This portfolio work, procurement contract analysis, selection and administration, is based on your selected business or IT project. You may choose to base your assessment on the Revive LLC case study, for the development of a new online employee orientation module, or you may continue to analyze an organization of your choice. Both business and information technology (IT) employees, as well as contractors, will be utilized in this project.

Through the project procurement process, various types of contractual agreements between the seller and buyer should be reviewed and analyzed, and the most appropriate contract type should be selected. Contracts are legal agreements that bind both parties to specific deliverables, time, and costs obligations. There are three types of contracts: fixed-price contracts; cost-reimbursable contracts; and time and material contracts. Each type has advantages and disadvantages. You will find out and decide the best type of contract after considering the circumstances, timing requirements, budget availability, and market conditions that suit your organization.

Contract administration is the process that ensures the supplier or vendor meets the contractual requirements. It is simply a matter of monitoring the performance against the agreed upon plan (contract). It is essential that project managers involve the contracting (legal) and procurement (purchasing) experts in the administration of the contract.

As part of the contract evaluation and selection process, a detailed description of the work required, including (but not limited to) scope, time, and quality, is defined in a document called the statement of work (SOW). The types of SOW documents and their associated components will be evaluated this week.

At this point in the process, you need to help NearlyFree.com recognize different contract types and make the right selection for the turnaround project. As the consultant of Project Revive LLC, the final task you will complete is to create the statement of work (SOW) that describes the expectations for the new employee orientation product the third-party vendor will provide. NearlyFree.com is a fictitious company and the project documents for NearlyFree.com project scenario are located in course resources area.

Although you have a lot of experience preparing statements of work, NearlyFree.com has not completed this part of the procurement process before. So, as part of your services, you will guide NearlyFree.com through this process. Your task is to help your client recognize the benefits of a good SOW and the risks associated with a poor SOW.