• How the SOW got started
• How it is being used and abused
• The different stages of the SOW
• Relationship of the SOW to other documents

Structuring the Statement of Work

• Where the various sections of the Statement of Work fit in the bid document
• The Scope of Work
• The Quality of Work
• The Scheduling of Work
• Vendor Qualifications
• Vendor Methodology

What goes into the Statement of Work

• Factors that determine contents of the SOW
• The Scope of Work, or Terms of Reference
• Standards, quality, and quantity requirements
• Schedules
• Methodology
• Cost issues
• Terms for acceptance
• Project control mechanism
• Risks associated with all of the above

Risks and Consequences of Failure

• There is no undertaking without risk
• Living with risk
• Honest and open recognition of risk
• Methods of minimizing risks

Scope of Work or Terms of Reference

• Starting point
• Finished product
• Deliverables at intermediate stages (checkpoints)
• Requirement
• Specifications

The Work Schedule

• Start and finish times
• Major milestones
• Partial completion requirements
• Time estimates for units of work
• Working with a Pert Chart and the Critical Path

Standards and Quality

• Purchase of goods
• Purchase of services
• Buying construction services

Terms for Acceptance

• How it develops into a problem
• Identifiable elements
• Follow-up activities

Vendor Qualification

• Attributes for qualification
• Experience, education
• Certification, adhesion to standards, etc,
• Qualifying companies, individuals, or teams
• Using references effectively
• Mandatory versus desirable qualifications

Vendor Methodology

• Does methodology matter?
• The role of methodology in procurement
• Should buyers control methodology
• How vendors view methodology
• The importance of methodology in the selection process

Project Control System

• The time to think about project control
• Implement the project management system fully
• Project management systems
• Project team membership
• Control and operation of project team
• Responsibilities of team
• Conflict resolution mechanism
• Documentation of actions
• Past experience requirements (in RFP)
• References to past successes (in Proposals)

Using Risks to Evaluate Proposals

• The SOW as an evaluation tool
• Distinguishing between acceptable and unacceptable offers

Building the Selection Criteria Table from the Statement of Work

• Identifying and separating mandatory requirements
• Moving desirable requirements of the Scope of Work into the Selection Criteria table
• Completing the Selection Criteria table with Qualification and Methodology requirements
• Weight factors, risk elements
• Determining scoring system
• Quality versus cost considerations in the selection process

Creating a Modular Statement of Work Document

• The One-Page Spread
• The Two-Page Spread
• The recommended model
• How responsibilities are divided
• Creating outlines
• Writing full text
• Editing
• Language issues

Physical Characteristics of Document

• Start with an idea about the size of the document
• Problems caused by documents that are too small
• Problems caused by documents that are too large
• Document binding styles, electronic documents
• One-sided or two-sided documents
• Line justification, line spacing, margins
• The position of page numbers
• Fonts, font size
• Columns
• Page numbering styles
• Bold, underline, italics, special fonts, shading, reverse on black
• Boxes, tables, charts, graphs, diagrams, flow charts, pictures
• Appendices

Horizontal & Vertical Structures of Document and Text

• Who controls the structures
• Number of volumes
• Number of chapters
• Styles of providing textual information
• Styles of numbering chapters, sections, sub-sections