PROJ 598 Week 4 Part 1

Objectives
The Course Project for PROJ598 consists of two parts, which provide familiarization to processes associated with contract and procurement management.
•	Part 1 (PP1) of the Course Project focuses on writing an RFP and entails selecting one of the three RFP procurement cases listed under the PP1 section or one of your choosing and using the PP1—Course Project RFP template document in the Doc Sharing area to develop information to support a completed RFP suitable for submission to vendors.  
•	Part 2 (PP2) covers all of the TCOs but touches mainly upon textbook Chapters 9 through 12 of World Class Contracting and PMBOK® Guide Chapter 12. You will be required to identify an opportunity through https://www.Fbo.gov and follow the instructions, which are located in Doc Sharing.
Guidelines
Project Part 1
Assignment: Project Part 1 (PP1) entails completing a Request for Proposal (RFP). You may select one of the below procurement cases or use one of your own appropriate procurement cases as the basis for creating an RFP. 
RFP Procurement Cases
Select one of the following RFP procurement cases to develop your PP1 RFP.
A New Practice Field
You own a semipro baseball team (in the location of your choice) and you want to construct a new practice field. You own the land already (20 acres). The land is relatively flat and it has only a few dilapidated structures (barns) and trees on it. Connecting up with existing water and sewer lines would present no unusual technical problems. It is now September, and you would love to have that field ready to go by March 2 years hence. Your vision would include the playing field, a small clubhouse, and a parking area that would hold about 50 cars. No spectator seating would be required.
An Environmental Impact Study
You are a general contractor wishing to put up a modest-sized concrete production plant on the outskirts of town. The plant would operate on only one 10-hour shift per day and would produce about 400 cubic yards of output per day for 6 days per week. It is necessary for an environmental impact study to be undertaken before the county can issue a permit. The biggest issue is, of course, the air quality implications of concrete production, but potential impacts on water quality are of concern as well. It is now October, and you want to start building the plant by the end of next summer, if at all possible. It is now time to issue an RFP to procure an environmental impact analysis. Studies of this type normally require about 3 months of concerted effort by a team of analysts.
An Inventory Control System
You sell seeds from a catalog, and business has been blossoming. However, your inventory tracking system is inadequate. In high season, supply outages have been frequent, and customer complaints over delays have been increasing. You fear that your business will die on the vine unless something is done to improve things. You want to hire a management consultant to design a new inventory tracking system. This kind of work normally requires about 6 months worth of effort. It is now May. You need to issue an RFP for this work. The procurement will be for the design stage only—implementation may or may not be handled under a separate contract at a later date.
Terminal Course Objectives (TCOs): The following TCOs are addressed in the PP1 assignment.
TCO A: Given a project situation, discuss and document the four phases of the procurement cycle and the impact each procurement has on the overall project.
TCO B: Given a project situation, analyze the factors that are important when qualifying and selecting suppliers for a project requirement.
TCO C: Given a project situation for a major contract, examine the key factors, including risk factors that affect buyer and supplier decisions concerning contract pricing and the selection of the proper contract type.
TCO D: Given a procurement situation for a major contract, analyze the application of e-procurement and other types of supplier bidding models available.
TCO E: Given a situation to solicit a bid proposal, evaluate technical, management, commercial, and ethical requirements, and then prepare a Request for Proposal (RFP).
Resources: Obviously, the PMBOK® Guide is a good starting point as well as Chapters 1 through 8 of World Class Contracting. Please be advised that considerable relevant material is also available on the Internet, so you might want to conduct a search for materials that may yield insights into the RFP development process. Use the RFP template from your PP1 assignment, which was downloaded from the Doc Sharing area.
Procedures and Deadline: All project issues should be brought up in the Q & A Forum or addressed in class. The PP1 RFP should be prepared in an MS Word format suitable for electronic transmission. Any resources used beyond the textbooks need to be cited in your document, including links to relevant websites. Be sure to include footnotes and a bibliography.
Submission Details: All PP1 documents must be submitted no later than the end of Week 4. Submit a copy of your RFP to the Dropbox created for this purpose.
Clarification on Assignment: All questions of a clarification nature should be asked in the weekly Q & A Forum discussion topic.
RFP Content
Your RFP should utilize the best practices of the pre-award phase listed in the text that apply to your project. You must choose the type of contract (Fixed Price, Cost-Plus, Time and Materials, etc) that you feel is most appropriate for this procurement. I will set the length limit at a minimum of 15 double-spaced pages (12-point font) for the main body of the RFP, no more than 20 pages. You may attach additional appendices if you wish, but these must be limited to clarifying material that has been borrowed from elsewhere or developed as an exhibit and they are not included as part of the minimum 15 page limit.
The first page of your overall submission must be a cover sheet that contains the project title (hopefully, not “PP1” or anything like it—be inventive), your name, your e-mail address, and course identifying information (e.g., “PROJ598 for this term” will suffice —, use the correct term identifier). The second page will be a Table of Contents (TOC) listing the major RFP sections together with page numbers. The next 1 - 15 pages constitute the main body of the RFP. Remember "ALL" sections in the template are graded components, so remember to complete each section and sub-section. You should not have any sections that are not applicable (N/A) or to be determined (TBD) in the proposal. Include a reference page at the “end” of the proposal listing the references that you used in the RFP preparation in APA format, including websites, if any. Don’t forget to cite any sources in the text of your paper using APA format as well. This is an academic assignment, therefore APA format is required. Appendix B contains a list of suppliers to whom you would send the RFP. These must be real bona fide contractors—not hypothetical ones. On that page, explain how you chose these potential suppliers and why they are acceptable for your project. Be detailed with your explanation. The cover sheet, TOC, reference page, and supplier list do not count toward the 15-page minimum.
The structure should, therefore be
•	Cover sheet (one page)
•	Table of contents (one page)
•	RFP main body (Minimum of 15 pages)
•	References in APA format (no page limit) 
•	Appendices (no page limit)
•	Appendix B: Supplier list (one page)
Deadline: PP1 is due by the end of Week 4.
Please place your PP1 assignment in the Week 4 dropbox.