PROJECT MANAGEMENT 101 AT WESTON & SAMPSON
MODULE 2 · WEEK 1
Test the Scope Language
The Town of Millbrook ranked Weston & Sampson first for the Cypress Landing East Public Utilities Renewal. The solicitation follows a qualifications based process, so the Town negotiates the scope and the fee with the first ranked firm.
Before that negotiation, the proposal team sent eight sentences for the scope of services. Some came from the proposal approach and some from an early scope draft.
How many of the eight sentences can go into the agreement as written?
What is given
The eight sentences, in the order the proposal team sent them.
- D5. Weston & Sampson must secure all required permits by the 100 percent design submittal.
- D1. Our team will deliver a best in class, resilient design for Cypress Landing East.
- D8. Weston & Sampson will provide Quality Level A subsurface utility locates within the project corridors.
- D3. Progress meetings will be attended with Town staff as needed.
- D7. Weston & Sampson will develop three seawall concept designs that meet year 2090 tailwater conditions.
- D2. Weston & Sampson brings experience from similar coastal utility renewal projects.
- D6. Weston & Sampson will assist the Town with public engagement.
- D4. WSE will prepare the Preliminary Engineering Report within 90 calendar days of the Notice to Proceed.
Every solicitation passage a step uses is quoted inside that step.
Four steps. Each one is a single selection or a single number.
Step 1Separating the approach from the scope
Written Lesson, Section 2.1.2
An approach is the proposal content that explains how our firm will solve the client’s problem. It answers one question for the selection committee: why this firm.
A scope of services is the statement of the work, the deliverables, the quantities, and the limits our firm commits to under the agreement. It answers what the client is buying.
Two of the eight sentences carry persuasive language from the approach. They tell the selection committee why our firm should be chosen, and they state no work, deliverable, or quantity.
Which two sentences are approach language?
One selection. The page marks it at once and shows the model answer.
D1 promises a best in class, resilient design. It names no work, no deliverable, and no quantity, and it argues for the firm. D2 states experience. Neither sentence commits our firm to anything a client could measure, so neither one belongs in the agreement. The scope of services is written from the other six.
Step 2Applying the mandatory writing standards
Written Lesson, Sections 2.1.4.1 to 2.1.4.4
The company name is written as Weston & Sampson, in full, in every sentence of a scope of services where it appears. It shall not be shortened to an acronym or an ampersand form.
Every scope sentence is written in active voice.
Must does not appear in a scope of services. Will is used for commitments Weston & Sampson makes, and shall for requirements placed on the design.
Five words and phrases stay out of a scope of services because they leave the amount of work open to interpretation: all, but not limited to, as directed, is common practice in the industry, and subject to approval.
“Attend progress meetings with Town staff as needed.” “Attend public information meetings with Town staff as needed.”
Sentence D3 reads: Progress meetings will be attended with Town staff as needed. The passage above is where the proposal team took it from.
Which mandatory standard does sentence D3 break?
One selection. The page marks it at once and shows the model answer.
Meetings will be attended. The sentence has no performer, so the client cannot tell who attends. Rewritten in active voice, with the performing party first:
Weston & Sampson will attend progress meetings with Town staff as needed.
The standard is met. The sentence still carries as needed, which is a different defect. A missing count, duration, or limit is what Step 3 tests for.
Step 3Testing a sentence with the SAFER filter
Written Lesson, Section 2.1.5
S, Specific. Does the sentence state what our firm delivers, with quantities, names, and periods of time?
A, Assumptions. Is each condition the team inferred written down as an assumption?
F, Finite. Does each commitment state where it ends?
E, Exclusions. Does the passage state the work that falls outside it?
R, Responsibility. Does each sentence name the party that performs the work?
“Provide Quality Level A Subsurface Utility Excavation (SUE) locates to identify alignment and depth of underground utility lines within the corridor.”
The solicitation states no corridor length and no number of test holes.
Sentence D8 reads: Weston & Sampson will provide Quality Level A subsurface utility locates within the project corridors. It meets all four writing standards.
Which SAFER question does sentence D8 still fail?
One selection. The page marks it at once and shows the model answer.
The solicitation states no corridor length and no number of test holes, and the sentence repeats that silence. Quality Level A locates cost a test hole each, so a sentence with no count commits our firm to an unlimited number of them at a fixed fee.
The count is our firm’s to state. In Lesson 2.3 the agreement carries it: Weston & Sampson will request a utility markout and will perform Quality Level A subsurface utility locates at 40 test hole locations within the project corridors.
Step 4The count
Written Lesson, Sections 2.1.4 and 2.1.5
Two sentences are approach language. Of the six scope sentences, each one either breaks a writing standard, fails a SAFER question, or both. The table below the answer shows every sentence with its defect and the solicitation passage behind it.
How many of the eight sentences can go into the agreement as written?
Two tries. After the second the page shows the worked solution.
None. Two are approach language, and each of the six scope sentences carries at least one defect.
| Sentence | As written | What it fails |
|---|---|---|
| D1 | Our team will deliver a best in class, resilient design for Cypress Landing East. | Approach language. No work, deliverable, or quantity. |
| D2 | Weston & Sampson brings experience from similar coastal utility renewal projects. | Approach language. |
| D3 | Progress meetings will be attended with Town staff as needed. | Active voice. Then Finite: as needed has no end. |
| D4 | WSE will prepare the Preliminary Engineering Report within 90 calendar days of the Notice to Proceed. | Company name. Written as Weston & Sampson, it passes SAFER. |
| D5 | Weston & Sampson must secure all required permits by the 100 percent design submittal. | Must, and all. Then Specific, Assumptions, Finite, and Exclusions: no agencies named, no number of rounds, no statement of what happens if an agency is slow. |
| D6 | Weston & Sampson will assist the Town with public engagement. | Specific and Finite. Assist names no deliverable and no end. |
| D7 | Weston & Sampson will develop three seawall concept designs that meet year 2090 tailwater conditions. | Exclusions. The solicitation excludes perimeter replacement and individual property design, and the sentence is silent on both. |
| D8 | Weston & Sampson will provide Quality Level A subsurface utility locates within the project corridors. | Finite. No test hole count. |
The passages behind D4, D5, and D7:
“CONSULTANT shall prepare a Preliminary Engineering Report outlining the basis of design for the improvement proposed for the Project, including design alternates, within 90 calendar days.”
“Prepare and submit all required permits applications and secure permits by the 100% Design submittal, included but not limited to permits for FDEP and SWFWMD.” “All permit fees will be paid by the Town.”
“The CONSULTANT will develop at least three (3) different concept designs for seawalls … matching tailwater conditions in the year 2090 … Neighborhood perimeter seawall replacement is not included. However, seawall engineering and construction design for individual homes and/or properties are not included in this scope.”
The answer
This section fills in when every step above is answered.
0 of 8. The two approach sentences come out. The six scope sentences go back through the four standards and the SAFER filter before the Town reads them. D4 needs one word changed. D3, D5, and D7 leave a commitment open, and Lesson 2.2 closes them.
If time will be allocated to a task, the task shall be quantifiable. A count, a duration, and a named participant turn an intention into a commitment both parties can measure.
The project manager applies the four standards and SAFER after a draft exists and before the client reads it. A sentence that fails on the page costs a review. A sentence that fails in the agreement costs the fee.