Research paper part 1

Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project Evaluation and Analysis

Plan Procurement Management Analysis

A. Inputs

1.Project management plan

This is a document which is approved to define the way activities of a project will be executed, controlled and monitored. It can contain management plan subsidiary, baseline as well as their documents of planning. In Woodrow bridge, the project management plan highlighted the requirement of procurement in executing the contract and the period in which the project will take be completed (Schweitzer & Stephenson 2016). The key objectives outlined in this plan were to construct four adjacent interchanges as well as two side by side drawbridge. Apart from other identified resources, the total estimated amount required in executing the project was $ 2.479 billion.

2.Requirements documents.

This is a document that contains all the project requirements as well as ensuring that those requirements are conforming to the needs of the stakeholders. This document aids in understanding what is required in the project so that the desired results are achieved. In the construction of this bridge, all details pertaining contract award such as requirements description needed in awarding the contract and their estimated costs, continuous updates, the contract status during the time of signing as well as the estimated time that the contract was to take, was found in these documents (Schweitzer & Stephenson 2016).

3.Risk register

Risk register can be described as a tool used in documenting risks that are occurring in the project and the possible solutions or actions that will help in managing each risk. Once the risks are identified in the project, they are documented in the risk register. Woodrow bridge project plan did not come across any risk. Though in a normal circumstance, financial risks in most cases can be experienced in a large project such as this. For instance, the estimated budget for this project might not be able to fund the whole project to the end leading to delays in the whole project activity. The conflict between the project team members or the managers can be a risk which can interfere with the project activity. Talk about the environmental issues they faced ?

4.Activity resource requirement.

This can be described as the different type of resources required in each activity in a given package of a project such as an amount, quantities, level of skills of the resource required to participate in a project. Woodrow Bridge was measured to cover 7.5 miles where each of the four approaches was allocated a different amount depending on the nature and the type of the activity so that the contractors are able to execute the project without difficulties. For instance, the district of Colombia was allocated $16 million, Virginia was allocated $ 587 million, Maryland was allocated $ 329million and federal funds $ 1, 544million. This project was divided into (sub-projects) define them? because of the amount of work involved and assigned to different contractors (Shane, et al. 2009).

5.Project schedule

A project schedule is a communication tool which communicates the work needed to be done, the type of resources of the organization that will perform the work, and the time when the work is needed to be performed. In other words, a project schedule reflects all kinds of work related to completing the project on time. In the year 2001, Woodrow Bridge was scheduled to start where each phase had its own start and finish time. Emphasis was made on each phase taking exactly the allocated time since the delay on one phase will affect the whole project plan. What did it end up at?

6.Activity cost estimate

This entails those costs such as direct and indirect associated with required resources to complete the project. Woodrow bridge project team was given a role of providing an estimated amount of every contract in the project. The estimation of costs was done according to the bridge authority requirement. It is through the activity cost estimates that led to the total estimated cost of the whole project. Activity cost estimates also include controlling those costs so as to complete the project within the allocated funds. What was the estimated cost and budget?

7.Stakeholder register

A stakeholder register is a document in the project management that contains all the stakeholders' information in the project. It gives identity to the people, groups, as well as the organizations that have interest or involvement in the project. The project authority of Woodrow Bridge identified the government agencies like the department of transport, administration of Maryland state highway, federal state highway as well as the district of Colombia public works department that funded the whole project and the public users who needed an efficient bridge to ease transportation. Identify some risk you would expect?

8.Enterprise environmental factors

Enterprise environmental factors can be defined as all external and internal factors that can influence the project success. For instance, government regulations, culture, weather condition, market condition, political situation among other factors. Government regulations were one of the factors that influenced Woodrow bridge project. The regulation required the awarding of the contract to be controlled or regulated by state laws of procurement. Economic factors were also evident where some of the contractors quoted high prices during bidding and this led to the delay of the whole project for a period of six months.

9.Organizational process assets.

Organizational process assets can be defined as policies, processes, procedures and plans and knowledge, employed by the performing organization. The coordination committee Woodrow bridge project designed some policies and procedures that helped to control the whole project activity. For instance, competitive bidding was a procedure employed in determining the methods of procurement (Shahawy, 2003).

B. Tools and techniques

1.Make or buy analysis

In project management, the managers of the project are required to make strategic decisions during the procurement of goods and services from suppliers. The decisions of the management team of the project can either outsource or make the product depending on the complexity of the project or the items. In the Woodrow bridge project, the project management team decided on a buy decision since the project was very complex. The project team invited bidder to place their bid, where they were evaluated according to the requirement outlined in the procurement documents and the successful contractors were given the mandate to execute the project (Shane, et al. 2009). Focus on what a contractor would make or buy , not the owner?

2.Expert judgment.

Expert judgment can be defined as a technique used to provide judgment based on a specific pair of strategy or criteria or expert with specific knowledge on a given area such as application area, a particular discipline or industry. Woodrow bridge coordination committee of the construction relied on the expert knowledge from federal agencies and building consultants, like the transport regulation board and the African Automobile Association. The project was executed with less conflict between because of the involvement of the experts in the area of conflict resolution, where they encouraged teamwork, trust, open communication, and respect. The judgment of the experts helped in making decisions which were useful in executing the project.

