Acquisition Planning & Project
Management: Keeping
Contract Award on Schedule
Breakout Session #101
Jo Cunningham
July 19, 2010
11:15 am – 12:30 pm
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Acquisition Planning
 Pre-contractual process includes Purchasing &
Project Management Team
 Team coordinates & integrates comprehensive
plan for fulfilling requirements that meet
schedule, at a reasonable price or cost.
 It includes developing an overall strategy for
managing the acquisition.
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Acquisition Planning
Your Key to Success!
BENEFITS:
• Enhanced partnering
• Creates the foundation
• Provides confidence in procurement
timeframe / knowledge
• Documented roadmap
• Provides assurance that all requirements
have been addressed
• Creates a broader understanding of the
program the need supports
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Acquisition Planning:
Your Key to Success!
CONSEQUENCES:
•
Delays to the program schedule
•
Loss of confidence in procurement
organization
•
Unforeseen issues or unintended
consequences
•
Increases the timeline of the procurement
•
Propagates “procurement is a paper-pusher
organization” mentality
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Acquisition Planning Spectrum
BASIC: QUICK, UNWRITTEN, AND INFORMAL
– Any additional items required from Requester
– Special approval / documentation requirements
– How long it will take to place
COMPREHENSIVE, WRITTEN, AND FORMAL
– Shared with others in the process to gain buy-in
– Addresses all elements that might affect a procurement
– Provides a formal timeline for the overall acquisition
including those out of procurement’s control
– Not just documentation, but the strategy
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Why Learn Project Planning
• Rigorous disciplined approach you
can modify for your needs/situation
• Examples everywhere for you to
review and mirror
• Fully developed discipline with lots of
resources
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Acquisition Planning = Project
Planning
Similar End-Goals
 Project completed on-time and on-budget
 Contract Placed on time
 Contract meets needs of customer
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Tools for Project and
Acquisition Planning
PROJECT TOOLS
ACQUISITION TOOLS
Scope Control
Scope Control
Project Charter
Statement of Work
Schedule Control
Schedule Control
Project Plan
Phases
Milestones
Acquisition Plan
Phases
Acquisition Milestones
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Project Planning
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Project Management As A Tool
• Identifies Key Performance Milestones
• Tracks Progress and Expenditures
• Helps keep project on
schedule and within budget!
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PROJECT PLAN DEVELOPMENT
Project Manager Responsibilities Include:
– Influencing the factors that affect change
– Ensuring that change is beneficial
– Determining when changes occur, through
his tracking processes
– Looking for alternatives to changes
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PROJECT PLAN DEVELOPMENT
Project Manager Responsibilities Include:
• Minimizing the negative impact of changes
• Notifying stakeholders affected by the
changes
• Managing changes as they occur
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Comprehensive Project Plans
Incorporate the following:
• Identifies Project Team
• Identifies cradle to grave
requirements
• Identifies project milestones and
critical path
• Budget & other resource constraints
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Project Plan Development
Project plan begins with asking these questions:
1. What tasks need to be accomplished?
2. What is the order of activities for performing these
tasks?
3. How much will these tasks, people, and resources
cost?
4. To what standards must these tasks be
accomplished?
5. What people will be needed in performing these
tasks?
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Project Plan Development
Project planning - Asking questions continued:
6. What information will be required to perform these
tasks?
7. What is the degree of uncertainty to perform these
tasks?
8. What external resources will be required?
9. How will all these actions and resources be
coordinated?
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Project Plan Development
• Project plan development includes the following:
– Project Plan and the Work Scope
• Use the Project Plan & Schedule to refine the Work
Scope
– Incorporate Milestone events
• Identify sub-milestone requirements execution
timeframes
• Identify Critical Path
• Incorporate Budget constraints as they relate to
milestones
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Project Plan Development
• Project plan development continued:
– Integrated Change Control:
• Meet performance baselines
• Make changes
• Coordinate changes across the knowledge areas
• Controls must include Scope, Schedule, Cost, Quality,
• Performance Measuring & Reporting, and Risk
Monitoring.
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Keeping The Plan on Track
• Controls for Managing a Project Plan Include:
– Scope
• Project Charter, No changes without PM approval
– Schedule Control
• Milestones
• Phases
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Keeping The Plan on Track
• Controls for Managing Project Plans Continued:
– Cost Control
• Estimates based on WBS = improved accuracy
• Use historical information to estimate
• Costs (also scope, time, resources) should be managed
to Project Plan
• Earned Value Management Analysis – measures
performance by integrating cost, time & scope
estimates
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Acquisition Planning
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What is the Acquisition Plan
Your “Game Plan” for
execution and management
of the contract
Our customer’s project
success is heavily
dependent on Procurement
success
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Comprehensive Acquisition
Plans
Incorporate the following:
• Identify the acquisition team
• Identify essential cradle to grave
requirements of the acquisition (purchase)
• Identify acquisition milestones and timeline
– Defines responsible party for major milestones
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Acquisition Plan
• It IS a project plan in and of itself.
• It ensures the acquisition milestones and
deliverables are accomplished and the PO
is placed as planned and on-time:
– Plan for controlling milestones and deliverables
to achieve the expected outcome on-time
– Requires front-loaded involvement by SCR &
acquisition team members
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Acquisition Plan
• Actual plan is the end result of Acquisition
Planning
• Not merely documentation - your tool to
keep the acquisition on track.
