RPS execs moving on Meal Plan Committee suggestions

Almost a week after the Meal Plan Committee finalized its list of students' top choices of restaurants to fill the space McDonald's currently occupies in Read Center, Residential Programs and Services executives involved in the project have started working to deliver the food students want.\nThey are currently contemplating expanding the list and are planning to do more research into which restaurants other campuses have, said RPS Executive Director Pat Connor. Afterwards, they will begin preparing the Request for Proposal, which will be given to the restaurants on the list. \nThe original list of restaurants the Meal Plan Committee suggested to RPS was relatively short, containing only Wendy's, Arby's and McDonald's.\n"I thought there would be a longer list," said Sandra Fowler, the director of dining services. "There obviously had been a lot of discussion, and the students had focused on what foods and services were important to them."\nThough the students had their specific favorites, RPS still wants to consider other options as well.\n"We will probably make a few suggestions for additions to the list so that a better overall picture can be made of the possibilities," said Errol Huffman, the business consultant for RPS Dining Services.\nRPS plans to start drafting the Request for Proposal with the help of the IU Purchasing Department at the beginning of the new semester. It will also seek the help of the IU Legal Counsel, since IU will technically be the contracted party. \nThe Request for Proposal, however, will not contain any actual contract terms; it will simply allude to "a set of basic global variables," such as the cost, speed, quality and healthfulness of the food served, Huffman said. All of these variables were determined by the student feedback the Meal Plan Committee received when they were compiling their list of restaurants.\nAfter the selected restaurants review the Request for Proposal, they will have a certain number of days to make a bid. RPS will complete a "thorough review" of the companies' proposals and start to select a restaurant, Fowler said.\nRPS will not choose a restaurant without student approval, however.\n"The responses from vendors will open up a whole new discussion, including questions from students and staff," Huffman said. "The administration, with feedback from the students, will sort through the proposals until an appropriate fit is found."\nConnor said he hoped the entire process could be finished by the end of 2006.