It's all about the Scope!

BY PETER RUSSELL

Developing a detailed scope for a procurement is one of the most difficult tasks, yet it's critical to the success of the procurement project and the eventual resultant contract. It's been my experience that SME's (Subject Matter Experts)/Technical Staff/Program Staff know what it is they require from the vendor for a successful project, but sometimes have difficulty putting it down on paper. Plus, the details matter!! For example, an agency I once worked at processed an RFP for banking services. One of the stated requirements was that the vendor had to "accept and securely transport deposits". When it came to going to contract, the designated vendor had naturally stated they could do that in their proposal...after all, all banks can accept deposits at their branches and securely transport them. However, the agency wanted the bank to accept deposits at the agency's offices, and then securely transport them. Of course, the vendor bank had never included the additional cost into their proposal. The result, extended negotiations were needed to resolve the issue.

The following link is to an article describing the various steps involved in writing a good Scope of Work (SOW). https://www.projectmanager.com/training/write-scope-work