Contract Management Principles and Practices

In this course, you will learn how to manage all aspects of project procurement effectively. You will discover the logic behind contracting principles and practices, and you'll learn the terms, techniques, and tools of converting project needs into outsourced goods and services. You will learn to ensure successful procurements by gaining an understanding of the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of the internal and external stakeholders involved in the procurement chain.

In this skills-building course, you will spend 70% of class time working on contracting activities, from requirements documentation through to contract closure. Exercises include the development of a procurement strategy, contract selection, revising and updating SOWs, risk management, negotiating claims settlement, and collection of lessons learned.

Students pursuing a university-recognized and/or accredited certificate in Canada or continuing education units in the US must attend at least 90% of class time, participate in class exercises and section-knowledge checks, and score at least 70% on an end-of-class, multiple-choice assessment.

1. Introduction to Procurement Management

• Contract schedule network diagram
• Terminology - procurement and contracting
• Contract definition - practical and legal
• Purpose of contracts
• Risk transfer through contracting
• Definition of contracting success
• Stakeholder mapping
• Stakeholder expectations
• Communications chain

2. Needs Analysis

• Objectives to requirements documents
• Requirements documents to SOW
• Contract types
• Contract management mistakes
• Role of legal department

3. Plan Procurements

• Planning documents
• Requirement documents
• Procurement management plan
• SOW
• Bid packages
• Tender documents
• Source selection criteria

4. Conduct Procurements

• Stakeholder mapping
• Vendor participation
• Advertising and bidder conferences
• Proposal evaluation techniques
• Paper trail and due diligence
• Principled negotiations vs. positional negotiations
• Objectives of negotiations processes

5. Administer Procurements

• Stakeholder mapping
• Procurement team
• Vendor relationship management
• Monitoring performance
• Contract change controls
• Contract amendment
• Performance reviews
• Payment systems
• Claims administration

6. Close Procurements

• Stakeholder mapping
• Early termination
• Lessons learned
• Procurement audits
• Negotiated settlements
• Contracting problems and their solutions
• Ingredients for contracting success

Hands-On Exercises

• Contracting schedule network diagram: Estimating procurement durations and total elapsed time
• Strategic analysis of procurement strategy using SWOT technique
• Evaluating bid proposals: Source selection and ranking of bids
• Development of SOW documents: Source selection criteria and weighting system, performance and quality standards, and negotiating priorities
• Integration of contract type, terms, and conditions into project schedule and risk management plans
• Role playing: Negotiations between buyer and vendor over contract terms
• Contract closure and collection of lessons learned

Anyone involved in contracting of any kind. Whether you are a team member, project manager, or executive, this course will put the mechanics of procurement into perspective.