THE STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW):

A BRIEF REVIEW OF RESOURCES FROM THE WEB

“A properly developed statement of work represents 80% of a successful public solicitation. The remaining 20% is just mechanics.”

                                                       Terry Davenport

The Statement of Work is critical to the success of any procurement process. It is, however, a neglected area. Many, if not most, of the 80,000 public entities in the U.S. provide NO TRAINING to program or procurement staff. This lack of training is a significant contributor to procurement problems, delays, project overruns and litigation.

This document identifies SOW resources. It is not comprehensive but only a beginning. If you know of other resources that should be included in this document, please send an email to Michael Asner. My email is: institute@rfpmentor.com

Introduction

All procurements begin with a need that must be filled.  The RFP process is no different. The definition of what is needed, whether it’s a product or service, goes by many different names:  requirements, specifications, statement of work, problem definition, needs analysis, scope of services. Each of these items may be slightly different, for example, typically “specifications” deal only with the item or service. “Statements of work” (SOWs) will include required warranties and performance measures. The definition of what is required is typically prepared by the “requirements people”1. Once again, there is no universal term. Sometimes the “requirements person” is a user of the new system; however, the requirements person could also be an engineer identifying a feature or function of an industrial fan and not a “user”.

A large barrier exists to developing an effective statement of work. Simply stated, many requirements people don’t know much about a Statement of Work. They know what they want, or rather what they think they need, but often they know little about contracting, and even less about the procurement process, and the problems encountered in soliciting bids or proposals. Our engineer, cited above, knows about the use of the industrial fan and some of the environmental requirements but the engineer will not likely know how to build a warranty into the contract, or how to identify the vendor’s liability.

Deficient SOWs cause problems and lead to major unanticipated delays and cost overruns. Many of these problems can be avoided by learning about the characteristics of an excellent SOW.

To improve your SOW, it is useful to know what resources are available. The purpose of this issue of The RFP Report is to identify these resources and thereby improve the quality of the SOW and reduce the problems encountered during the acquisition, implementation process and warranty periods.

For consistency, we will use the term “statement of work” (SOW) throughout this article. Simply stated, it is the work to be performed under a contract.   A more comprehensive definition of Statement of Work incorporates examples as well as information about responsibilities and performance. Here is the definition of SOW from California:2

STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW) - The SOW is not a stand-alone document but complemented by other requirements, it becomes an integral part of a solicitation and the foundation of the resulting contract. It is a written description of the work to be performed under a contract to satisfy particular needs of a State agency. In simple transactions, it can consist of the line items on the face of the purchase order/contract that define what is being purchased, each item of which may include specifications. In more complex transactions, it is usually a separate attachment to the solicitation or contract in narrative form with attachments to further define the items being purchased and the requirements of satisfactory performance. These attachments to the narrative portion of the SOW typically include a list of all goods/services purchased, along with references to applicable specification(s). It also may include pricing, delivery schedules, installation requirements, acceptance test procedures and any requirements unique to the business relationship between the parties that is not otherwise covered in the general or special terms and conditions of the contract. The SOW includes the responsibilities of both the State and contractor and whether there are any prior conditions to performance (such as security access, facility preparation/modification requirements, etc.). The SOW serves as the major portion of the contract for performance objectives/requirements a contractor must meet and describes the work the contractor is to perform . . .

In searching the web, we found a number of different types of resources:

1. Training – There appear to be 2 types of training: instructor-led, and web or CD-based. This report identifies 6 sources of instructor-led live training, and one source of CD-based training. The CD-based training is a new product which we released Sept. 15, 2005.

2. Templates – We identified 4 different templates, of varying complexity and sophistication.

3. Guides & Manuals – We identified 5 different ‘how to’ manuals published by federal, state and local jurisdictions and available on the web.

4. Other Stuff – This category contains all of the entries which didn’t fit easily into the other categories. It contains books, kits, and other web sites.

The full report is 23 pages long. It is contained in Issue 50 of The RFP Report. It can be viewed and downloaded from our website:

http://www.rfpmentor.com

Click on RFP Report.

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**********ANNOUNCING A NEW TRAINING CD**********

How to Develop an Effective Statement of Work:

A Best Practices Training CD by Terry Davenport

http://www.rfpmentor.com/institute.html

 one hour PowerPoint presentation narrated by Terry Davenport

 60 page Resource Guide

 License

 $195

"If I could choose one person to write a Statement of Work for me, it would be Terry. As Contract Administrator for Western States Contracting Alliance, he wrote Statements of Work for major procurements involving hundreds of millions of dollars. And they were solid and they worked!"

      Jim O'Neill, CPPO, FNIGP

      Director of Procurement, Ft. Collins (CO)

      Past President of NIGP

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*****ANNOUNCING A NEW INTERACTIVE WEBCAST*****

How To Develop An Effective Statement Of Work:

A Best Practices Webcast by Terry Davenport

http://www.rfpmentor.com/webcast.html

A live, 90 minute, interactive web conference that you can join from your office on

Thursday, November 17th, 2005

Many procurements fail, are unnecessarily complex, or result in complaints and litigation because the Statement of Work was deficient. Terry Davenport knows the key to success is simple: prepare a SOW that balances functionality with budgetary requirements, policy restrictions and the legal issues. This seminar will show you the step-by-step process that leads to an effective statement of work.

Our Agenda

By the end of the seminar, you will have learned a step-by-step process for creating an effective statement of work. This process is described and illustrated with examples from Terry’s 60-page Resource Guide. (Each participant gets a copy of the Resource Guide.)

* Workshop Objectives

* Important Definitions

* Market Research

* Do’s and Don’ts

* Purpose/Objectives

* Scope of Solicitation

* Invitation for Bid Specifications

* RFP Specifications

* Contract Scope of Work

* Contract Protections

* Examples

* Questions to Guide SOW Development

* How to Use Example Directives

Participants (buyers and program personnel) will gain an understanding of the components of the SOW for various types of solicitations as well as useful guidance and writing tips for each. The 60-page Resource Guide is a handy reference tool. This course will take the mystery and misery out of the statement of work development process. It has been designed for use by both buyers and program/user personnel.