Summary
Quentin says that:
"Project procurement management begins at the point when the new project is initiated and detailed decisions are starting to be made as to what portion of the project will be performed with one's own staff, and what portion will be sent to another company for performance."[23]
In our view, that is long before anyone starts doing detailed design. It is a part of developing the concept for the project because, on it, will depend the project's financial viability and the necessary organizational structure.
Understandably, Quentin Fleming's book is about the way things should be when it comes to planning and executing a project that will inevitably involve some "buying of project scope" (as Quentin puts it) from outside of the organization. But Quentin is a realist no doubt born of years of sometimes-painful experience. For example, he says:
"Issue: will there be political pressures on the award of major procurements? Answer, likely. Should there be: no. But politicians will be politicians. And elected officials typically have little inhibition calling a company urging serious consideration to award a certain contract to a certain supplier, who happens to be in the politician's own district."
You have been warned!
To conclude his book, Quentin reminds us that he recommends placing all procured work into one of three generic categories,[24] namely those of:
- Major, high-risk complexity
- Minor, low risk complexity, and
- Routine buys, off-the-shelf
He then offers Ten Steps to implement successful Project Procurement Management, but you'll have to buy the book to find out what those are.
This book is thoroughly recommended to all aspiring project managers if they are serious about project management. And that is whether or not they happen to be studying for the Project Management Institute's Project Management Professional certification exam, or any other project management qualification for that matter.
R. Max Wideman
Fellow, PMI
23. Ibid, p207
24. Ibid, p327
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Advice
From an Expert