3. Project Management

Project Management is critical to the success of any procurement process.   Thanet District Council has a Project Management Guide.

This ‘toolkit’ draws on many areas of good practice that already exist across Thanet Council and seeks to provide a practical reference point for managers and staff embarking on large projects and sets out the ‘standard’ by which projects will be run.

The templates contained within the guide are as follows:

• Project Brief with guidance notes
• Business Case with guidance notes
• Action Plan
• Risk Assessment
• Change Control log
• Post Project Review

All Projects and Contracts must comply with legislation, Contract Standing Orders and the Council’s Financial Code.  For further information see Thanet District Council Constitution 

Depending of the complexity of your project, you will need to identify a Project Sponsor – normally a Head of Service and a Project Board that will oversee the progress and process of the project.
 
A Project Manager will need to be nominated.  His/her role will be to monitor the day-to-day progress and management of the project.  (See Figure A – Project Organisation).
 
Roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined and agreed so that everyone knows what they have to do and when.  The stages of the procurement should be set out with clear milestones and expectations of what is to be done at each stage.  People with appropriate skills and experience should be assigned to project roles; resources and timescales determined at the outset.

Figure A – Project Organisation*

Figure A is a typical structure for a project organisation, with key roles and reporting lines between the roles. *IDEA – Procurement Essentials.

Procurement Management - In order to take forward the Council’s Procurement and Value for Money Programme the Strategic Procurement Group will be working towards producing a procurement ‘toolkit’ which will incorporate as appropriate the Project Management Guidance to give structure and set a standard specific to procurement projects.  In the meantime, you are advised to follow the procurement cycle as laid down in Chapter 6 incorporating where appropriate, processes as given in the Project Management Guidance.

Next: Options Appraisal

• Introduction
• Regulatory Framework
• Project Management
• Options Appraisal
• Code of Conduct for Employees and Councillors
• Preparing to Purchase
• Kent Authorities' Contract Standing Orders and Purchasing Guide at Thanet
• Collaborative and Partnership Working
• Pre-qualification and Accreditation
• EC Procurement Regulations
• Standard Contract Documentation
• e-Procurement
• Sustainability and Best Value

E-mail: contracts@thanet.gov.uk

Tel: 01843 577111