Knowledge Area #9 – Procurement
Critical Highlights:
• Procurement Statement of Work (SOW) is a legal document subject to legal reviews, legal advise should be sought throughout the whole procurement process
• sellers are external to the project team
• need to go through all 4 processes for each and every procurement
• contract elements: offer (seller offer buyer), acceptance (buyer criteria), capacity (physical/financial capabilities), consideration (seller receive), legal purpose (must be legal under law)
• best if contract is signed after PM is assigned
• PM needs to understand terms and conditions, identify risks, include procurement time in schedule and involve in negotiations
• Centralized contracting vs decentralized contracting
• sole source, single source (preferred), oligopoly (very few sellers)
• procurement categories: major complexity (high risk), minor complexity (low risk, expensive), routine purchase (Commercial Off the Shelf Products COTS), goods and services (to perform part of our product)
• a contract is not required to be written, it can be verbal or handshake, for internal projects, formal contract is best
• procurement applies to actors (as a service)
• immaterial breach is minor breach
• point of total assumption (PTA) = Target Cost + (Ceiling Price – Target Price) / % Share of Cost Overrun
Processes (4)
1. Plan Procurement Management
2. Conduct Procurement
1. Plan Procurement Management
• determine whether to obtain products/services outside of organization
• identify possible sellers and pre-meeting with them
• identify explicitly what is needed
• make-or-buy analysis is a compulsory process, needs to take risks into considerations
• carefully written terms and conditions can transfer/share risks
• teaming agreements or joint ventures
• procurement documents: request for proposal (RFP), invitation for bid (IFB), request for quote (RFQ), request for information (RFI), tender notice, invitation for negotiation, seller initial response
• the procurement management plan specifies how a project will acquire goods/services from outside, includes: contract type, risk management, constraints and assumptions, insurance requirements, form and format, pre-qualified sellers, metrics used, etc.
• Procurement Statement of Work (SOW) – performance (describe what can be accomplished), functional (convey the end purpose or result), design (convey precisely what are to be done), can be developed by the seller or buyer – detail enough to allow the potential sellers to decide whether they want/are qualified (at a minimum) to pursue the work
• Contract Types:
o Firm Fixed Price (FFP) – the price is fixed, specifications are well known, risk on the seller
o Fixed Price Incentive Fee (FPIF) – incentives for faster/better than contracted
o Fixed Price with Economic Adjustment / Economic Price Adjustment (FPEA / FP-EPA) – inflation aretaken into account
o Purchase Order (PO) – for off-the-shelf goods/services with published rates
o Cost Reimbursable (CR) / Cost Plus – buying the expertise (not the products), outcome is not clear, risk on the buyer, little incentive to control costs on buyer, need invoice audits
o Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF)
o Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF) – incentive for performance, sharing of unused money if under/over contracted amount
o Cost Plus Award Fee (CPAF) – award to be given based on agreed criteria, solely decided by the customer on the degree of satisfaction
o Cost Plus Percentage of Costs (CPPC) – illegal for contracts with US Government
o Cost Contract – no profit, for NGO
o Best Efforts – obligates the seller to utilize best attempts, high uncertainty in meeting the goal
o Time and Materials (T&M) – (hybrid type) when scope is not known, need constant monitoring to control schedule and cost, simple, for short duration, good for proof-of-concept type projects
• Point of Total Assumption – (in fixed-price (incentive fee) contracts) in budget overrun, the point at which the seller assumes all additional costs for delivering the product/service
• PTA = (Ceiling Price – Total Price) / Buyer’s Share Ratio + Target Cost
• target cost = total cost = estimated cost, total price = total cost + total profit
• Request for Proposal (RFP) – cost reimbursable contract, functional/performance SOW
• Invitation for Bid (IFB) / Request for Bid (RFB) – fixed-price contract, design SOW
• Request for Quote – time and material, any type of SOW
• Cancellation for Convenience – buyer can cancel and pay up to the point
• Cancellation for Cause – default by either party, may result in legal actions
• Escrow – survivability of seller in doubt, put the product in escrow (esp. if seller not give up intellectual properties)
• Force Majeure – standard disclaimer refers to ‘Acts of God’
• Indemnification / Liability – responsible party
• LOI Letter of Intent – not legally binding
• Privity – the contractor may use sub-contractor, no direct contractual relationship with buyer
• Retainage – amount to be withheld to ensure delivery
• Risk of Loss – how the risk is shoulder by the parties
• Time is of the Essence – delay in delivery will cause cardinal breach of contract
• Work Made for Hire – all work owned by the buyer
• Sole Source vs Single Source (preferred vendor – for long-term relationship)
• Evaluation Criteria: risk, understanding of need, life-cycle cost, technical capability, management approach, technical approach
2. Conduct Procurements
• identify the sellers and award the contracts
• PM may not be the lead negotiator on procurement, but may be present to assist
• may need senior management approval before awarding the contracts
• bidder’s conference is a Q&A session with bidders, all bidders receive the same information (bidder are careful not to expose their technical approach during the session => may not have many questions)
• NOT to have secret meetings or communications with individual vendors
• may set up qualified sellers lists
• review seller proposals: weighting systems, independent estimates, screening systems (screen out non-qualified vendors), seller ratings systems (for past performance), expert judgement
• Contract Negotiations and Tactics
o Fait Accompli – not negotiable terms
o Deadline – deadline for deliverables
o Good Guy/ Bad Guy – one friendly, one aggressive
o Missing Man – decision maker is missing
o Limited Authority – not given authority
o Fair and Reasonable – what is fair?
o Unreasonable – making unreasonable demands
o Delay – especially in critical moments
o Attack – force compliance
• Agreement is legally binding and should include (PM should NOT attempt to write the agreement):
o statement of work, schedule baseline, performance reporting, period of performance, roles and responsibilities, warranty, payment terms, fees and retainers, incentives, liability, penalties, etc.
3. Control Procurements
• performed by both seller and buyer
• manage procurement relationships, monitor contract performance, make change and corrections
• the procurement administrator may be external to the project team
• may identify early signs and capture details for pre-mature termination of contract
• the claims administration process deals with changes/disputes, disputes is best to be settled through negotiation > ADR
• may need Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) by 3rd parties in case disputes cannot be settled
• For Fixed Price contracts, look out for Bait and Switch (replace with cheaper materials), look out for excessive change requests
• For Cost Reimbursable contracts, audit all invoices, look out for additional charges, tie payment to milestones, make sure people with the required skill sets are doing the job
• For Time and Materials contracts, ensure hours are not padded, follow the milestone dates
• Contract Change Control System: for handling change requests (define who has the authority to approve changes (usually not the PM, but may be assigned the authority))
• Work performance data includes: the cost incurred and the invoice needs to be paid
• OPA may include the seller’s performance
4. Close Procurements
• all work are completed, deliverables accepted, claims settled OR terminated by either party
• at completion / termination of contract
• prior to administrative closure of Close Project or Phase
• unresolved claims may be left for litigation after closure
• settlement of claims/invoices, audit, archive, lessons learned
• the contract is complete when all the specifications are satisfied, no matter the customer is satisfied with the product or not
• Procurement Audit is the structured review of the procurement process from Plan Procurement Management through Control Procurements, is used to capture lessons learned from the procurement exercise
• once a procurement is cancelled, the next process will be the close procurements
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