Course Description

While some projects are done using only internal resources, these are only small projects. The majority of projects are completed using outside resources and contractors.

This makes the procurement process and contract management critical to successful completion of projects. A poor selection of contractors will lead to cost overruns, schedule delays, poor quality, and a final result that is not acceptable. Writing the wrong type of contract can lead to cost overruns, schedule delays, claims and litigation, and lost income. Poor contract management processes will end up with the owners not getting the results they want and no ability to recover damages.

This 3 day course will provide participants with a good understanding of the procurement process in the context to project management. different types of contracts that can be written, how to write the right contract for individual industries, and how to manage the contracts so that the work is completed successfully. Because contracts have legal implications, they must include the appropriate clauses for the specific industry and be administered correctly to avoid legal delays and problems.

Benefits Achieved

Make your contracting process more successful by:

• Understanding the basics of the procurement process within projects
• Reducing risks in contracting
• Learning how to select the best contractors
• Learning about the different types of contracts and how to select the right one
• Understanding basic contract clauses
• Learning contract administration processes
• Learning effective contract change management
• Learning how to legally close out a contract

Who Should Attend

The course is designed for both project managers who are involved in managing projects that have contractors and for contract administration staff.

Prerequisites

Direct involvement in projects and/or contract information

Course Duration

3 days. PMPs are eligible for 21 PDUs

Course Content

• Introduction and Overview - This section teaches the participants the basics of project management so that they can readily understand how the process of procurement and contracting fit into the overall effort.
   
• Risk and Contracts - In this section the participants will learn how to identify the risks inherent in projects and the role of procurement and contracts in mitigating those risks.

The participants will be given a team exercise in identifying the risks in a construction project or in an IT project and wil be asked how to reduce those risks through the procurement process. This will help them understand how to help the project become more successful.

• The Procurement Process - In this section the students will understand the following concepts of procurement:
  • The "make or buy" decision
  • Basic steps in the procurement process
  • Contracting documents such as RFPs, RFIs, ITBs, and others
  • Roles and responsibilities
     
• Selecting the Right Contractor - Success or failure of a major project depends on the contractors chosen. In this section the participants will learn how to:
  • Identify the right selection criteria
  • How to weigh the selection criteria
  • How to select the winning contractor

This section will incorporate an exercise in which the student teams will develop the right procurement documents for a sample project, develop and weigh the selection criteria, and select the winning contractor based on pre-developed responses.

• Contracts - This section will cover the different types of contracts and which one to select based on the type of project, the inherent risks, the timelines for completion, and on projects' needs.
   
• Contract Clauses - Here the participants will learn both the basic contract clauses that must be in the contract, specific clauses for different industries, and be exposed to FIDIC contracts.

For a given type of projects, the teams will identify which contract clauses are appropriate and identify the risks that could occur if the clauses are not written into the contracts.

• Contract Administration -  In this section the participants will learn the basics of administering contract, including:
  • Contract change management
  • Claims administration
  • Payment processes
  • Closing contracts

As an exercise, the participants will be given a project wher ethe contractors are running into trouble and identify how to best bring the contracts back into compliance.

• Claims and Disputes are common in many types of large projects, particularly in the construction industry. In this section the participants will learn how to engage in claims management and dispute resolution to avoid disputes and to identify the most likely sources of claims.

The participants will be given an exercise in which a prime contractor is not fulfilling the contract but is demanding a claims adjustment before he begins working again.