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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 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 What Are the Key Elements and Characteristics of a Good SOW? The quality, completeness, and specificity of the statement of work often determine the success of the RFP process. Well-written SOWs for performance-based work contain specific and clearly defined contract goals. They state the requirements in terms of desired or required results. Good SOWs have clearly defined deliverables and mandatory requirements limited to the actual minimum needs. It is worth the investment, the time, money and effort, to create a high quality SOW. They are essential to understanding the needs of the requirements people, and provide many valuable benefits including:1 a. enable offerors to clearly understand the requirements and needs; b. allow offerors to more accurately cost or price their proposal and submit higher quality technical proposals; c. provide a baseline for the development of other parts of the solicitation, particularly the evaluation criteria, technical proposal instructions and independent cost estimate; d. minimize the need for change orders which can increase the cost or price and delay completion; e. allow both the Government and contractor to assess performance ; and f. reduce claims and disputes under the contract. Some organizations have acquired a lot of experience in creating SOWs and have published checklists and guidelines which can save you hundreds of hours of effort. Before writing a SOW, do a little research. NASA’s Guidance for Writing Work Statements is a good tutorial on the topic. Also, In reviewing these resources, remember that the federal government’s requirements for SOWs are much more complex than those at the state and local government levels. 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: Click on RFP Report. ***************************************************************** **********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, Past President of NIGP ********************************************************************* *****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. |
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