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SOLICITATION PLANNING
Dr. Ajit Pal Singh, 0921512436
SOLICITATION PLANNING
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Solicitation planning involves preparing the documents needed
to support solicitation.
Inputs to Solicitation Planning
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(1) Procurement management plan.
(2) Statement(s) of work.
(3) Other planning outputs:
Which may have been modified from when they were
considered as part of procurement planning, should be
reviewed again as part of solicitation.
In particular, solicitation planning should be closely
coordinated with the project schedule.
Tools and Techniques for Solicitation Planning
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(1) Standard Forms:
Standard forms may include standard contracts, standard
descriptions of procurement items, or standardized versions of
all or part of the needed bid documents.
Organizations that do substantial amounts of procurement
should have many of these documents standardized.
(2) Expert Judgment.
Outputs from Solicitation Planning
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(1) Procurement Documents:
Procurement documents are used to solicit proposals from
prospective sellers.
The terms “bid” and “quotation” are generally used when the
source selection decision will be price-driven (as when buying
commercial items), while the term “proposal” is generally used
when non-financial considerations such as technical skills or
approach are paramount (as when buying professional
services).
Outputs from Solicitation Planning...
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However, the terms are often used interchangeably and care
should be taken not to make unwarranted assumptions about
the implications of the term used.
Common names for different types of procurement documents
include: Invitation for Bid (IFB), Request for Proposal (RFP),
Request for Quotation (RFQ), Invitation for Negotiation, and
Contractor Initial Response
Outputs from Solicitation Planning...
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Procurement documents should be structured to facilitate accurate
and complete responses from prospective sellers. They should
always include the relevant statement of work, a description of the
desired form of the response, and any required contractual provisions
(e.g., a copy of a model contract, non-disclosure provisions).
Some or all of the content and structure of procurement documents,
particularly for those prepared by a government agency, may be
defined by regulation.
Procurement documents should be rigorous enough to ensure
consistent, comparable responses, but flexible enough to allow
consideration of seller suggestions for better ways to satisfy the
requirements.
Outputs from Solicitation Planning...
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(2) Evaluation Criteria:
Evaluation criteria are used to rate or score proposals.
They may be objective (e.g., “the proposed project manager
must be a certified Project Management Professional”) or
subjective (e.g., “the proposed project manager must have
documented, previous experience with similar projects”).
Evaluation criteria are often included as part of the procurement
documents.
Outputs from Solicitation Planning...
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Evaluation criteria may be limited to purchase price if the
procurement item is known to be readily available from a
number of acceptable sources (“purchase price” in this context
includes both the cost of the item and ancillary expenses such
as delivery).
When this is not the case, other criteria must be identified and
documented to support an integrated assessment.
Outputs from Solicitation Planning...
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For example:
Understanding of need-as demonstrated by the seller’s proposal.
Overall or life cycle cost-will the selected seller produce the
lowest total cost (purchase cost plus operating cost)?
Technical capability-does the seller have, or can the seller be
reasonably expected to acquire, the technical skills and
knowledge needed?
Management approach-does the seller have, or can the seller be
reasonably expected to develop, management processes and
procedures to ensure a successful project?
Financial capacity-does the seller have, or can the seller
reasonably be expected to obtain, the financial resources needed?
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(3) Statement of Work Updates:
Modifications to one or more statements of work may be
identified during solicitation planning.
