I’ve been reading the Project Routemap Procurement Module and it’s got some really interesting things in around setting up a project for success. It’s a UK Government publication, aimed at large-scale public sector initiatives, but there is a lot we can pull out and apply to other, smaller projects.
The procurement module is one of several, and I’ve been reading it in light of it being a good resource for project audits and peer reviews. For example, there’s a short sidebar of different project documents and reports that might be helpful for finding out more about the existing procurement arrangements on an in-flight project. I’ve pulled out some from the list below, along with my own explanation of what these might tell you.
Procurement strategy
This will be the main one. The procurement strategy for your project might be a simple ‘we’re buying this thing’ in the business case or it might be a more detailed, evolved document that lays out a multi-year, multi-vendor approach.
ITT and bid selection docs
Invitation to tender (ITT), the responses and the bid selection criteria help you decide which supplier to go with. We also found them useful to go back to and review why decisions were made and what assumptions were made at the time. The bid selection criteria are so important to get right, so involve the right users and teams in pulling those together!
Regulatory and statutory requirements
Any compliance requirements that affect your project will also affect your ability to procure services from certain suppliers. For example, in UK healthcare, there are many requirements that must be in place to allow organisations to contract with the NHS. If the supplier cannot meet those requirements, that might affect the ability to deliver the service.
Sustainability strategy
Many organisations now have a sustainability strategy or environmental goals. For example, choosing to partner with suppliers who are making the commitment to working in sustainable ways, or only buying energy efficient light solutions, and so on.
There may also be environmental impact assessments for the project that show what the impact will be and how that can be mitigated or approached.
Contracts
Another big one: I remember having a bound copy of a contract on my desk during a long project. Not because we needed to refer to it to hold the supplier to account, but simply because it had useful appendices that documented the payment schedules, milestones, service levels and lots of other things I seemed to need to look up often.
Any framework agreements and other types of third party agreements (like heads of terms or service levels) would also fall into this category. They shape the relationship between the supplier and customer, so they are useful to know in detail.
Funding arrangements
If your project is being funded from grant income, or there is a limited window in which to spend the funding, or you have to apply for funding to be released in stages… all that is good to know as you enter the delivery planning. Funding milestones are typically big ones because you don’t want to miss the deadlines.
There are lots of others, like a contract management plan, supplier relationship management plan, the business case, stakeholder requirements, the benefits realisation plan and more. What else do you use when it comes to managing project procurements?
