Project Management

       LAUREATE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES

Subject Title : Contracts and Procurement
Subject code : PROJ6004

Context:

General

Procurement and contracts are integral to successful project management. Planning for purchases and acquisitions, requests for proposal, vendor selection, contract administration, and contract closure are integral parts of the process. Learning from Case Studies and benchmarking against better practices, standards and excellence is vital to understand complexity of issues and successful strategies for procurement and contract management. It will also ensure improved responsiveness to key issues, promote supplier-client relationships through proactive management of risks and ultimately deliver higher level of focus on performance-based outcomes.

Specific (Assessment 1 Context)

Assessment 1 is about uncovering complexities in the procurement context generally, identifying key issues, looking at leadership, governance and key themes that will allow improved focus, reflection and learning.

Assessment 1 - Individual Report (overall 2,400 Words) based on review Case Study (new Royal Adelaide Hospital AG Report) and other module Learning Resources.

Students are encouraged to look at the Essential and Highly Recommended Learning

Resources and other public documents associated with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. However, a careful thorough review of the South Australian Auditor General Report for 2015 is required to understand the contracts and procurement issues that have arisen during the execution of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital project, ongoing risks mitigations and lessons learnt that can be applied to other large infrastructure projects. Assessment 1 aims to encourage a deeper understanding of the challenges faced in large complex projects – particularly with procurement methods that involve private-sector finance to deliver complex projects – which is a significant method of procurement because it can mobilise global financial and procurement capability to innovatively build public infrastructure and facilities to meet the needs of the growing population.

Students are also encouraged to understand and explore the related organisational issues, stakeholders and the funding and finance aspects associated with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital project.

Instructions:

Assessment 1 is designed around the review of a Case Study from a current large-scale public private partnership hospital project that aims to create a modern health-care facility in South Australia. This assessment comprises of four parts:

Part A: 600 Words Introduction summarising the procurement context (life cycle journey and where the project is currently), uncover complexities (and key issues), discuss project environment and organisation aspects, leadership and governance and how that has influenced the current situation.

Part B: 700 Words Identify key risks, mitigations and possible learnings. Where learnings have wider implications, identify how those learnings may require changes to roles and responsibilities of key project resources, changes to procurement briefs or specifications, scope and the procurement process itself. Identify dependencies and common themes.

Part C: 600 Words – Summary of key findings and also identify best practices for procurement and contracts management (in particular PPP procurement) and explore roles of project and procurement managers in ensuring successful delivery.

Part D: Nominal word limit of 500 words. The Reflection Journal summarises the student’s ideas and thoughts and key aspects pertaining to Module 1 and Module 2 including any key aspects picked-up as a result of the review of the Essential and Highly Recommended Learning Resources and critical self-assessment of how some aspects may apply to student’s current or future roles.

Important Note: The research effort put-in by students in Assessment 1 is vital input for Assessment 2 and Assessment 3 as it will provide actionable information for better participation in the discussion board as well as within Groups.

It is recommended that students Reflection Journal also cover some of the topics below – which will help students for Assessment 2:

Typical procurement and financial risks require to be managed for complex projects; Specific financial risks that remain for the nRAH project to completion (use initiative and judgement);Possible mitigation actions and how these relate to better practice guidelines

published by State Procurement Board of South Australia;

     Areas for further vendor negotiations and management - to achieve successful

contract completion.

     Areas of key accountability for Project Manager and Procurement Manager to

facilitate successful outcomes;

     Areas performance-based contracting and its application to nRAH contract

management or completions effort generally;

     Possible Issues that can be considered by the Group/Team for Group Report or

Group Presentation;

Possible team/group behaviours that the individuals will display to develop the Group Report or Group Presentation.

In considering the above, please be mindful of, and reflect on, the findings and the lessons learnt from the case study and how they can be applied in your own personal development and professional career. Record these in your Reflection Journal and also highlight any specific instances where your strengths and limitations as a project manager or manager have been identified.

Learning Activities and Output:

The learning process will involve the deconstruction of the case study material to answer questions, examine lessons learnt and highlight issues for further discussion. You will be encouraged to reflect on your case study findings in order to identify contracts and procurement management best practices which can be applied in the future to significant projects that you may lead as project manager or oversee in a senior role.

Learning output will be a Report Format for Assessment 1 - using the Instructions noted above.

Learning Resources:

Resource on APA style:

The URL/page for the TUA referencing guides is http://onlinelibrary.tua.edu.au/skills/referencing

Resource on report writing:

Victoria University of Wellington (2013). How to write a business report. School of Marketing and Internal Business and Student Learning Support Service, Wellington, New Zealand. http://www.victoria.ac.nz/vbs/teaching/publications/VBS-report-writing-guide-2013-July.pdf

Resource on writing case study reports:

Monash University (2015). Case study report (sample). Learning Support, Language and Learning Online, Melbourne, Australia. http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/report/1.xml

Refer to the subject planner and Modules 1 and 2 for other learning resources specific to Assessment 1.

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