This is a pretty thorough walk-through of methods and considerations for procurement management.  I think it's an essential read for anyone who hasn't worked with vendors and vendor contracts, and a good update for those who only work with them occasionally.

 

Particularly of interest to me is the procurement statement of work.  It's a very short piece of the chapter (12.2.1.7), but this is an essential piece that I find many organizations execute less than thoroughly.  I think there are some missing pieces here, although they could be included in a contract - particularly remedies.  I've seen many fixed bid contracts inflated because the SOW wasn't entirely clear and/or because there were no repercussions for performing unsolicited work or failing to meet the terms of the contract or SOW.

 

There's a lot of good advice about relying on your procurement department if you have one, but I've found that even good procurement departments don't cover everything.  The problem is that procurement departments typically cover all kinds of contracts for all kinds of things.  Those folks can't be expected to anticipate potential problems specific to every kind of service/goods, but project managers should be able to provide that information.

 

 

Really a must read, this is an excellent and useful chapter!