From The Creators Of The FAR Bootcamp®
Statements of Work (SOWs) and Performance Work Statements (PWSs) are those parts of service contracts that specify the services to be rendered. SOWs and PWSs are notoriously difficult to organize and write, in large measure (1) because services results are often intangible and difficult to describe and (2) requirements and contracting personnel receive little in the way of formal instruction in their nature and preparation.
In this 3-day course attendees are introduced to (a) the nature and the elements of services and the various forms they take, (b) the nature of a service “requirement”, (c) how to analyze service requirements, (d) when to use a SOW and when to use a PWS, and (d) how to write and modify SOWs and PWSs.
Attendees will be provided with templates and samples and given practice writing assignments.
Course Content
- What is a service?
- What are the basic elements of a service?
- What is a service result/outcome?
- What is a service requirement?
- The concept of “scope”
- What are the forms of services?
- Jobs
- Projects
- Programs
- Operations
- What are the challenges of services?
- Indefiniteness and intangibility
- Heterogeneity and irreproducibility
- People
- Quality control and assurance
- Styles of service contracts
- Command style
- Relational style
- What is a service “task”?
- Definition of task
- What is a process?
- What is a procedure?
- What is a technique?
- Contract design and the place of the SOW or PWS
- Uniform Contract Format
- Commercial Items Format
- Contract line items
- Contract attachments and exhibits
- Contract line items and the SOW/PWS
- Provisions, clauses, and the SOW/PWS
- Writing SOWs and PWSs
- The difference between SOWs and PWSs
- General dos and don’ts
- Envisioning the work? processes, procedures, and techniques
- What are the parts of a SOW or PWS?
- Formatting the SOW or PWS
- Tasks and subtasks
- The basic structure of a task statement
- Special task structures
- Common mistakes
- Vagueness and ambiguity
- Use of shall, must, may, and will
- Use of terms of art and special terms
- Words and phrases to avoid
- How to specify “data” and reports
And more:
Regulations and official guidance ● Unofficial sources of guidance ● Who writes the SOW or PWS? ● Guidelines for legal interpretation of SOWs and PWSs ● Guidelines for writing definitions in SOWs and PWSs ● Guidelines for incorporating regulations and standards into SOWs and PWSs ● How to write modifications of SOWs and PWSs ● Using Statements of Objectives
The course is three days long, from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., each day.