Contract Finalization IP

  
ACME Development Corporation (ADC), a developer of custom homes and apartment complexes, has decided to standardize its project management practices and processes across its national organization. The goal is to standardize with one single project-scheduling tool and to have the tool installed and be operational within 90 days. To this end, the company is forming a central project management office (PMO). Until now, project managers (there are 40 presently on staff distributed all over the United States) have been able to use whatever scheduling tool they liked, within their budget constraints. They have also been able to buy equipment and engage contractors at will. The PMO will be determining one scheduling tool that all PMs will be expected to use, exclusive of any other scheduling tools. The PMO will also develop and implement a standardized procurement process. Because the PMs are located across the United States, a Web-based solution seems likely to be the most successful tool.
As the project manager, you have been charged with implementing the procurement process, and you decide that your first project will be purchasing the scheduling tool for ACME Development Corporation.
PMI is one of the world’s largest not-for-profit membership associations for the project management profession. Our professional resources and research empower more than 700,000 members, credential holders, and volunteers in nearly every country in the world to enhance their careers, improve their organizations’ success and further mature the profession.
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Now that you know what you are buying, the requirements, and the types of contracts, you are ready to put the contracts out for bid. Continue to develop your procurement plan, and align it with the rest of the project plan by deciding which bidding methods you will use for each of the following contracts:

Hiring technicians to install and configure the      software for your environment 
Hiring a training entity to teach the student PMs the      mechanics of using the new tool 
Buying a new server and software to run the tool and      house the project database 
Hiring tool usage experts to transfer knowledge to the      student PMs about the use of the tool on the job for the first 60 days      after going live 
Planning for the removal and disposal of scheduling      tool software and hardware that are no longer to be used 

Assignment Guidelines

For each of the contracts above, address the following      questions: 

Which bidding method will you use? Why? 
Were there other possible bidding methods that you       considered for this contract? Explain. 
How does this procurement task of bid       selection integrate with the rest of the project for ADC? 
Once you have selected the ideal bidding       method and a bidder has been accepted, how will you ensure that the       quality of the final product will be measured effectively? 
What challenges will you need to overcome when measuring       and ensuring quality? Why? 

How will you overcome these challenges? 
Compile your responses for the above questions into a      PowerPoint presentation of 8 slides with 150–200 words of speaker notes      per slide. 

Include additional title and reference slides. 

Be sure to reference all sources using APA style.