Project C/P Management

What is contract/procurement (C/P) management, and what does it include?

Project C/P management

·      What is project C/P management?

·         As usual, there is confusion over the use of terms

·         C/P stands for "contract/procurement"

·      So, what does that mean?

·      It should mean

·         The process for securing resources for the project

·         To produce the end requirements

·         Contract/procurement should include both internal commitments

·         Formal and informal

·         As well as external legal contracts

C/P management purpose

·      The function of the C/P process is to

·         Acquire for the work of the project

·         The required people, services, materials and equipment

·      However, not everyone agrees on the scope of C/P

·         Many people see this function as only applying to "contracting"

·         And the formal legal processes involved

·         Whereas, as we said, procurement should also imply

·         The securing of internal, or in-house resources for the project

Contract management

·      Why not just call it "contract" management?

·         Contract management has another meaning

·         It means management of the work of a contract

·         By the supplier's contract manager

·         Once the contract has been established

·         This is quite distinct from the role of a project manager

·      Then why not call it "contracting" management

·         That doesn't seem to have caught on

·         People prefer to use the word "procurement"

Procurement management

·      Why not just call it "procurement" management?

·         A lot of people do

·         But they really only mean formal contracts

·         And then ignore the subject

·         Because their organizations "Don't do contracts"!

·      However, another label is emerging

·         "Acquisition"

Project acquisition management

·      The software industry likes to use the word "acquisition"

·      According to the ISO/IEC 12207 International Standard

·         Acquisition is the process of obtaining a system, software product or software service

·         Presumably by whatever means

·         Whether in-house or out-sourced

Another definition

The US Federal Acquisition Institute is more specific

·         According to them, acquisition is

·         "The acquiring by contract with appropriated funds of supplies or services (including construction) by and for the use of the organization through purchase or lease, whether the supplies or services are already in existence or must be created, developed, demonstrated, and evaluated"

·         In other words, the process of contracting!

·         I.e. reaching & administering a signed legal agreement

C/P for our purposes

·      For our purposes, in this set of Issacons

·         We will encompass the whole process of

·         The obtaining of materials, equipment, supplies and services

·         And doing so by some form of legal contract

·         To meet the needs of a project

·         From strategic contract planning

·         To contract completion and closure

·         We will refer to this process simply as C/P

·      The subcontracting process

·         Follows a similar course as we describe