This place has got it all. 21st century network organisations through to Social Enterprise... like I've found home... :-D
Reading through the posts, here's my initial personal thoughts:
- Yes I'd say there is definately a need for it. I think Drupal suffers a bit as it isn't quite organised enough in key areas. There is a need for improved documentation, better showcase facilities etc., and a services group would be ideal for delivering this, as a means of self-describing their skills etc. With roles you can directly implement the required skills/membership system.
A co-op group could then pool resources/funds to create centralised resources for where things are duplicated. Eg a specialist lawyer could be hired that each member gets to use for client project negotiations, template legal agreements for members to use etc etc.
>>> The Focus of Our Marketing SHOULD NOT BE Drupal
The key starting point I think. I do agree there is a much larger market for the applications that Drupal can enable, where the marketing is based on the app, no mention of Drupal etc. This is exactly our own core strategy (ie On Demand Networks). However, to achieve this, we require to purchase Drupal services, and this is where I think a Drupal marketplace fits in. The target market is those who know about and want Drupal, they are looking for related services. Hence, imho, it would feature Drupal, but focus more on the services.
If you'd also like to discuss/focus on the productised apps, we'd be happy to do that too.
>>> However, I do not like the idea of an open project bidding arena.
You can also approach the org model in a couple of ways. A supplier federation could be very "loosely coupled", so it is literally just a marketplace. Post your project, get bids etc. Each member is standalone, the marketplace is just there to concentrate supply and attract demand. In this scenario it is subject to market forces, so pricing will vary and a quality framework ideal.
Or it could be more tightly bound, with it acting more as a single entity, ie a Drupal Services virtual organisation. There you'd focus more on standardising services so that sales processes are more controlled etc.
Having absolutely no Drupal skills, I nominate myself for Chief Tea Boy... :-)
Neil.