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Project planning, implementation and management
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Conversion contractor selection, management & administration
- Request for Proposal
The major step in the contractor selection process is the preparation and issuance of the RFP and
the subsequent evaluation of responses. The content of an RFP will vary depending on several
factors (system selection, contractor pre-qualification, etc.) but it will typically contain the
following sections:
- instructions to bidders
- terms and conditions
- scope of work
- selection criteria
- response format
Figure 1
If there has been no pre-qualification process, then the RFP should also contain all of the
questions normally included in an RFI.
During the preparation of the RFP, certain decisions must be made which will be reflected in the
content. Two very important questions to be answered before the RFP is issued are:
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What type of contract is desired (lump sum, unit price, time and materials)?
- How will the contractor be selected (low price, qualifications, a formula)?
If a price is requested in the RFP, it should be made clear to those bidding whether it is to be a
firm bid or an estimated price as a basis for negotiation. If it is to be a lump sum bid, then the
scope of work and conversion specifications must be clear, detailed and complete. The bidders
must have access to review all source records and time to determine the quantity of work. In
many cases the user will provide the total quantities (drawing, items of plant, are, etc.) on which
the contractors should base their lump sum bids.
If unit prices are requested, then a review of the source records is important; however, the total
quantities may be estimated with greater tolerance. Time and materials contracts are rare in the
conversion industry and would normally be associated with a not-to-exceed ceiling price.
It is very important that each bidder on the IU?P knows what the user's selection criteria are. If
all bidders have been pre-qualified through an RFI or some other process, then price maybe the
only criterion. Some users may make their selection purely on the technical content of a proposal
and the contractor's qualifications to perform the work. Others may use a formula to select the
successful bidder, assigning weights to each of the selection criteria. It is to everyone's benefit to
spell out the method of contractor selection in the RFP.
In formulating the selection criteria, the company must decide what price should be paid for
quality. If the successful contractor delivers a substandard product or does not meet project due
dates, it could be costly for the user. There maybe people and equipment waiting idle to use the
converted data. Besides the expense, a delay in the project resulting from the poor selection of a
conversion contractor will neither help the career of the project manager nor bolster the
continued support of company management for the AM/FM./GIS project.
To encourage the lowest possible price from each bidder, the user should include the following
items in the RFP: the total amount of future work to be contracted; the schedule for complete
system conversion; and the planned number of contractors to be used on this and any future
contracts.
A response format is an important part of the RFP; it is a standard format which all bidders must
use for their response. It may help to clarify some points in the scope of work to a contractor,
and it will make the task of the evaluators much easier. The response format may include the
following topics:
- proposed prices
- proposed methodology
- conversion team organization chart
- resumes of team members
- project schedule
- assumptions and exceptions
- company qualifications (if no pre-qualification)
- Contract Award
The signing of a contract is the last step in the contractor selection process. It maybe painless or
difficult depending upon how carefully the previous steps in the process have been carried out.
Management
What happens after the selection of a conversion contractor and the execution of a contract?
That depends greatly on the user organization's management of the project's conversion phase.
A typical but simplified project organization chart is shown in Figure 2.
- Proiect Team
The user organization will have a project manager and a project team established before the
conversion contract is awarded. The contractor has agreed to establish a conversion project team
and has included an organizational chart in its proposal. It is essential to the project that the
conversion project team become an integral part of the overall AMlFM7GIS project team. To
achieve this, user and contractor team members must work toward a common goal and establish
communication lines at various levels in the organizational structure.
The main duty of the overall project manager with respect to the contractor is to ensure that a
product of acceptable quality is delivered on schedule. The project manager will have little
control over this if the selection process failed to provide a competent contractor.
Figure 2
The conversion schedule is of utmost importance to the overall AM/FM/GIS project. The project
manager has to schedule his people to do acceptance testing and subsequent maintenance functions on
converted work packages. Assuming that the user has selected a competent contractor, it is important for
the user project team members to remove any roadblocks or bottlenecks that my prevent the conversion
contractor from delivering on time. The basis of these problems is usually a lack of some type of
information on the part of the contractor. To keep the conversion process on track, the conversion team
must receive information in a timely manner.
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