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Drone Pilots Recruited for Multi-State Government Contracts

Hover Aerial

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Just got this in my email:

Drone pilots register for a national government RFP, enabling participants to qualify as a flight service provider for state, county and local governments and educational institutions. Flight projects for this RFP cover a diverse range; agriculture, law enforcement, emergency management and infrastructure surveys, among others, and will be available to governmental entities nationwide. There is no cost to participate; however, if a drone flight service company does not provide the necessary information as required by the RFP, they will not be able to fly for participating government entities.

The following link will take you to the form where drone pilots can register to participate in this RFP. Pilots must complete the registration process within the next several days as the RFP is due shortly. If you have questions or would like to register, please click the link below and complete the forms to participate. Go to: UAS Company Details - Smartsheet.com

The drone industry has struggled to generate significant flight demand from governmental agencies and enterprise businesses. Many in the drone industry hope this will change following the completion of this RFP, empowering governmental agencies to efficiently hire pilots for a wide spectrum of data collection projects nationwide.
 
This is just a form to be a part of someone else's bid on an RFP. No guarantee they will win the bid for starters. And if they do win no guarantee you will ever get called.

Doesn't mean don't go for it but just be aware of what this is.

Best of luck in your endeavors everyone.
 
No way I would provide any info unless I knew exactly who I was submitting it to and was able to read the actual proposal I was signing up for.

I agree. Way too many "Red Flags" here to consider going forward with it.

@Hover Aerial is this your project or are you just sharing the information?
 
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I'm guessing this is for the big Commonwealth of Virginia RFP for Drone Services due at the end of the month.
 
I'm guessing this is for the big Commonwealth of Virginia RFP for Drone Services due at the end of the month.

I agree. Looks like dronifi.com is trying to possibly win this government contract to supply sUAV pilots as needed and is looking for pilots to sign on as subcontractors of dronifi.com so they can show the agencies that they have a lot of pilots and resources. Dronifi will no doubt take a percentage of the payment for flying any project, and they will be the one who is proposing the hourly flying rate for a job. It's unclear as to what one is signing up for (committing to?) and for what hourly rate without reading the actual proposal. I would not fill out that form without reading the actual proposal that is being submitted. Having been involved with many RFPs over the years in my business, any subcontractors we approach to help out and be part of the team on a proposed project are fully involved with the writing and details of the proposal and know exactly what they are committing to.

If you fill out that form (actually 4 pages if you scroll through them), keep in mind you are providing a wealth of information about yourself and your company to another drone company and possible competitor.
 
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It's not an unusual thing to collect resumes for a RFP.
All the contractors do it and and you will have many of the same resumes on multiple proposals from different companies.
They are going to be obtuse about it, so as not to give their competitors a one up on the proposal.

Like someone else said, even if they get the contract, you may get no work out of it.

Back in my days working for the government, my resume was used many times. Strangely enough, one company used mine when bidding on a contract to support my specific mission (I initiated it.)
It didn't go over so well with the contract folks, but was sort of funny to me.

At least this one is asking permission. Looking at their website, there is some risk that they may also be collecting information to market their services to you.

You have to decide if it's legitimate from other information about their company. I would research the company before I gave them all that information.
You can start on EDGAR, if it's a public company.
 
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No way I would provide any info unless I knew exactly who I was submitting it to and was able to read the actual proposal I was signing up for.

here is the RFP if you want to read it. It's pretty long though.
 

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  • RFP E194-79435 Unmanned Aerial System Services.pdf
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I agree. Looks like dronifi.com is trying to possibly win this government contract to supply sUAV pilots as needed and is looking for pilots to sign on as subcontractors of dronifi.com so they can show the agencies that they have a lot of pilots and resources. Dronifi will no doubt take a percentage of the payment for flying any project, and they will be the one who is proposing the hourly flying rate for a job. It's unclear as to what one is signing up for (committing to?) and for what hourly rate without reading the actual proposal. I would not fill out that form without reading the actual proposal that is being submitted. Having been involved with many RFPs over the years in my business, any subcontractors we approach to help out and be part of the team on a proposed project are fully involved with the writing and details of the proposal and know exactly what they are committing to.

If you fill out that form (actually 4 pages if you scroll through them), keep in mind you are providing a wealth of information about yourself and your company to another drone company and possible competitor.

"Dronifi will no doubt take a percentage of the payment for flying any project" - Dronifi never takes a cut from your payment. We get payed when the county, state, etc. want to use our analysis. You selling your services is good for us, we don't want to hurt that by taking a cut.

"they will be the one who is proposing the hourly flying rate for a job" - You determine what you get paid if you fill out the form. We have to offer prices to VA, and we can't do that if you don't tell us what you want to be payed. You get payed what you want, where you want, every time you get a job. Dronifi takes nothing from our partnered pilots.

"we approach to help out and be part of the team on a proposed project are fully involved with the writing and details of the proposal" - There are so many FSPs that this is hard.

-- Adrian Tull, Dronifi
 
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