The big day has arrived, the day when your client decides which of the competing bidders has won his new project. As project manager, you may or may not be the first to hear the news. Clients work differently. Sometimes a staff member of the client, or more than one, will “whisper” to his new counterpart in the auction company and sometimes complete protocol will be observed, with an official communication sent by the client contracts Manager your sales manager. Anyway, the Project Manager will be one of the first to hear the good news that your submission was judged the best and now the work begins in earnest.
Bearing in mind that much of the work of the Project Manager is the management of man, one of your first duties should be to organize a celebration for everyone who worked on the bid. This sign of appreciation will do wonders for the morale of staff and ensure that you have a team ready. Depending on the value of the project, this celebration could be a beer in a pub or a full meal grilled. Do not forget to include everyone or what will be the opposite of the desired effect. When you party, take this opportunity to commend the efforts of past and lay the future expectations.
At this early stage, your other important task is to ensure that someone is organizing your office. If you work for a large company that likes to co-locate staff to the project, you must ensure that someone is looking for space, storage and communication so that your staff can quickly locate and devote himself to making the project a success.
After the celebration (the same day, perhaps not such a good idea), call your first project meeting for members of your senior team. At this stage, it is unlikely that your company has actually signed the contract for this project when that happens, more work is needed. Your team must still examine the client’s documentation to ensure they are always saying the same thing as they did when you responded to the offer. It is not uncommon for a customer to try and sneak in some additional requirements when they think you do not look. You should also make sure that your answers to both the tender and all questions were included in the new documentation and the plan to pay the price, a technical solution and the rest have been found .
As long as all documentation is in order, it is common practice to go ahead with the project even without the benefit of a signed contract. Often, the client has sent a formal investigation to proceed basic agreement as the price. You’ll probably need to obtain funding for this project signed by the chief financial people in your organization, allowing you to move jobs and that is where the next article we will.
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