Plan Contracting


The documents needed to support the request seller responses process and select sellers process are written in this process area.

The inputs to plan contract are the procurement management plan, the contract statement of work, the make-or-buy decisions, and the project management plan itself. The first three of these have been discussed earlier. The project management plan provides the scheduled delivery dates in the project schedule. These dates will be used in planning the contracts and in developing procurement documentation. Some of the parts are:

  • The Risk Register Contains information relating to risk management such as identified risks, risk owners, risk analysis, risk prioritization, risk level, and risk responses.

  • Contractual services These are risk-related services that may include insurance and other forms of risk mitigation.

  • Activity resource requirement

  • The project schedule

  • Activity cost estimates

  • Cost baseline

The tools and techniques used in plan contracting are standard forms and expert judgment. The standard forms may be standardized contracts, non-disclosure agreements, checklists, and any documents needed for bid management. They may be a part of the organizational process assets or available from outside sources. The expert judgment can also come from internal assets or external sources.

Q.

The document that contains information such as identified risks and risk owners is called a ________.

 

A.

Risk Register

 

B.

SOW

 

C.

WBS

 

D.

Risk locator


The answer is A. A Risk Register can also contain risk analysis, risk level, and risk responses.

The outputs of planning the contracting are procurement documents, evaluation criteria, and updates to the contract statement of work. Procurement documents are sent to prospective sellers to obtain proposals. The buyer should make the procurement documents as clear and complete as possible so that the sellers' response is usable and clearly responds to the buyers' needs. The documents may be very complex or relatively simple depending on the project needs for procurement. The procurement documents may be called request for bid, request for proposal, request for quotation, or several other titles. In all cases, these documents are seeking information from the seller as to how the seller will meet the needs of the project.

The amount of detail in the procurement documents will depend in large part on the complexity of the project and also on the amount of risk that the planned purchases and acquisitions will have; the greater the risk, the more detail. The documents need to be both concise and flexibleconcise because all sellers will work from it, and flexible because the seller may see opportunities for both parties to have better buying solutions than those written in the procurement document.

Depending on the type of organization and the size of the project, requests for procurement documents can include letters to pre-approved sellers and publication in newspapers, in magazines, and on the Internet. The Internet is becoming a major source for proposals in many cases. An interactive website where emails can be sent to ask for clarification of procurement documents is the norm for many organizations and is used as one of the primary sources for many governmental departments, both state and national. It is also used extensively in the private sector.

The second output from planning the contracting is the evaluation criteria. Ideally, the project team has a set of criteria used to measure the responses to the procurement documents. In many cases, the seller will not even be eligible for consideration unless a fixed set of criteria is met. (The seller must be able to post a million dollar bond, for example.) In very simple procurement situations, the only factor may be the price if the material or service is easily available from several sources.

Other selection criteria can include technical capability of the seller, technical approach to the project, financial capability, business size, references, and intellectual property rights. On page 283 of the PMBOK 3rd edition, you will find other selection criteria listed. Remember that the criteria should help you determine the correct seller for your project needs and that the better you are at documenting your needs for the project, the better the responses will be from the sellers.

Q.

The evaluation criteria are determined by the ________.

 

A.

Seller

 

B.

Project manager

 

C.

Buyer

 

D.

Sponsor


The answer is C. The buyer determines what requirements are needed and then documents these needs. The evaluation criteria will often determine whether a seller is even eligible to participate in the proposal process.

Q.

Procurement documents are documents seeking information from the ________.

 

A.

Seller

 

B.

Project manager

 

C.

Buyer

 

D.

Accountant


The answer is A. The specific purpose of a procurement document is to get information from the seller as to how the requirements of the project can be met through purchasing and acquisition.



Passing the PMP Exam. How to Take It and Pass It
Passing the PMP Exam: How to Take It and Pass It: How to Take It and Pass It
ISBN: 0131860070
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 167
Authors: Rudd McGary

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