CRIS, Rodanel Lee

Project Management

pp89-93

Case Study 1: Medical Information System

1. Why did this team not receive the RFP at the same time the larger consulting
firms did?
Pauls firm received the RFP on a later date because only knew one physician
from the large regional medical practice (LRMP). They do not know enough
doctors who could have presented the opportunity to them earlier. They have
no history with almost all the members of LRMP and it is a fact that
established relationship is a foundation for successful contract opportunities.
The bigger consulting firms received the RFPs two weeks earlier because
they already knew doctors who have worked for the organization longer and
who have inside knowledge of the ventures the organization will take. It is
also likely that some of these firms have also worked for other or more
doctors from the said organization. It is very important to have developed
relationships with potential clients long before the job opportunity arises or
before they prepare their RFPs because it opens up opportunities for new and
successful ventures.

2. Why is this team being considered as a candidate to submit a proposal?

Pauls team is being considered because of Dr. Housers recommendation. It
seems that Dr. Houser was very impressed with their services when they
worked for her. They have established trust which is very good in developing
effective and successful relationships between clients and suppliers.

3. Develop a bid/no bid checklist to help determine if they should submit a

proposal.
BID / NO BID CHECKLIST
Project Title:
Computer-based Information System UPGRADE
Customer:
Large Regional Medical Practice (LRMP)
Score each factor as high (H), medium (M), or low (L)
Scor
Factors
Comment
e
There are other large consulting firms bidding
for the project. They were informed of the
1. Competition
H
project earlier and were handed the RFP two
weeks earlier than Pauls firm.
Received the RFP 2 weeks later than the
2. Risk
H
competitors.

3. Consistent with
our mission

4. Opportunities to
extend our
capabilities

5. Reputation with
customer

6. Availability of
funds

7. Resources
available to
prepare quality
proposal

Computer-based info system for physicians is

our business.
Some of the requirements are similar to the
requirements of the physician clients. But the
scope is bigger with 6 regional offices and 2
pharmacies to be integrated. It is a huge jump
from private practice clients to regional practice
clients.
Have not serviced LRMP before.
Have only worked with one of their doctors
previously.
LRMP has funds budgeted to implement the
information system upgrade
Only Paul, Maggie and Steve works for the firm.
Maggie already has her hand full with 3 projects
with deadlines coming up and an unsatisfied
client. Paul and Steve will have to work on the
proposal without Maggie.

8. Resources
With the size of the project, they will have to
available to
L
hire part-time workers.
perform project
Advantages, strengths, or distinct capabilities:
specialize in providing services for physicians
already have a lot of experience working with doctors
know the nature and needs of the business; would help in preparing a clear
focused proposal
Our weaknesses:
only 3 people are working for the company
do not have enough people to prepare the proposal and to complete the
project

4. What should Maggie, Paul, and Steve do? In explaining your answer. Address
the concerns of each of the three team members.
They should not submit a proposal to LRMP because I strongly believe that
they cannot come up with high quality proposal and they will be turned down
eventually. Paul is correct when he said that this is a great opportunity for
their business but they simply do not have enough resources to prepare
quality proposal and they do not have resources available to perform the
project.
Maggie is swamped with 3 projects which have deadlines coming up. She also
has to deal with a demanding and unsatisfied client. It is better for their firm
to service their current clients with the undivided attention in order to satisfy
their requirements. Losing their existing clients will be detrimental for the firm
because of possible negative feedback to other doctors they are not yet
servicing. Their reputation as a good service provider will be tainted and their
chances of landing more clients may dramatically decline. The firm wont be

asked to respond to future RFPs from these clients and their friends. It is
important to keep the clients trust and to develop an effective and successful
relationship with them for contractors to be in a better position to win
contracts.
Steve is concerned that their resources are not enough to perform the project.
Paul admitted to their lack of personnel and proposed a plan of hiring parttime workers to help them with their clients. Contractors need to be sure that
the appropriate individuals within their firm will be available to work on the
project. Being awarded the contract but not having the appropriate resources
will decrease the chances of the project to be completed successfully and on
time in accordance to the contract. Clients will be very dissatisfied if this
happens. Since the firm do not have the staff, they must come up with a
proper plan for securing the resources needed to perform the project
successfully. This plan should also be presented to the client for transparency.
Without Maggie in the group to prepare the proposal is a huge setback for the
firm. They do not enough resources available to prepare a winning contract
and they still have to come up with a proper plan to secure additional
personnel. The firm should be realistic about their ability to prepare a quality
proposal and about the probability of winning a contract. A proposal is a
selling document and must be of sufficient quality to have a chance of
winning the contract. Proposals that promise too much or are overly
optimistic may be unbelievable to customers, and may raise doubts about
whether the contractor understands what needs to be done and how to do so.
Preparing a proposal for the sake of just submitting and not winning will not
be good for the firm. It is better to be honest with themselves and to the
client early on than to create a very bad first impression. The risk of losing
their current clients is very high if they push through with the proposal for
LRMP. And the competition is also though since they are against large
consulting companies. It is safe to assume that these other companies are
also used to working with physicians and have sufficient resources. What they
can do is to start developing relationship with the other physicians from LRMP
so that when these physicians decide to go on private practices, they will
have Pauls firm in mind for their information system needs.

