State of Texas
Department of Information Resources
Leadership for Texas Government Technology

Review Gate: Solicitation and Contracting

• Description
• Key Questions
• Tools and Deliverables
• Activity Flow

Description

The Solicitation and Contracting Review Gate includes development and management of technology solicitations and contracts. A decision regarding procurement is made during the Project Planning Review Gate. An assumption regarding the procurement decision may have been made in the Business Justification Review Gate in order to develop project estimates. For technology projects that require the procurement of goods and/or services to achieve the business goals and objectives, the agency head makes the final determination on the procurement decision.

Plans for procurement should be developed in conjunction with project planning results. Procurement planning is a subset of project management which includes the activities to acquire goods and/or services from outside the organization. Procurement planning addresses activities for solicitation planning, solicitation development and posting, source selection, contract award, contract management, and contract closeout. As a subset of project management, managing a technology procurement project relies on the project management practices (e.g., change control, project monitoring, performance management) defined in the Project Planning Review Gate.

Solicitations and contracts are developed and managed using the Comptroller of Public Accounts (CPA) Contract Management Guide, which includes an addendum for technology projects. Procurement planning should support and rely on the agencies’ internal procurement practices.

Procurement planning results must be finalized, approved at the agency level, and forwarded to the QAT prior to issuance of a solicitation for the project. The agency awards the contract. The agency head must approve contract amendment and change orders if the amendment or change order changes the contract amount above 10 percent or significantly changes the contract completion date as determined by the QAT. Contract amendment results must be finalized, approved at the agency level, and forwarded to QAT if the amendment changes the total value of the contract by more than 10 percent. Contract management should support and rely on the agencies’ project management practices for change control of all types of project changes, regardless of funding and/or schedule impacts.

Before any implementation activities can occur (next review gate), the agency head must approve the business outcomes at that specific point during project delivery. Approval indicates the agency head agrees the state should further invest in delivery of the project.

Key Questions

Key questions that must be answered during Solicitation and Contracting include:

• What business needs used to justify the project changed?
• What project management and technology-related activities are planned in order to solve the problem?
• What are the quantifiable outcomes that can be used to measure success?
• How was an achievable scope defined?
• How are the cost, schedule, and performance baselines complete and thorough?
• What are the project risks that have been identified and ranked?

Tools and Deliverables

Several deliverables are completed during the Solicitation and Contracting Review Gate. Templates and a questionnaire are provided as tools for development of these deliverables.

Activity Flow

The Solicitation and Contracting Review Gate Activity Flow shows each major activity, the tools for use during this stage of project delivery, required approvals, and required submittals. Refer to the Framework Quick Reference to identify required approval authority for each deliverable.