3.Market research

This is a type of research done by the managers of the project in order to evaluate the project ideas. The marketing research started with a description of the concept of the project taking into consideration the needs and demand of public users (Shahawy, 2003). Woodrow bridge project coordination committee took a research on whether the project is viable or not. Since the bridge was constructed due to the demand of the public, the committee needed to be sure that what was constructed is exactly what the public needed. The committee did the research with the help of the transport research board. The research also helped to determine that the old bridge required an expansion since it was not meeting the transport demands. What did they focus on in their research?

4.Meetings

The meeting is a regular activity involving everybody who is interested in the project in communicating with the stakeholders or participants through discussing issues, rejecting or approving offers, making proposals, in order to build teamwork to help execute the project in a more easy way. It is evident that the Woodrow Bridge project when the federal highway administration was organizing a meeting before and during the execution of the project. Since this project was managed by special stakeholders, contractors and financiers, meetings were necessary to give updates and the challenges in the execution of the project, as well as giving the reports about the progress (Schweitzer & Stephenson 2016).

C. Output

1.Procurement management plan

Procurement management plan is part of the overall plan of the project management. This document outlined the procurement processes such as initiating a request, developing the requirements, approval of the requests, purchasing authority, bid review, responsibility of the contract management, requirements of the closure of the contract as well as the flowchart of the procurement process, there was responsibilities and roles, of the project management team, identification of the procurement needs, timing and vendor processes. In Woodrow bridge project, the procurement management plan offered directions on how procedures, processes, people, and resources should be incorporated into work in order to achieve the project goals. It was documented that after the award of the contract to the successful contractors, they were to use their available resource in executing the contract and within the specified duration, within the budget, following the regulations of procurement stipulated (Kiker, et al. 2005).

2.Procurement statement of work

Procurement statement of work describes the procured in detail in order to permit the prospective sellers to know whether they can provide the required deliverables and the products. In Woodrow bridge construction, the project was divided into sections where different contractors were granted a specific portion of work as per their ability. The evaluation of every contactor’s activity will be done by the project coordination committee as per the requirements in the procurement statement of work. What were they?

3.Procurement documents

Procurement documents are the contractual agreement or relationship between the seller and the suppliers, it entails both input and output techniques and tools that are required during the bidding process and submission of the proposals of the project. In Woodrow bridge construction, every contractor was required to have possession of procurement documents as assign of an agreement entered (Kiker, et al. 2005). The complexity of the project could not allow any form of compromising activities that will lead to project failure. All documents from the advertisement of the contract to the contract agreement and documents of payments made were in the custody of the federal highway administration.

4.Sources selection criteria

This is the characteristics or attributes desired by the buyer to a seller in order to meet or exceed the requirement of the selection processes. All the contractors of Woodrow Bridge were selected based on certain attributes which they were to meet or exceed, as stipulated in the procurement documents. They included technical capabilities and approach, financial capacity among others. Do you know what the criteria was?

5.Make or buy decision

This is strategic choices made by the project management team on whether to buy or make their items to be used in the project. In most cases, the decisions on either to buy or make a product are determined by the type of the project (Fudala & Fontaine, 2010). Woodrow bridge project was complex and therefore, the federal highway administration made a buy decision. As discussed early, they invited qualified bidders to place their bids, thereafter, evaluation was performed to determine the qualified contractors. After the selection, the contractors were to execute the contract as per the requirements.

6.Change requests

This is a formal proposal to alter some products, systems or processes in the project. They normally arise in the case where the client wants to alter the already agreed deliverables of the project. For instance, it can be a change in the material used, processes and the like. In Woodrow bridge project, a change request was made on the material used that is from steel box girders to using plate girders. Another agreement was to be made and adjustments between the procuring body and the contractors in order to capture the changes (Fudala & Fontaine, 2010).

7.Project documents updates

It is required of the project management team to review the project on regular bases in order to make updates in the documents as the project progresses. The updates are made to ensure that the project execution is done as per the requirement. It is important to update or record every piece of complete work. In Woodrow bridge project, it was not very clear in the available information whether or not the updates were made. But to the best of my knowledge, a complex project such as this, could not be executed as per the requirements without updating the project documents (Shane, et al. 2009).

References

Fudala, N. J., & Fontaine, M. D. (2010). Work zone variable speed limit systems effectiveness and system design issues(No. FHWA/VTRC 10-R20). Virginia Transportation Research Council.

Kiker, G. A., Bridges, T. S., Varghese, A., Seager, T. P., & Linkov, I. (2005). Application of multicriteria decision analysis in environmental decision making. Integrated environmental assessment and management, 1(2), 95-108.

Schweitzer, L., & Stephenson Jr, M. (2016). Planning, development, and media: A case study of the Woodrow Wilson bridge. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 36(2), 239-254.

Shahawy, M. (2003). Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems to Limit Traffic Disruption During Construction (Vol. 324). Transportation Research Board.

Shane, J. S., Molenaar, K. R., Anderson, S., & Schexnayder, C. (2009). Construction project cost escalation factors. Journal of Management in Engineering, 25(4), 221-229.