Commonwealth of Virginia Card Summit

From Concept to Contract:

A Project Management
Approach to Procurement

Presented by: Dana M. Parent, VCO, VCCO, CPPB

Communicate proven approaches to support the
delivery of successful outcomes for your complex
procurements by focusing on the following themes:

 Approach the Procurement as a Project

 Learning to Speak the Right Language(s)
 Foundational Takeaways for your
Procurements
• Providing consultative advice to business
• Leveraging P-Card spend
Systematically build solutions
Guide your stakeholders to success by using the following
principles:
 Understand the business Vision for the project and
procurement
 Ensure concrete Goals are in place that define implementation
of the vision
 Assign Objectives to individual team members to achieve the
project’s goals
◦ Be SMART: Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant,
Time-bound
 Measure Outcomes for each objective to ensure successful
achievement
Consider your procurement as…
…directing a play where you
harmonize the actors, script,
stage

…a long conversation where you

find common ground

…pyramid building where you

set a solid foundation to
reach the apex
Identify Stakeholders
Before you can begin the conversation identify your key
stakeholders, who represents them, and if/how to engage
them:
 Easily identifiable stakeholders include:
• Business Owner, Vendors, Legal and Risk Management
 Also Consider:
• Business Partners of Vendors
• End Users
• Cross-functional business units such as IT
• Citizens
 Furthermore, engage business process owners such as Finance
• For example, will project create additional workload for
Accounts Payables. If so, engage the Finance team.
Learn the Language
Conduct research to learn the language of the stakeholders you will be
engaging.

 Where to search depends on the stakeholder:

 Procurement Previous solicitation for similar needs

 Business Owners Published policy and procedures

 Vendors Proposals, Contracts, Sales Literature

• A basic grasp and use of the right language will build rapport and
buy good will.
• Begin grouping stakeholders by shared language.
Shared language for P-Card Usage
For example, terms and conditions for payment methods may
bridge multiple stakeholder groups:
MANDATORY ACCEPTANCE OF SMALL PURCHASE CHARGE CARD (SPCC): Purchasing
charge cards offer Commonwealth of Virginia agencies and public entities the
opportunity to streamline their procedures for procuring and paying for small dollar
goods and/or services. Offerors responding to this solicitation should note that
acceptance of payment by purchase card is mandatory for all purchases under $5,000.

Charge Card Levels: The amount of data passed for each charge card payment
depends on the level at which the charge card is established. Payment for orders
issued against the contract(s) resulting from this solicitation must allow for the
Purchase Order Number to be passed at the time of charge so that the Purchase Order
Number is received by the card platform and passed to the Card provider. The levels
are delineated below and vendors must establish their card account at Level 2, which
is mandatory, or Level 3, which is optional. Information on the various levels for the
Visa Purchase Card is indicated below.
Begin the Conversation
Engage key stakeholders, both internal and external, to gather
information so that you can:

 Succinctly summarize in writing the goals for each stakeholder.

• Create a purpose statement with desired outcomes for each
key stakeholder

 Examples include:
• Citizens seek demonstrable value
• IT seeks interoperability and data security
• Business owners seek expediency and value
• End users seek access to information, ease of use, training
Consult with Key Internal Stakeholders
• Provide consultative advice to
internal stakeholders based on
your research and the needs of
other stakeholders.
• If speaking the right language, the
upside of building rapport should
outweigh the risk of consulting on
business processes.

When consulting, bring data to build your case

and be sure to validate stakeholders’ responses.
Formalize Timelines and Goals
Document in writing the timeline and goals for the procurement and
obtain written agreement from key stakeholders.

• Summarize and share a high level overview of the purpose

statements.
• Develop a detailed timeline for the procurement with measurable
outcomes
• Assign responsibilities to individuals
• Include a communications plan for regularly reporting progress
to executives

Doing so focuses internal stakeholders on project goals and

outcomes, which is part of teambuilding.
For Your Consideration
1. Give your meetings a purpose statement and share it with attendees
2. But learn how to go productively off track.

