I am pleased to present my bid to serve as your project manager. With over fourteen years experience in business and IT project management, I have acquired, developed and refined the tools and methodologies to help my clients effectively ensure the successful delivery their technology initiatives. I have broad experience in technology project management, client engagement, requirements management, and process engineering and I will apply these to your project to guarantee complete visibility and a project on budget, on schedule, and on quality delivery.
I guarantee success by starting all projects with a first step that I call Milestone Zero(TM) – the work that defines success and removes ambiguity for a technology project before work begins – then managing to that success throughout the project. I will conduct discussions with you and review project collateral, then provide a preliminary project plan incorporating your requirements and methodologies. This project plan will include the work breakdown structure, schedule, communication and risk management plans, and roles and responsibilities. As I will base this management plan on mature processes and templates that I have developed over the years, this will not be an overly complex effort. On the other hand, matching my best practices with your best technologies will require some tailoring. My bid is for compilation of Milestone Zero for both your web-based solution and your stand-alone software solution. To better manage project risks, I propose a base contract of establishing Milestone Zero plus project kick-off for your two initiatives, at the end of which you will have a comprehensive solution delivery path defined and ready to execute. Should you exercise Option 1, I will manage the development of both solutions through their respective software development lifecycles as contract options (not included in the base).
My hourly bill rate for work following Milestone Zero – to be negotiated between you and I before any work begins - will include the ongoing managing project tasks and deliverables, identifying and managing risks and dependencies, liaising with and engaging client and stakeholders, and managing the technology delivery from the point of requirements definition to product implementation.
You mention that me bringing my own development team is desirable. I certainly can bring these resources in through subcontracts to my company, or – if you prefer – I can solicit, identify and manage them as a subcontract to your company. You also mention a variety of Project Management and PMO expertise. I have established PMOs for no less than three large programs and operated at the top of or within multiple PMOs for projects ranging from hardware and software initiatives to system-of-systems Federal government projects exceeding $100M. I will bring the program and project maturity you require for your projects, including the program libraries and methodologies identified as best practice. For your reporting requirements, I would like to send you a copy of my Launch PAD (Project Assessment Dashboard) that I have developed and commonly use for weekly reporting. This provides a detailed weekly and historical status on every aspect of the project. Additionally, I typically conduct daily team meetings with the client and team leaders (for coding, quality, testing, etc.). Finally, I am fully accessible from 5:30 AM to well into the evening every day via cell phone and Skype (BryantOnline), and I commonly travel to client sites for my projects.
I am flexible and willing to do what it takes to create the success you require for your solution, and I look forward to the opportunity of working with you. I thank you in advance for your consideration. Please note that I am a project management expert with technical hands-on experience in a wide variety of technologies.
Milestone Zero – The Critical First Step: Most technology initiatives are more than just producing code. They are about equipping you to take your business initiatives to the next level. Much like developing a business plan prior to investing in a new venture, Milestone Zero serves as the critical underpinning of the entire project. This phase is necessary in order to build an effective solution to meet your current and future needs.
During Milestone Zero I will produce a comprehensive project management plan, including risk management, communication management, scope and change management, and deliverable management strategies. Milestone Zero will also include the definition of success, in both business and technical terms, and will include a requirements traceability matrix (RTM) designed to track business needs to technical requirements.
This proposal and the term/definition of Milestone Zero are separately copyright and trademark material respectively of the bidder.