• Plan documents your analysis:
• Tasks to be completed
• Obstacles that must be overcome
• Risks that must be mitigated
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Keeping Your Acquisition Plan
on Track
• Discuss expectations with customer
upfront and frequently!
• Scope
– Get acceptable SOW and Sourcing Information
from customer as early as possible
• WBS or equivalent SOW with Defined Deliverables
• Milestone Schedule or Phases
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Keeping Your Acquisition Plan
on Track
• Schedule:
– Build a Acquisition Plan Schedule
– Get commitments!!
– Walk through schedule with your customer weekly
– Customers must understand: Their delays equal
Day-for-Day Slips
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Keep in Mind:
• Plan is a dynamic and evolving document
– Impacted by new inputs and strategy developments
• Control revisions and keep clear notes on
changes.
• Make the plan and it’s revisions accessible.
• Changes require impacted sections to be updated.
– Changes that have an impact on the actual contract
document (RFQ) should be incorporated.
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Creating an Acquisition Plan
Schedule
• Start from the end date and develop time estimate
for completion
• Define the phases for performing pre-contract
activities
• Develop time estimate to complete each phase
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Impacts to Cycle Time
• Preaward audit
• Site Visits prior to award
• Certified cost or pricing data
• Security – classified work, badges, access,
FOCI/Individual Security Plan (ISP) {can range from
10 days to 12 months}
• Opportunities website posting – 5 days – over
$100K competitive and $500K sole source
• Buy American Determinations
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Impacts to Cycle Time
• Negotiation of Terms and Conditions can add
significant time
• Subcontracting plan review and approval
• EEO Preaward Clearance
• Quality Significant Inspection Plan review and
approval
• Quality Audit of contractor’s facility
• Internal and Government required approvals
• REMEMBER: Many activities can be performed in
parallel
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Acquisition Plan Schedule Phases
EXAMPLE: Greater than 25k, Less than 500k
Competitive Best Value
•
•
•
•
•
•
Prepare Evaluation Criteria – 1 week
Issue RFQ through Contractor Response – 4 weeks
Proposal Review – 1 week
Best Value Evaluation – 1 week
Cost / Price Review – 1 week
Clarifications, Obtain Supporting Documentation,
Negotiations, Request for Revised Proposals – 2 weeks
• Final Determination of Recommended Contractor – 1 week
• Prepare Award Package – 2 weeks
• TIME ESTIMATE – 13 WEEKS
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Creating an Acquisition Plan
Schedule
• Start from the end date and work
backwards develop time estimate for
completion
• Define the phases for performing precontract activities
• Develop time estimate to complete
each phase
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Creating an Acquisition Plan
Schedule
• Write out all the steps required to complete
each phase
• Assign responsibility for completion of
each task
• Keep in mind the factors that may impact
the cycle time and educate the individuals
who may affect those factors
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Acquisition Plan Schedule
Examples
• Attached is a Just-In-Time Agreement
Acquisition Plan
• It begins with the end of the process:
Transition from old to new PO
• Buyer backs into the schedule, to
understand where he or she must
begin with the planning process.
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Developing a Simple Time Line
Example 1 – All Tasks are End-to-End:
Time: 13 weeks; End date is 2/9/09
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Developing a Simple Time Line
Example 2 – Overlapping Tasks:
TIME: 11 WEEKS – END DATE IS 2/5/09
Schedule was “pulledin to the left”.
TWO WEEKS OF
SCHEDULE GAINED
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Developing a Simple Time Line
Example 3 – Overlapping Tasks With Delays:
TIME: 14 WEEKS – END DATE IS 2/26/09
EVEN WITH THE 2
GAINED WEEKS,
THERE WERE 3
WEEKS OF DELAYS
Schedule was
“pushed-out to the
right”.
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Acquisition Plan Example
Attached is a more complex Acquisition
Plan.
It covers the Scope, Schedule, and
Estimated Cost/Budgetary
Requirements.
It also covers Sourcing, Facilities,
Priorities, Accounting requirements,
and other potential issues that may
arise.
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Conclusion
Project Management & Acquisition
Plans:
Disciplined approaches to plan, organize, manage,
control resources, and motivate your team
Enable completion of specific project goals, on
time, and within specified cost, quality and
performance objectives.
Procurement professionals greatly contribute to
project success by intelligently integrating
comprehensive acquisition plans into the larger
project plan.
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Conclusion Continued
References:
 Everglades Master Program Management Plan 8-2000 US
Army Corps of Engineers, 188 pages
http://www.evergladesplan.org/pm/program_docs/mpmp.aspx
 FL Statewide Systems Engineering Management Plan
https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=19532&lang=en-US
 EI Toolkit Phase 4, Stage 1: Program Management Plan
https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=155492
 Geospatial Line of Business (LoB) Program Management
Plan https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=153015&lang=en-US
 Program Management Plan Template
http://www.calrhio.org/crwebfiles/docs-hietools/Program_Management_Plan_Template.doc
 Project Management - Free Management Library
http://managementhelp.org/plan_dec/project/project.htm
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QUESTIONS?
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