Derrick George
Professor
Project Procurement Management – PMAN641
October 12th, 2014
Project procurement management involves purchasing products and services in order to complete a project. In order to do that effectively, project managers must plan, establish, maintain, and close relationships with venders who provide the goods and services for the project.
The definition of project procurement management from the PMBOK Guide is:
“The processes necessary to purchase or acquire the products, services, or results needed from outside the project team” (PMI, 2013). The PIMBOK Guide sets out four major processes that constitute the procurement process. This process starts with directives to plan, and conduct procurements. Once the procurements have been obtained, the next two steps are to administer then close the procurements.
In the planning process, the first step is to create the project procurement management plan. This is when the team determines which items are among current resources, which items the project team can make and which must be purchased. In regards to a landscaping design process, this would entail determining which landscaping elements should be retained. These elements would be living elements such as trees and existing permanent plantings. Other elements the planning team must consider include architectural features such as buildings, walls and parking areas. This layout is best accomplished by an in house team involved with laying out the landscape around these elements. Once the team establishes these features, they then determine what additional elements need to be purchased. Once this determination is made, procurement documents must be prepared and criteria for these procurements can be developed based upon the selection of vendors. (Project Management Institute Staff, 2013). This can differ from the government process in that a private business can use preferred venders while a government system is more likely to be constrained by a strict bidding system.
The procurement plan is based upon analysis of the requirements for the project, along with consulting documents. Consulting documents include, but are not limited to the scope baseline, the project schedule, and the risk register. These documents provide the information needed to determine procurement needs. (Project Leadership Waterloo Staff, 2014).
Once the project needs are determined, the team must launch into the procurement process. The second major process is to conduct procurements. This process involves the selection of the vendors are selected and the awarding of procurement contracts for products and services. Another element the in house team develops are the resource calendars that detail when resources will be used. The resource calendars afford the opportunity to the design team update the project management plan in accordance with the availability of the resources. Sequencing is a vital part of this process.
Due to it being vital to the final success of the project, the procurement process uses various tools and techniques to insure its successful completion Conferences with bidders gives the team the opportunity to brief them on the project requirements as well as to answer questions. Proposals from the bidders must be carefully evaluated. A part of this this process may include advertising to solicit bidders and internet searches for vendors. (Project Leadership Waterloo Staff, 2014). Unlike government procurement plans that generally adhere to a strict bidding system, private businesses are more likely to conduct negotiations. Once the needed products and services are secured, the next step in the Project Procurement Management process is to administer the procurements. This involves processes used to administer the relationships with vendors as the project proceeds. One of the results of the administration process is the creation of procurement documents. As the implementation of the