Some people equate the word ‘project’ with private, contracted work, which is essentially it. The world of procurement, however, has changed significantly in recent years. Outsourcing has become a normal transactional business process. By all accounts, the standard contract has been around to do business for some time, but it has changed significantly with the shift in buying patterns and IT and operational process and systems. In the commercial real estate industry and virtually any other industry, people who ‘do projects’ are often called ‘Marets’ or ‘Colleagues’. As explained on PRINCE2 Glasgow Course and training.
The successful contracting business owner is a highly-skilled, experienced manager with a track record of significant successes in various industries. This person is highly successful, but it is not uncommon for them to handle less than 50% of the global project budget. More than ever, contracting professionals need to have the ability to manage multiple projects, with a strong emphasis on quality improvements and on ensuring successful end-of-project completion. Discipline and focus on each project are critical jobs for project managers.
There are two areas in a construction or development project: site assessment and the pre-contract process. They are comparable in concept to managing projects in the private sector, but they are different in their characteristic attributes.
Site assessment identifies project/program objectives, targets, the scope of work, and critical success factors. The aim is always to deliver the ‘best possible result, whether that is a construction or building.
The pre-contract process is a series of activities/measures designed to help ensure the success of any program; using expert advice, these activities are long-term techniques and processes designed to manage the ‘before-and-after’ of any program, whether that is a building or a construction project.
Though each source will have a recommendation for the project’s pre-contract requirements, it is essential to have specific standard measures for various reasons. A variety of software tools can be used to assess the “before and “after” results of a program to make for quality construction. These programs facilitate a structured review of wasting time, exhaust fault-finding, its components, benefits; etc. They are best utilized alongside a pre-contract specialist professional.
The pre-contract process should include activities to evaluate the pre-contract pre-contract plan (accountants’ advice is highly valued) and numerous activities to optimize a pre-contract program document. These might include:
- Review program, on-site/in preceding activity/plan, with any necessary documentation
- Best practice for pre-contract complete the pre-contract documentation
- Prioritisation of pre-contract activities
- Assess pre-contract program benefits
- Identify program deficiencies
- Apply corrective programs (particularly those that are identified)
- Obtain pre-contract documentation review to identify opportunities for improvement
It is essential to integrate pre-contract program activities within the pre-contract program to maximize the pre-contract program benefits.
Plan to win. A pre-contract program that has started only to win a contract will meet minimal benefits. A non-prescription EISP (Engineering Information Systems) strategy is not sufficient to plan several programs. Pre-contract programs must be ‘integrated’ into pre-contract planning to achieve multiple objectives to improve program effectiveness and efficiency.
A pre-contract program that delivers against the objectives is a technical, time-related business process that can be evaluated to ensure ongoing success.
The pre-contract program is a series of specific on-site filings, activities which include the FM gram of work, costs, and construction schedule objectives to provide a moving target to deliver the correct quantity and quality of deliverables sited for reuse.
The pre-contract activity is one of four defined pre-contract processes, which are sequential and include the pre-contract review, misclassification review, training review, and waking review. Each provides opportunities for improvements, new work/build schedules, and cost/benefit analysis.
Pre-contract management is a potentially valuable activity that covers all pre-contract activities and directly contributes to each phase of a project’s commercial success.
The key focus of the pre-contract activity is to deliver critical and non-critical project deliverables. A key benefit is a higher performance with shorter delivery times, a lower total cost of ownership, and a negligible continuous maintenance cost. The beauty of pre-contract activities is that they can be implemented quickly and efficiently when on-site activity involving loads of paperwork and a succession of paper and pen!
