Procurement Plan - Capstone Project Example

Running Head: Procurement Plan Procurement Plan [Name] [University] Procurement Plan Project Management, as a whole is process which comprises of different components together to form a collective project management cycle. Typically, there are always two approaches to the project management. One approach is that of project management cycle whereas another is project life cycle. Project life cycle deals with completion of the project by performing and completing certain activities. Procurement is one such activity which is one of the sensitive activities as it is not only essential for the overall success of the project but it also attempt to fit together different parts and processes related with the project into action. Project Procurement is a stage during the project where the actual purchasing of goods and services for the project from different vendors takes place. This suggests that this process involves different internal as well as external actors therefore the whole process become more complicated as the project managers has to establish and manage long term strategic relationships with the vendors. Due to this nature of the process, it is therefore necessary that the process should be effectively planned so that it attempts to take different perspectives into account. This document will present a comprehensive procurement plan for our proposed project and would also attempt to align it with the rest of the project besides discussing the bidding methods for the proposed procurement. Scope This section of the plan will discuss the overall scope of the project by discussing the need for the implementation of the project and the expected outcomes to be achieved with the implementation of the proposed scheduling tool. Over the period of time, project managers at American Property Development Corporation (APDC) have been working on individual projects with different scheduling tools. They were involved in buying the scheduling tools while remaining in their budgetary limits as well as were also involved in engaging with the contractors of their choice. However, with the implementation of this project, this practice would be stopped and a standardized scheduling tool would be implemented across all the working territories i.e. USA and Canada. The purpose of this project is to standardize the different practices across the organization and implement different tools and techniques to be used simultaneously. This would allow standardization of the processes by streamlining them according to the overall purpose of the organization. The implementation of the project for the procurement of scheduling tool is based on the assumption that it will help to achieve efficiency as well as effectiveness in operations across the board and would also allow to bring in more standardization in the processes. Schedule This section of the procurement plan would discuss the schedule for different activities which are going to take place over the period of the implementation of the project. The activities related with the project are going to be divided into three different categories in terms of procurement process. These activities are: 1. Pre-Procurement activities 2. Procurement activities 3. Post Procurement activities Pre-Procurement activities would involve the identification of the key requirements of the project i.e. what is the actual purpose of the project and how it is going to be achieved. This would also mean that the Pre-Procurement activities would also involve the identification of the software, hardware requirement, need for human resources as well as the identification of the sources for procurement of the required equipment. Procurement activities would involve the identification of the vendors, their solicitation as well as the writing of contracts with the approved vendors to supply the required equipment and services for our proposed project. This would also involve the comprehensive planning as to how the required needs are to be fulfilled through the procurement of the required equipments. The post procurement process would involve the implementation of the project in its actual and would involve not only the implementation phase of the project but would also involve a comprehensive review and feedback process where the end users of the implemented project would be asked to provide and identify potential bugs in the system so that the same can be corrected to make the software perfect for the use. Budget Budgeting phase of the procurement plan involve the budgeting and forecasting of the resourcing required to procure the equipments to be obtained. The budgeting process therefore would be an essential element of the overall procurement process. Based on our historical records and industry information gained after thorough research, we believe that an overall budget of $1 million would be required to complete this project. A detailed analysis of this amount would suggest that this amount would be utilized in following activities: 1) Procurement of the software and hardware. 2) Payment of professional fees to the vendors. 3) Payment of the salaries of additional staff hired specifically for the project. 4) Meeting all other expenses related with the project. It is also important to note that the process of budgeting would also be influenced by the nature of the contract entered with our vendors and the actual outlay of the cash would largely depend upon the type of contract we enter into with our vendors. For an organization such as APDC, it is important that a contract should be entered which carry low risk therefore a fixed priced contract can be a good and less risky option for the organization. This is also important in the sense that it can provide a kind of hedge to the company against fluctuations into the economic as well as other external conditions which may involve high costs over runs for company to bear. It is therefore recommended that the APDC should stick with the fixed price contracts especially for building residential as well as shopping malls. Fixed price contract would allow us to control our budget in more flexible way and also help us to remain within our assigned budget. Further, based on our assigned risk criteria, we believe budge is one of the most important elements which need to be controlled in most professional manner therefore coupled with our contract writing strategy and capability, budgeting phase of the procurement plan would be executed in most professional manner in order to avoid cost over runs as well as going over and above the scheduled deadlines. Quality Plan Quality plan is that part of the procurement plan which allows project managers to maintain quality of the procurement process during the life of the project. (Charles Dominick, 2005). In order to ensure the quality in our procurement process, we will only stick with the suppliers which are on our approved list and who have the success in past of delivering the projects of the same nature. Through this process, we aim to achieve and maintain quality during our procurement process. Further, we view procurement process as an opportunity to establish and maintain strategic relationships therefore our aim would be to choose only those vendors through which we can maintain not only long term relationships but the ones who have the necessary human resource base as well as other resources to complete the project as per the specifications of the project. The quality plan would also involve a phased process of assessing the performance of the vendors. Project Managers would assess the performance of the vendors during the implementation process and all the work done by the vendors will go through a proper quality check through our internally developed mechanism of quality control during procurement process. Human Resources This is also important phase of the procurement plan as it will involve the identification of the human resource, internal and external, required for the completion of the project. Based on our project specification, our vendors must have the human resources which are expert not only in project management but also in Information Technology applications. I.T. Experts would be required to implement and configure the system and then train our staff as to how to use the scheduling tool to achieve maximum efficiency and effectiveness besides rendering post installation services so that the tool can be easily updated over the period of time. Communication This is probably the most important phase of the procurement planning as it would outline the availability of the persons who will be working on the project. This phase would also clearly define the roles of different stakeholders in the procurement process as well as how the different persons involved in the project would co-ordinate in the procurement process. Project managers would be the first line of contact with the external actors related to the project whereas they would also work as liaison point between vendors and other members of the project. Conclusion Procurement plan is one of the most critical documents during the whole project management process as it attempts to outline different activities related with the project management which are going to take place. In its essence, this document attempt to discuss the scope of the procurement process whereas at the same time attempting to plan certain other activities such as budgeting, scheduling, assignment of human resources, methods of communication as well as defining a quality plan. A comprehensive procurement plan therefore help project managers to view the process in much larger contexts relative to the project as well as the whole organization. Bibliography 1. Charles Dominick. (2005, November 25). The Procurement Project Management Plan. Retrieved September 19, 2008, from Next Level Purchasing: http://www.nextlevelpurchasing.com/articles/procurement-project-management-plan.html Read More