ACME Development Corporation (ADC), a developer of custom homes and apartment complexes, has decided to standardize its project management practices and processes across its national organization. The goal is to standardize with one single project-scheduling tool and to have the tool installed and be operational within 90 days. To this end, the company is forming a central project management office (PMO). Until now, project managers (there are 40 presently on staff distributed all over the United States) have been able to use whatever scheduling tool they liked, within their budget constraints. They have also been able to buy equipment and engage contractors at will. The PMO will be determining one scheduling tool that all PMs will be expected to use, exclusive of any other scheduling tools. The PMO will also develop and implement a standardized procurement process. Because the PMs are located across the United States, a Web-based solution seems likely to be the most successful tool.
Now that you know what you are buying, the requirements, and the types of contracts, you are ready to put the contracts out for bid. Continue to develop your procurement plan, and align it with the rest of the project plan by deciding which bidding methods you will use for each of the following contracts:
Hiring technicians to install and configure the software for your environment
Hiring a training entity to teach the student PMs the mechanics of using the new tool
Buying a new server and software to run the tool and house the project database
Hiring tool usage experts to transfer knowledge to the student PMs about the use of the tool on the job for the first 60 days after going live
Planning for the removal and disposal of scheduling tool software and hardware that are no longer to be used
Assignment Guidelines
For each of the contracts above, address the following questions:
Which bidding method will you use? Why?
Were there other possible bidding methods that you considered for this contract? Explain.
How does this procurement task of bid selection integrate with the rest of the project for ADC?
Once you have selected the ideal bidding method and a bidder has been accepted, how will you ensure that the quality of the final product will be measured effectively?
What challenges will you need to overcome when measuring and ensuring quality? Why?
How will you overcome these challenges?
