**Contract Scanning Project**
We are an applications developer, linked to the University of Liverpool, England. Our client requires a sophisticated web service for the detection of collusion, cartel and fraudulent activity from data arising from public and private sector construction contracts.
The proposed solution will be a redevelopment and improvement of ideas formulated by our client. The solution will be developed as a prototype web service in two phases of development. The first phase will be to develop functionality to aid in the structured capture and viewing of contract and tender information. The second phase of development will be to develop functionality to aid in the graphical and statistical analysis of captured data to reveal evidence of collusion and cartel activity.
Users of the proposed solution will comprise of organisations wishing to ratify their data capture methods for contract and tender information whilst being able to analyse said data for indications of fraud, collusion or cartel activity. It has been identified that this functionality may be of particular relevance to public sector organisations wishing to ensure the proper operation of public sector projects and procurement methodologies.
The attached documentation lists detailed requirements for both phases of the solution’s development. The purpose of sending the documentation at this stage is to identify developers with the relevant experience in the development of such systems. As a functional specification has not yet been written we do not expect firm figures at this stage but wish to obtain some idea of your experience and indicative costs. However, a functional specification will be provided within 10 days and thereafter, accurate bids for the project would be expected. Once bids reflecting an accurate cost for the project have been received, a successful bid will be chosen.
## Deliverables
As part of your estimation for this project, we would like you to factor in costs for a comprehensive system testing procedure along with full system testing documentation. We would also require full technical documentation outlining the technology underpinning the system along with fully documented code.
We envisage the start of development will be in early may and would be required to be finished by the end of the June. This gives only 2 months for complete system development and documentation. This needs to be taken into account when calculating number of programmers etc.
If you have any queries regarding the specification, please contact John Loftus on e-mail (johnl@[login to view URL]) but don’t worry too much about the exact requirements, we just need a general outline of costs and your capabilities in this area.
## Platform
Ideally we would like to implement the solution using .NET along with a MS SQL or Oracle 10g database, with Crystal Reports used to provide the graphical reporting functionality although we are open to alternatives at this stage.