12.1 Plan Procurement Management

Decide what the project will buy from outside, and how you will buy it.

Planning / Procurement · ← PMBOK reference · See it on the map

Why it matters

Deciding to buy something after the schedule already needs it leaves no time to shop around, and you end up paying more for less choice.

What done looks like

A procurement plan names what will be bought, from whom, and by when.

First time tip

Decide build-versus-buy for each item as early as possible. A late decision to buy forces a rushed purchase with far less negotiating room.

What you need (Inputs)

• Project Charter
• Business Case
• Project Management Plan
• Scope Baseline
  How Scrum/Kanban projects satisfy this — counted from: committed backlog items and definition-of-done items (models/agile.py) — a committed backlog (status ready/in_progress/done) plus a written definition of done is what an agile team baselines scope against
• Requirements Documentation
  How Scrum/Kanban projects satisfy this — counted from: backlog items (driftless/models/agile.py:BacklogItem) — a backlog item's description IS its requirement statement; present once any item has one, healthy once every item does
• Risk Register
• Enterprise Environmental Factors
• Organizational Process Assets

How you do it (Tools & Techniques)

• Expert Judgment
• Data Gathering
• Data Analysis
• Source Selection Analysis
• Make-or-Buy Analysis
• Meetings

What you get (Outputs)

• Procurement Management Plan
• Procurement Strategy
• Bid Documents
• Procurement Statement of Work
• Source Selection Criteria
• Independent Cost Estimates

Worked example

The renovation buys the shelving and the contractor's crew, while the library's own volunteers do the painting prep. Settling that in January is what leaves time to get three shelving quotes before the May delivery slot has to be booked.

Common pitfalls

• Deciding to buy something in the week the schedule already needs it delivered.
• Planning what to buy without checking what the organization is required to tender.
• Leaving who signs the agreement unsettled until a seller is waiting on it.

How driftless helps

• Source Selection Analysis can be run here.
• Make-or-Buy Analysis can be run here.
• Meetings can be run here.
• Procurement Management Plan can be created in the wizard.