Wednesday, December 19, 2018

PyPI Security and Accessibility Q1 2019 Request for Proposals Update

Earlier this year we launched a Request for Information (RFI) followed by the launch of a Request for Proposals (RFP) in November to fulfill a contract for the Open Technology Fund (OTF) Core Infrastructure Fund.

The initial deadline for our RFP was December 14th. We had hoped to begin work with the selected proposers in January 2019, but ultimately fell short of the ability to do so.

What’s holding us back


After the deadline passed there were no proposals submitted for Milestone 2. This leaves us in a position where the project cannot proceed as planned without reassessing the RFP process and extending the deadline.

How we’ll move forward


The RFP document has been updated based on feedback received from those who took part in the initial period to allow for additional flexibility on proposal parameters.

The RFP contained two milestones that could be proposed for independently or as a pair. In responses to our RFP the security development milestone (Milestone 1) received more attention than the accessibility and internationalization milestone (Milestone 2).

Given that we will at least need to extend the RFP period to obtain proposals for Milestone 2, we plan to continue to accept proposals for both. This offers us the best chance to select a proposal that will best utilize the available funds.

Our new deadline for responses will be the end of the day January 31st, 2019 AoE. You can read the full Request for Proposals document here.

If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback about the RFP please contact the Python Software Foundation Director of Infrastructure, Ernest W. Durbin III. Proposers may also discuss the RFP in our community discussion forum at discuss.python.org.