Case Study 2: New Manufacturing Facility in China

1. Is there anything the team should have done when they received only three
proposals by June 30?
There are many reasons why they only received very few proposal: it could be
that their publicity of the RFP is not enough; the given time to come up with a
proposal is not enough; or that their requirements are unrealistic. They could

have gone back and review their RFP, extended the deadline, or publicized it
better.
They could have gone back to the management, explain what happened,
discuss the implications of receiving only three proposals, and ask for
deadline extension. If they wont be allowed an extension, then the team will
have to seek approval for them to proceed with the evaluation of proposals.
This is important to cover their tracks if ever they will be questions about it
afterwards. If anything goes wrong with the project and they can trace the
problem back to not having enough proposals to choose from, the team can
say that they have already recognized that issue and tried to address it but
the management gave them the go signal to proceed with evaluating only the
three proposals that came on time.

2. Should the team consider the proposal from Asia General Contractors? Why or
why not?
In principle, the team should not consider the proposal from Asia General
Contractors because it would be unfair to the other contractors who
submitted their proposals on time. It is also not a good practice if they still
consider the late proposal. It will reflect on their professionalism and
contractors may not take their deadlines seriously. The conflict arises because
of the fact that they only received 3 proposals out of expected 8. If the team
has strong business ethics and principles, they will still not consider the late
proposal. The proposal may have been a good one but if they let it pass, the
said contractor may disregard any other deadlines since they were able to get
pass through a deadline before.
But, in case they were able to extend the deadline formally, they could still
consider all proposals sent within the new deadline and this would include
Asia General Contractors.

3. After sharing their individual comments at the start of the July 15 meeting,
how should the team proceed with the rest of the meeting and any follow-up?
The purpose of the discussion is to present their individual opinion of the
different proposals. This would include the pros and cons of the proposals and
the implications to the project and to the company. After the discussion, the
members of the team should individually prepare a proposal evaluation
scorecard for every contractor. The scorecard will be used to review the
proposals in accordance to the company requirements and project objectives.
Tallied scores shall further guide the team in choosing which contractor to
award the contract.

I strongly disagree with simply going for the contractor with the highest
rating. I believe the scorecard just ranks the proposals and helps eliminate
the irrelevant ones from those that stand a chance of winning. With the help
of scorecards, project management teams can focus on and further evaluate
the relevant proposals. Then all team members should have to agree that the
top proposal is the winning proposal. If theres anyone disagreeing, the other
members must be able to persuade them. There must be a consensus within
all members of the team before coming up with a decision.
In the case of Alyshas team, they should come up with side by side
comparison of details of the proposals before filling up a scorecard. List down
the pros and cons of the proposals and their implications. Then they can
proceed with the evaluation using the scorecard and hopefully the whole
team agrees with the proposal that comes on top.
If they cannot agree on a proposal. Members should present other ideas to
resolve the issue. Like maybe extending the deadline or going back to their
selection criteria.

4. How could the selection process have been improved? Is there anything the
board, I. M. Uno, Alysha, or the team could have done differently?
There will always be rooms for improvement for the team. It could have been
better if the board, I.M. Uno, Alysha and the team had an alignment meeting
or an internal briefing to set objectives and clarify expectations and identify
priorities for the project. Would they prioritize building design and efficiency
versus cost? They may spend more for construction but they can save utility
expenses due to the buildings technology and design. Would they risk getting
a contractor that has a bad reputation just to complete the project on time or
get a renowned contractor who works slowly but surely? They should have
expected these situations to arise and they could have prepared for answers
earlier. Looking at their acceptance criteria, the company is vague in which
they value or prioritize as seen in the closeness of the weights. These details
are Alyshas responsibility and she could have taken these up with the board
or the president early on. The board and/or the president may have
overlooked at these factors but Alysha and her team could have pressed
them for answers while preparing the RFP.