EMD of Rs. 10,000? 4. Entire process takes 2 months to close: Now that you know the contract value, the process should be digitized requiring no paper trail and your selection of the agency can be completed in one week and deployment in another 1 week. Why we are doing this 1. We want to bring innovations in the library space that would lead to at least 5X usage of your resources. 2. In the short term, the UI for Koha is not at all user friendly. We want to revamp that UI and make the UI open source. We don't want to create a project unless we have around 20 libraries using our services. 2. Unjustifiable tender clauses are preventing us to submit applications. We look forward to hearing your feedback. Best regards, Atanu Atanu Garai SocialWell w: www.socialwell.nethttp://www.socialwell.net/