Project, procurement, and contract management

Learning objectives

• Write a scope of work and use a change-order process to control scope creep.
• Read a Gantt chart and find a project's critical path and float.
• Distinguish RFQs, RFPs, and invitations for bids, and explain qualifications-based selection.
• Choose an appropriate contract type and manage a consultant effectively.
• Describe quality assurance and quality control for planning deliverables.
• Identify and respond to project risks, and track cost and schedule with earned value.
• Manage external relationships through memoranda of understanding and intergovernmental agreements.

Key concepts

The project lifecycle

Planning work, from a corridor study to a code rewrite, is project work. Most projects move through five phases: initiation (why are we doing this?), planning (scope, schedule, budget, team), execution, monitoring and control (tracking progress and adjusting), and closing (final deliverables, lessons learned).

9 more sections follow in the full lesson.

Key terms

• Scope of work: A document defining a project's objectives, tasks, deliverables, schedule, budget, and roles.
• Deliverable: A defined work product due under a scope or contract.
• Milestone: A significant point or event in a schedule.
• Scope creep: Uncontrolled growth in a project's scope.
• Change order: A documented, agreed change to the scope, cost, or schedule of a contract.
• Gantt chart: A bar chart showing tasks and durations on a timeline.
• Critical path: The longest sequence of dependent tasks, which sets the minimum project duration.
• Float (slack): The time a task can be delayed without delaying the project.
• Request for qualifications (RFQ): A solicitation evaluating firms' qualifications before price.
• Request for proposals (RFP): A solicitation evaluating proposed approach, qualifications, and usually price.
• Qualifications-based selection (QBS): Ranking firms on qualifications, then negotiating a fee with the top firm.
• Not-to-exceed: A contract cap on total payment.
• Quality control (QC): Checking work products for errors before release.
• Work breakdown structure (WBS): The project's scope divided into deliverables and assignable work packages.
• Triple constraint: The linked limits of scope, schedule, and budget.
• Risk register: A list of project risks with likelihood, impact, owner, and response.
• Sole-source procurement: Buying from one supplier without competition, allowed only with written justification.
• Retainage: A share of each payment withheld until the work is complete.
• Earned value: The budgeted cost of the work actually completed, compared with planned value and actual cost.
• Memorandum of understanding (MOU): A document recording partners' roles and intentions, often not legally binding.
• Intergovernmental (interlocal) agreement: A binding contract between governments for shared services or joint action.