2009/1/24 Naoko Komura nkomura@gmail.com:
Hello, Thomas.
I admire your persistence in putting your question forward until your question is answered. :-) Let me try to answer your questions by giving you the background of this negotiation.
Persistence is certainly not something I'm lacking! Some disagree about how admirable that is, though...
So the number of total quotes collected are ten including Wikia. The criteria of request for quotes were
- the space needs to house minimum five personnel and (2) the project team
needs a meeting room. These ten quotes are not apple-to-apple comparison, for example parameters such as total space availability, infrastructure readiness, meeting room availability, distance from the WMF, access to kitchen, noise level, furnished and etc. Of course, the price varies too. We narrowed down our selection to two office space candidates
How did you narrow it down? Was there something specific the cheaper bids were lacking?
, one is a shared office (open space) with architects and a game software company, which is near the Moscone Center (15 minutes walk from the WMF). Let's call this space X for simplicity's sake. Wikia's sub-lease space, let's call it W, offered a smaller floor space than X, but the workspace is enclosed and can be shut down from noise, and access to a kitchen and toilet were better than X. Connectivity was ready to go, we just need to install a router for WiFi. W's asking price was more than X, but we said our offer price would not be more than the price quoted by X. So, W evaluated if they can rent out space higher than our offer price. As there was no higher bidder than us, W had agreed to offer the space at our offer price.
Well, it certainly sounds like you made the right decision between X and W - a better solution for the same cost, who wouldn't take it? So it seems the only question remaining is about how you came up with the shortlist.
Thank you for helping me understand this decision.