PROJECT MANAGEMENT 101 AT WESTON & SAMPSON
MODULE 2 · WEEK 2
Close the Gaps in the Scope
The Town of Millbrook is negotiating the scope and the fee with Weston & Sampson as the first ranked firm. Three sentences in the draft scope of services cover progress meetings, permits, and seawall concept designs, and each one leaves a commitment open.
What must the scope state about these three items before our firm signs?
What is given
Three sentences from Interactive Lesson 2.1 failed the SAFER filter. The writing standards in each one are repaired, and the commitment is still open.
- D3. Weston & Sampson will attend progress meetings with Town staff as needed. It failed Finite.
- D5. Weston & Sampson will prepare and submit permit applications and will secure permits by the 100 percent design submittal. It failed Specific, Assumptions, Finite, and Exclusions.
- D7. Weston & Sampson will develop three seawall concept designs that meet year 2090 tailwater conditions. It failed Exclusions.
Every solicitation passage a step uses is quoted inside that step.
Four steps. Each one is a single selection.
Step 1Sorting what the scope does not say
Written Lesson, Section 2.2.2
Confirmed, meaning a named source states it, such as the solicitation, a client document, or written correspondence from the client.
Inferred, meaning the team drew it from experience or from a comparable project.
Unknown, meaning no evidence exists that the team can name.
“Attend progress meetings with Town staff as needed.” “Attend public information meetings with Town staff as needed.”
“A Bi-weekly progress meeting must be conducted. A firm day and time will be established for all progress meetings. … Agendas will be submitted to the project delivery team at least two (2) days prior to the meeting. Draft meeting summaries will be submitted to the team no more than two (2) working days following each meeting.”
Sentence D3 says as needed. Behind it sits the statement: progress meetings occur every two weeks.
Which basket does the meeting frequency belong in?
One selection. The page marks it at once and shows the model answer.
Confirmed. Section D, item 1 states that a bi-weekly progress meeting must be conducted. A confirmed item enters the scope sentence as a number, a name, or a time frame, so the sentence can say every two weeks and cite its source.
Two other statements sit behind the same sentence. The design period of 14 months is inferred, because Section F asks the proposer for the schedule and states no duration. A meeting length of two hours with two staff attending is unknown, because no passage states either one. Step 2 resolves the first of those.
Step 2Resolving an inferred item
Written Lesson, Sections 2.2.2 and 2.2.3
A confirmed item enters the scope sentence as a number, a name, or a time frame. An inferred item goes to the client where the solicitation permits a question, and otherwise becomes an assumption. An unknown item goes to the client, another project manager, or a similar past scope, and otherwise becomes an assumption. Work outside the scope takes an exclusionary statement.
“It is the intent of the Town to issue a Notice to Proceed to the selected firm prior to February 1, 2027. Responses to this RFP shall include a schedule (in sufficient detail) identifying the various components of this design.”
The team inferred a design period of 14 months from comparable projects. The count of progress meetings depends on it: about 60 weeks at one meeting every two weeks is 30 meetings. The negotiation with the Town is open.
What does the project manager do with the 14 month design period?
One selection. The page marks it at once and shows the model answer.
Section F puts the schedule on the proposer, so the duration is our firm’s to state. An assumption fixes it and states what follows if it moves. Step 3 writes that assumption.
The unknown items behind the same sentence, two hours and two staff per meeting, are staffing decisions our firm makes. No party can answer them, so they enter the same assumption.
Step 3Writing the assumption
Written Lesson, Section 2.2.3
A written assumption holds three parts: the condition the scope depends on, the quantity that condition carries, and the result if the condition changes.
Weston & Sampson assumes the client will return one consolidated set of comments on each submittal within 15 working days. A longer review period will extend the design schedule and may require additional compensation.
A design period of 14 months is about 60 weeks. 60 weeks ÷ 2 weeks between meetings = 30 meetings.
Lesson 2.1 priced each unbudgeted meeting at $35 an hour of direct labor. At two staff for two hours, each meeting beyond the 30 in this assumption is 4 hours, or $140 of direct labor, that the fee does not cover.
Which of the three sentences is a complete assumption for the meetings?
One selection. The page marks it at once and shows the model answer.
The condition is the design period and the meeting frequency. The quantity is the count, the length, and the attendance the fee covers. The result names what follows when the Town asks for more. The quantity makes the assumption testable: meeting 31 is outside the fee, and both parties can count to 31.
The assumption appears beside the meetings task and again in the assumptions section that collects the conditions from every discipline.
Step 4Writing the exclusionary statement
Written Lesson, Section 2.2.4
Work Weston & Sampson will not perform. Work inside the project that our firm has chosen not to perform, so that the client knows to procure it elsewhere.
Work others perform. Work the project requires that a different party performs, including the client or the owner, with that party named.
Work excluded from the scope. Work a reasonable client could expect to find in the scope that the fee does not cover, with the result if that work becomes necessary.
“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.”
Sentence D7 commits our firm to three seawall concept designs. A homeowner on Cypress Landing East could reasonably expect the design of a seawall at the property line to follow.
Which exclusionary statement does the seawall sentence need?
One selection. The page marks it at once and shows the model answer.
Work excluded from the scope. The statement says what is not included and the result if it becomes necessary:
This scope excludes perimeter seawall replacement and seawall engineering or construction design for individual properties. Should the Town require either, additional compensation will be needed.
The However in Section B does not follow from the sentence before it, so the Town wrote something it did not mean or meant something it did not write. The exclusion holds until the Town answers, and the question goes to the Town in the negotiation.
The answer
This section fills in when every step above is answered.
Before our firm signs, the three sentences carry a number, an assumption, or an exclusion each.
D3. Weston & Sampson will attend progress meetings with Town staff every two weeks. Assumption: a design period of 14 months with one progress meeting every two weeks, for a total of 30 progress meetings, each two hours long, with two Weston & Sampson staff attending. Additional meetings will require additional compensation.
D5. Weston & Sampson will prepare and submit permit applications to FDEP and SWFWMD and will secure permits by the 100 percent design submittal. Assumption: permits are required from FDEP and SWFWMD only, with one round of permit applications to each agency and a review period of 90 days after each complete application. Permits required by other agencies, or additional rounds, will require additional compensation. The Town pays the permit fees.
D7. Weston & Sampson will develop three seawall concept designs that meet year 2090 tailwater conditions. Exclusion: this scope excludes perimeter seawall replacement and seawall engineering or construction design for individual properties. Should the Town require either, additional compensation will be needed.
“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.”
Three steps close an open sentence. List what the sentence does not say, sort each item as confirmed, inferred, or unknown, and resolve each one as a number in the sentence, an assumption, an exclusion, or a question to the client before the agreement is executed.
An assumption without a quantity cannot be tested. A scope without exclusions leaves the client to decide what was included.