Chapter 4: How do I write/revise/respond to requirements (SOW and performance metrics)?

"The contracting world you work in is undergoing dramatic change. While the price was once the primary desired outcome in deals, customers today are demanding outcomes like innovation and digital transformation in addition to value and performance. Deals are being completely rewritten to bring in robotics and automation. How do contract and procurement/sales professionals stay relevant and compete?" Debi Hamill, CEO of the IAOP. 

Enhance the connection between pre-award requirements and post-award contract management.

To stay relevant, enhance your drafting skills by learning to write, revise or respond (if you are a seller) to statements of work (SOW). Work requirements are details about the goods the supplier will deliver or services the supplier must perform.  To stave off problems later on, SOW requirements must reflect the business need a buyer wishes to fulfill via this relationship and be clear, enforceably, and unambiguously written to assure that both parties are working towards the same goals. In fact, according to the International association for contract and commercial management (IACCM), 85% of respondents to one of its surveys indicated that raising the quality of requirements was the number 1 factor critical to improved contract performance.

Developing requirements and vetting requirements is a collaborative process including stakeholders, contract professionals, subject matter experts (SMEs), and for the customer any person who will receive the goods and services. As the technical and functional specifications become more complex, contract professionals will work more closely to ensure that the supplier’s work requirements are clear, complete, and meet the buying company’s business objectives.

This chapter will help you enhance your contract professional skill set by aiding you in drafting, revising, or responding (if you are the seller) to a statement of work.

Trained contract professionals including contract professionals go by many titles:

• Contract negotiators,
• Contract administrators,
• Contract managers,
• Account managers,
• Procurement agents,
• Global sourcing managers,
• Vendor/supplier/customer managers,
• Commercial managers,
• Sourcing/outsourcing specialists, and
• Technical SMEs.

To your professional success.

Jeanette

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