Requisition, Solicitation, and Proposal Evaluation

Unit 8 Assignment 1

This portfolio work, project procurement and evaluation, is based on your selected business or IT project. You may choose to base your assessment on the Revive LLC case study for the development of a new online employee orientation module, or you may continue to analyze the organization of your choice. Both human resource (HR) and information technology (IT) employees, as well as contractors, will be utilized in this project.

Project Procurement Management is defined "as a methodology that includes the processes necessary to purchase or acquire products, services, or results needed from outside the project team" (Project Management Institute, 2017, p. 717).

The procurement process should be dynamic and flexible to ensure the best combination of quality and pricing is obtained. For a more complex process, many factors should enter into the decision-making process to obtain the best possible outcome with the lowest total cost of ownership, or TCO.

Per the Project Management Institute's A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Sixth Edition (2017) and as referenced in Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling (Kerzner, 2017), project procurement management includes the processes through which the project obtains a product or service from outside the project organization. The organization's perspective regarding procurement can either be as the buyer or the seller of the product or service. Project procurement management also includes the contract management and change control processes that are required to administer the signed contracts or any issued purchase orders. Project procurement management includes the following four key or major processes (Project Management Institute, 2017, Chapter 12):

1. Plan Procurement – the process of documenting purchasing decisions, specifying the approach, and identifying potential sellers.
2. Conduct Procurement – the process of obtaining seller responses, selecting a seller, and awarding a contract.
3. Control Procurement – the process of managing the procurement relationships, monitoring contract performance, and making changes and corrections as appropriate, and closing out contracts.

Reference

Project Management Institute. Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) — Sixth Edition and Agile Practice Guide. Newtown Square. PA. 2017.

Project Procurement Management

The above mentioned processes can be quite involved and the ramification of the decisions and outcomes costly. There is generally a great deal of interaction and overlap between these processes. With procurement management, it is imperative that the project team seeks the support of contract (legal) and procurement (purchasing) specialists and involve such specialists early on.

The first key procurement management process, plan purchases and acquisitions, determines what, when, and how to procure. After the decision is made about which project needs can best be met by procuring products or services from outside of the project organization, the team continues to the second key process: the plan contracting. This process involves preparing the documents needed for solicitation and the evaluation criteria used to score proposals. The most common documents for solicitation are the request for quote (RFQ) and the request for proposal (RFP). The RFP is generally more exhaustive and is used when all of the details of a solicitation are well known. The responses from various suppliers may fill in some of the missing blanks. The RFQ is most generally used for price and delivery quotations on specific items. Although the above statements are generally true, some organizations use these documents interchangeably.

Writing a good RFP is essential if you want to receive a thorough and complete response from suppliers and vendors. To ensure a thorough and properly written RFP you will need to include SMEs (subject matter experts) who have experience in the appropriate discipline.

Scenario

For this assignment, choose either Option A or Option B. You do not need to do both. Both options will be graded using the same scoring guide.

Option A: Project Revive LLC, and you as the consultant, must be concerned with all the processes of project management and not just with the procurement process. However, for the purposes of this course, you will concentrate on the application of the four procurement processes. The assignment focuses on analyzing and creating different procurement documents.

Consider issues that may limit the project options, such as budget cost and staffing decisions for NearlyFree.com. NearlyFree.com is a fictitious company and the project documents for NearlyFree.com project scenario are located in the resources for this assignment.

As part of your job as the consultant, you convinced your client, NearlyFree.com, to procure a new employee orientation web-based training software system (the product) from a third-party vendor. Therefore, the buy rather than make decision has already been made. Although you have had a lot of experience procuring external resources, NearlyFree.com is a small company and has not been through the rigorous procurement process considered as best practice by Fortune 500 companies. So, as part of your services, you will guide NearlyFree.com through key aspects of the procurement process. The first step is helping NearlyFree.com recognize different procurement documents and make the right selection for this project.

At this point in the process, you also need to help NearlyFree.com prepare to evaluate the proposals and information they obtained from the solicitation process. You will develop a proposal evaluation method that will be used to select a supplier.

Option B: You may choose a business of your own. It must include (but is not limited to) the following criteria:

• Clearly indicate the title of the project in every assignment.
• You must have access to the following documentation:
  • Scope statement.
  • Final deliverable and product definition.
  • Project work-breakdown structure.
  • Project schedule.
  • Quality plan.
  • Project costs (estimates and actuals).

Your Role

For both Option A or B, you are the project manager.

Requirements

Microsoft Project is the recommended software tool for this course due to its wide industry acceptance and its use in many project management professional roles. To make this easier, you have the ability to download and install your own version of MS Project for use in this course. See the Software Preparation and Technology Access activity for more information.

Practice using MS Project in this course will prepare you for future professional PM roles and responsibilities; please use MS Project for those tasks supported by MS Project. If you have access to other tools such as MS Visio, MS PowerPoint, MS Word, or other project management software that you believe may still meet the requirements of this course, please discuss your selected alternative with faculty.

Use the PMBOK® Guide as the model for developing the deliverables.

Part 1: Project Procurement Analysis

Deliverable: Select a procurement document for the turnaround project and explain your selection.

Complete the following tasks to assist in a selection:

• Analyze each procurement document—RFQ, RFP, RFI, and IFB—by describing the characteristics of each document and appropriate situations in which each applies.
• Select a procurement document for the turnaround project and explain your selection

Part 2: Project Procurement Proposal Evaluation

Deliverable: Develop a proposal evaluation method for the turnaround project that will be used to select a supplier.

Complete the following tasks:

• Develop bid solicitation criteria.
  • Define minimum acceptable criteria for bidding.
  • Explain how you selected the criteria.
• Explain a strategy or approach for soliciting bids.
• Evaluate risks associated with proposal evaluation.
  • This may include items such as past performance, quality ratings, delivery performance, and contractual compliance.
  • Describe risks and potential problems related to evaluating proposals and suggest strategies for overcoming these issues.
    • Use the Evaluation Criteria Weighting System activity in u08s1 as an example for creating your proposal evaluation.
  • Develop a plan to mitigate each major risk.
  • Apply evaluation criteria to select suppliers.

Preparation

Use the software of your choice to develop the deliverables for this assignment.

This assignment has two deliverables:

1. Develop a comprehensive Project Procurement Analysis.
2. Develop a comprehensive Project Procurement Proposal Evaluation.

Deliverable Format

• References: There is no set number of references required for this assignment. Use scholarly or academic sources where applicable.
• Format:
  • Microsoft Project is not required for this assignment. This assignment has two parts and two deliverables.
  • Use your choice of MS Word, MS Visio, or MS PowerPoint to develop the comprehensive analyses.
  • These analyses are professional documents and should therefore follow the corresponding Academic and Professional Document Guidelines PDF, including single-spaced paragraphs.
  • Use APA style and format for references and in-text citations.

Evaluation

By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies through corresponding scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 2: Apply project procurement tools and techniques to ensure project success.
  • Describe the characteristics of each procurement document and its appropriate use in the project.
  • Select a procurement document and provide a rationale.
  • Develop bid solicitation criteria.
  • Explain a strategy or approach for soliciting bids.
  • Evaluate risks associated with proposal evaluation.
  • Apply evaluation criteria to select suppliers
• Competency 4: Communicate effectively in a professional manner consistent with the standards of project management.
  • Develop a plan to mitigate each major risk.

Your course instructor will use the scoring guide to review your deliverable as if they were your immediate supervisor. Review the scoring guide prior to developing and submitting your assignment.

ePortfolio

This portfolio work project demonstrates your competency in applying knowledge and skills required in the workplace. Include this in your personal ePortfolio.