When managing a project, the project manager will progress through a number of stages as he or she heads toward final project closure. It’s important to realise that closing of procurements is different to project closure although both share some commonalities and are therefore often confused.
What is closing of procurement?
The closing of procurement is the method by which each project procurement is closed and supports the closing of the project, and is sometimes called ‘contract closure’. The closing of procurement supports the project closure and happens when the procurement reaches its endpoint. This, of course, may occur at the end of a contract, or when the work associated with that particular procurement contract ends.
The project closure happens only once, whereas the closing of procurement(s) may happen multiple times during the project. In order for project closure to happen, the closing of procurement must have taken place.
Five closing of procurement activities that the project manager must do during project closure?
There are, of course, a number of things that the project manager must do during project closure and some of these are pertinent to the finalisation of procurement activities. For example, the project manager must:
- Conduct an evaluation of procurement planning
- Evaluate how the supplier selection process worked
- Assess the experience and training of the procurement team
- Resolve any outstanding contractual disputes
- Comprise a list of lessons learned and prepare to take these forward
The objectives of project closure
The project manager should expect a number of objectives to be achieved during project closure, chief among these is that the client will accept the project deliverables. The result of the project closure process is the successful delivery of the final product. If the closing of procurement activities is not completed (if not done so previously) and reviewed during the project closure, then the project cannot be fully completed and cannot be satisfactorily closed.
More importantly, lessons will not be learned and subsequent project processes will not improve.
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