For example, linger after a meeting. Stakeholders who are busy will
leave; others with additional input will stay. Carefully consider value of
the input and submit back to needed stakeholders.
Control the Request for Proposals Draft:
Use version control and scheduled review periods to keep the
procurement on track and reduce stakeholder frustration:
 Executives/Sponsors should determine “who has the pen.”
• Best candidate is the person that has developed the
individual and summary purpose statements and speaks
the language(s)
• Who has the pen may change during the course of the
drafting process. Sponsors should communicate
transition
 The person with the pen should manage objectives and
responsibilities of teams providing input on the draft.
• Teams should include Business, Technical, Procurement,
and Legal
Drafting the Request for Proposals:
 Complex procurement needs and wants are:
1. Developed by the teams
2. Synthesized by the person with the pen
3. Submitted to Executive/Sponsors for review, input
and final approval
 Use your purpose statements to:
1. Stoke conversation, creativity, collaboration
between the teams
2. Validate that the RFP is requiring the vendor to
meet the project goals as well as requesting
vendors to describe how they will meet the
requirements
Drafting the Request for Proposals (cont.):
Remember that the Request for Proposals document is part of
the longer conversation.
 Ask open ended questions, expect detailed responses
• Allows for innovation, increased profitability for vendors and
therefore increased savings for the agency.
 Include and request measurable outcomes. Examples include:
• Number and types of training sessions
• Number of technology application users
• Service Levels for technology (uptime, deactivations, etc.)
• Spend data, including average transaction size
• Breadth of vendors you do business with
• Aspirational goals for your P-Card Program
• Payment turn around time for specific payment methods
• ePayables, Charge Card, Voucher
Publicly Post the Solicitation
Let the document speak externally, keep talking internally.

 With new voices engaged in the conversation, your project will

be best served by retaining control of the flow of information.
• Designate a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for external
feedback coming into the organization

 Upon receipt, the SPOC should distribute questions to the teams

• Keep the sense that the teams are still mulling the objectives
to meet the project goals.
• Consider publishing a schedule for posting responses to
questions
Conference with Vendors
Host a pre-proposal conference where the goal is to learn as
much as it is to educate.
 Gauge the interest of the marketplace in your procurement.
• Vendor questions will tell you if they have confusion or
concern.
 Listen and adapt to feedback that may affect the goals of your
project.
• Consider business processes, procurement ‘requirements,’
getting to signature and other risks
 You will not have all the answers.
• Table as needed and issue an addendum.

Important Note: Remember, you are already beginning to

form the relationship with your contractor.
Review the Proposals
A detailed and methodical review of the proposals is the
foundational work that ensures successful negotiations.
 Leverage your stakeholders’ goals to ensure a thorough review
• The review panel and procurement officer should read the
entirety of each proposal.
• Use Subject Matter Experts from IT, Risk, Legal, Finance,
Contract Admins and others to focus in on specific sections.
 Obtain written feedback that references specific page numbers and
sections
 Validate the vendor’s claims through demonstrations, references,
third party audits or otherwise
 Consider best value, which is the combination of the solution that
best meets the project goals with a competitive price for the goods
and services provided.
Negotiate with Highest Ranked Vendors
Have confidence that achieving the goals in the stakeholder
purpose statements will lead to a successful negotiation.
 Overlay the goals onto the most appropriate sections of the
proposal and use specific references to describe the differences
• Request that the vendor provide a revised solution to meet
the project’s goals.
 Review additional services and alternate processes that will add
value for either party by either inclusion or deletion
 Keep all parties on timelines for submitting written responses to
the SPOC
• Negotiation is one of the toughest phases to keep on track
• Have vendor propose suspense dates for turn around of
information.
Negotiate with Highest Ranked Vendors (cont.)
Demonstrate your innate curiosity by asking more questions
than you answer.
 To work through a negative response to any of your negotiation
points, use the power of “Why.”
• Doing so will enable you to understand the vendor’s
perspective and create a solution
 Negotiations can be a collaborative session.
• Be comfortable with ‘thinking out loud’ as long as it’s
reciprocated.
 Understand vendors are most likely trained to be problem
solvers for their organizations.
• Solving your problems increases their opportunity for
success
For Your Consideration
1. Tell the vendor one of your goals is for them to make more money…
2. …and then share the additional revenue with you.

You will empower vendors to propose solutions to make your program

more efficient and effective which may result in not only a lower cost for
the goods or services, but also greater administrative savings.
Partnership Building
Require Supplier Relationship Management activities to be
performed by both parties during the contract period.
 Define what success looks like through:
• Service Level Agreements
• End User satisfaction surveys
• Program monitoring related to the goals that support the
project vision.
 Tie metrics to outcomes, both positive and negative.
• If a goal is to increase P-Card spend, the vendor should
report when percentages fall below expected rates.
• Specific actions are trigged by the reporting
 Continue the conversation by scheduling formal feedback
The day of contract signature has come…
…suddenly all eyes are on you…
…you begin to sweat, what did you forget…
…then…
You’ve earned it through hard work and applying the
following principles and information to your procurement:
 Approaching the Procurement as a Project
• Leveraging stakeholder goals to deliver a successful contract
• Engaging stakeholders with specific timelines and outcomes
to keep the procurement on track
 Learning to Speak the Right Language(s)
• Understanding that the procurement is like a long
conversation
• Speaking the right language(s) with each stakeholder to earn
their trust and good will
 Takeaways for your Procurement
• Gaining key takeaways to embed in your procurement
project.
Questions?
 Speaker Contact Information
Dana M. Parent
(804) 371-6748
[email protected]