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12 - PROJECT PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT

12.1.2 Plan Procurement Management: Tools and Techniques

The tools and techniques in Section 12.1.2 of the PMBOK Guide are applicable for planning software
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procurement management, with the following modifications and extensions.

The first step in planning for software procurement is making the decision that a software product or service
needs to be acquired. The organization may perform a business case analysis, trade study, or market survey of
available capabilities, or conduct a needs assessment or a make-or-buy study to determine whether the best
way to meet a resource need is to acquire a software product or service (see Section 12.1.2.1 of the PMBOK
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Guide). It is a good practice to document the alternatives considered before proceeding with procurement and to
communicate the procurement strategy to the project stakeholders.

• Identifying suppliers. Bidders’ conferences with potential suppliers are often conducted as part of the
initial market survey. Architectural and technical decisions may severely limit the options for potential
suppliers, since the supplier should have experience with the intended software environment. Procuring
infrastructure such as an operating system, middleware, or a common development environment will
drive how custom software capabilities are created. Conversely, the architecture of the software product
needs to provide the necessary organization, infrastructure, and interfaces to enable integration of special
functionality, application support, or utility software that may be procured. Suppliers competent to handle
these issues should be identified.
• Statement of objective or statement of work. The choice of how to specify requirements for
procurement depends on the scope, impact, and audience affected by the software or service, as
indicated in Figure 12-2.

Enterprise Agency/
Architecture Organization Low Strategic
Wide Detail Outcomes All
Stakeholders

Segment Mission/ Medium Business
Architecture Line of Detail Outcomes
Business
Wide
Business
Owners

Software
System Function/ High Operational
Architecture Process Detail Outcomes
Wide
Users and
Developers

Figure 12-2. Level of Detail for Software/Service Acquisition Requirements

218 ©2013 Project Management Institute. Software Extension to the PMBOK Guide Fifth Edition
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