Many organizations are comfortable using a Time and Materials approach to buying consulting services. This presentation describes Fixed Fee as a procurement option.
2. Fixed Fee vs. Time and Materials
Fixed Fee (or fixed bid) is a procurement method where:
The buyer agrees to purchase deliverables from the seller (e.g., MomentumSI)
for a specific price.
The buyer and seller have agreed on the deliverables upfront, and described it
in the contract (e.g., a requirements document or specification)
Changes/clarifications to the specifications create additional contracts called
Change Orders that expand the scope, time and dollars.
Buyer can NOT mandate ‘how’ deliverables are created (methodology,
practices, team members, roles, status reporting, tools, etc.)
Time and Material (T&M) is a procurement method where:
The buyer procures an allotment of hours from the seller. No guarantees are
made on delivery other than ‘qualified personnel’.
Buyer can mandate ‘how’ deliverables are created (methodology, practices,
team members, roles, status reporting, tools, etc.)
July 22, 2014 Confidential
3. Fixed *
Fixed Fee = the price is predetermined
Fixed Calendar = the delivery date is predetermined
Fixed Quality = the number of acceptable errors/omissions is
predetermined
Fixed Functionality = the functionality of the system is predetermined
Fixed Constraints = certain rules must be followed in the delivery
(e.g., use certain technologies, styles, etc.)
When people use the term ‘Fixed Fee’ they often are referring to a
combination of (Fee, Calendar, Quality, Functionality and Constraints)
The details are specified in the contract.
July 22, 2014 Confidential
4. Black Box Delivery
Fixed Fee Delivery is a Black Box approach:
Seller identifies the staff they’ll use. This includes the number of people, their
location, their expertise, their roles on the project, etc.
Buyer has no say in ‘how’ the seller produces the deliverables, other than items
pre-identified in the ‘Fixed Constraints’ portion of the contract.
Example: Gasoline
Buyer purchases gas at a gas station for a specific price.
Buyer isn’t involved in the drilling for oil, the production, shipping, etc.
Example: Hamburger
Buyer purchases hamburger from a restaurant for a specific price
Buyer isn’t in the kitchen telling the chef how to cook it, giving ideas on the
ingredients or asking for status reports
July 22, 2014 Confidential
5. Black Box Delivery
July 22, 2014 Confidential
Buyer
Liaison Liaison
Seller
Requirements & Conditions
Deliverables
PM’s, Engineers, Testers,
Authors, SME’s, …
Product Managers,
Business Analysts, SME’s,
Acceptance Testers, …
Changes & Clarifications
Change Orders
Revised Deliverables
Bug / Issue Reports
Revised Deliverables
The buyer liaison acts as the gateway
for scope changes, clarifications,
scheduling acceptance tests, ...
The seller liaison acts as the gateway
for ensuring change orders are done,
deliverables are sent, milestone plans
are sent, ...Milestone Updates
6. Formal Documents
July 22, 2014 Confidential
Master Service Agreement (MSA). A legal document holding the contractual terms between buyer and seller,
including payment terms, jurisdiction, liability, confidentiality, etc.
Statement of Work (SoW). A legal document describing the terms for a specific piece of work including the
price and schedule, often referencing a specification for the details on functionality.
Change Order. A legal document describing changes requested by the buyer to the seller for a fixed fee
contract. Examples include: changes in features, changes in SLA’s, changes in timeline, changes in approach.
System Specification. One or more documents that fully describe the system functionality, features and
behavior under specific conditions such as number of users, response time, deployment hardware/OS, etc.
Request for Clarification. A formal request from seller to buyer asking for clarification on the System Specification.
Clarification requests are written requests, but may turn into interactive meetings to expedite communications.
Specification Update. A specification update is a deliverable that supersedes the original specification based on a
‘request for clarification’. Buyer and Seller Liaisons approve updates and generate Change Orders.
Milestone Drop and Update. A milestone drop is the delivery of any functionality that is available for review or
acceptance testing on a pre-determined date. Milestone updates are status updates provided on pre-agreed dates.
Bug and Issue Reports. Bug/Issue Reports are generated by the Buyer and sent to the Seller within predetermined
time windows. The reports indicate areas where the Buyer believes the system does not meet specification.
7. Initiating a Fixed Fee Project
Buyer Team holds an internal meeting focused on how they’ll deliver
requirements, provide clarifications, approve change orders, accept delivery
drops and issue bug reports
Seller Team holds an internal meeting focused on how they’ll organize the
delivery, report status, validate quality, resolve bugs, etc.
Kick off meeting!
Attendees: Buyer and Seller Liaison ONLY
Review the delivery process
Emphasis placed on buyer/seller rules of interaction
How are changes handled?
How are clarifications handled?
When are the milestones? What will be delivered at each one?
July 22, 2014 Confidential