Problems with Equipment Procurement and Contract Terms

Project Management is the process of planning, organizing, executing and managing a project, thus delivering a solution that fulfils all the clients’ requirements. The disputes in project management of the Wi-Fi reach project is elaborately discussed in this report. The report also reflects on the deficiency in creating an apt project planning that would produce a undisrupted execution of the project. National Health Authority (NHA) is a public figure authority responsible for the healthcare of the people of United Kingdom. The existing system used by the hospitals and medical centres under NHA used a paper-based approach to information sharing that consumed a proportionate of time. Facilities for communication through email and basic access to the Internet were some of the fundamental objectives of the project. However, digitalizing such a system had its drawbacks. A definite training regime needs to be developed to accurately provision the shift from a paper-backed approach of storing and sharing data to that of a digital media. The Wi-Fi reach project was commenced by Medical Innovations Limited (MIL) to supply the crucial equipment and the required project management for the successful completion of the project. The reasons for the delay in the project is elaborated in reference to poor project management and the absence of a well-developed list of contract terms. An action plan is recommended in the report that would assist in developing the best methods for completing the project. Some recommendations are provided that would address the problems and incorporate the appropriate solutions for them. 

The following are some problems with equipment procurement and the contract between NHA and MIL that were identified from the case study:

• The project was overdue due to a delay in the completion of the Pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQs) phase (De Silva and Hubbard 2016). The PQQ phase is significant as it is utilized by companies of different industries that helps them to shortlist suppliers for inviting them to different tender participation procedure. The MIL needed to shortlist suppliers for the procurement of the required equipment. Any delay in the procurement phase would cause a drastic delay in the execution phase of the project. The precise choice of the supplier is of paramount importance as the quality of the equipment is dependent on it. The project is of utmost significance, as it will provide an upgraded database and communication system between the medical sector of UK. Thus, the selection of the list of suppliers took more time than originally anticipated. This shows a lack of understanding of the project during the planning phase of the project.
• There was also disruption while setting up the Wi-Fi network as the software required for connectivity needed to be customized to fulfil the requirements of the hospitals and the medical centres. This customization took more time than predicted. The project manager failed to provide a comprehensive time analysis of the project and as a result, there was underestimation of the time required for the project. The time required for software customization should have been projected during the planning phase. Rather it was encountered and resolved in the project execution phase.
• It was planned that one hospital per month and two medical centres per week would be covered by the Wi-Fi project. However, during the execution phase, in five months, three hospitals and twenty-four medical centres could only be implemented with Wi-Fi. The reason specified by the project manager was that the project network engineer became sick that created in the delay in setting up the equipment. The hospital and the medical centre staff were also not cooperating with the technicians who visited the premises. This shows an absence of risk management planning by the project manager. Risk management is an important characteristic of every project and the project managers must be adept at planning and handling risks (McNeil, Frey and Embrechts 2015). The project manager should have also fixated condition of the project team rather than just obtaining the equipment. Thus, there was time overrun, which is a breach of contract.
• MIL was required to provide the necessary training to the doctors and the staff of the hospital along with the health centres as a part of the contract. However, during the planning phase, no such training regime was developed for the doctors. The staff complained that the training was deficient in fulfilling the their requirement sof understanding the implemented technology. The training that was provided only offered the staff an overview of the freshly implemented technology. A detailed training was however essential to effectively use the system for increasing productivity. With the right training, the implemented system can be used to rapidly increment the prominence of the medical treatments provided by the hospitals and the health centres.

The Wi-Fi implementation project was categorized as a fixed price contract between the NHA and the MIL. The project included the following objectives:

• All the hospitals and the medical centres under the NHA were to be implemented with email facilities and access to the Internet through the wireless medium. The medical staff needs access to these facilities for better and faster care. Email can be used for faster communication between different departments of a hospital or even between different hospitals and medical centres. Exchange of information is thus simplified through the help of the electronic medium. Internet access can be used for better knowledge input during medical care taking. The Internet is a great source of knowledge. Many great articles provide information on medical care and different perspectives of doctors and health care professionals located across the world.
• Patient records must be transferrable electronically for better medical care. The doctors in the local medical centres might be treating patients who have already been once treated in a multi-specialty hospital. In such cases, the doctors at the LMC can request for patient records from the hospitals. Secure and high-speed transfer of patient records is conducted through electronic medium. These records can then be used for providing quality medical care as most of the errors in medical treatment is instigated due to lack of patient health records during the time of treatment.
• Implementation of a centralized diagnosis system is beneficial for the health care industry as the knowledge and expertise of all the medical experts can be pooled in one place that can be used by other health care professionals for providing better medical treatment. Having the most updated medical knowledge and receiving it straight from the experts will preserve the quality of the knowledge.

The objectives of the project should have included some additional information regarding the terms of service of MIL. This type of contract must not be a fixed price contract, as the training services provided must be charged in accordance to the current needs of the staff. A fixed price means that in the event of increase in operational cost, the company will definitely try to apply cost-cutting approaches. This would reduce the quality of the service. The contract must have been such that the equipment procurement could be fixed priced but the training service provided by MIL must be priced at different stages of the project execution. There might be some problem with the critical units of the workforce and a need to outsource some services might take place. The project network engineer was sick for some time that delayed the project. This could have been easily avoided by outsourcing the position to external companies but as the contract was fixed price, the job position could not be outsourced. The training personnel also provided poor training to the medical staff. This shows that the company started to implement cost-cutting policies while providing training. It may also happen that the training personnel sent by MIL was underqualified to provide the necessary training to the medical staff. The training process could have been outsourced to other companies for better training implementation.

The following action plan can be used for the implementation of a better project management.

Area of Focus	Specific Actions	Timeframe for Implementation	Person Responsible	Measuring the Progress Update
Project Management Process	The planning phase must be iterative in nature. This would create chances to upgrade the plan when needed. During the execution of the project, different problems arises and a successful planning needs to be implemented for better risk management (McNeil, Frey and Embrechts 2015).	An initial part of the plan can be developed within 28/1/2018. The plan can be developed further over a period of eleven months. The final set of plans will be developed by 28/12/2018.	The project manager should be actively responsible for the planning phase. This phase should be given importance as the success of the execution phase depends on it.	The planning phase would be complete with the completion of the project execution phase in this form of iterative style project management.
Project Management Process	Developing a proper project budget. An efficient budgeting is important as without a proper budget the company might be focussed on cost cutting for different vital operations.	This process should finished by 14/2/2018, depending on the complexity of the risk management plans. A huge number of intra and inter departmental meetings will take place in this phase. Meetings will also be conducted with the government’s representatives (McNeil, Frey and Embrechts 2015).	The project manager along with the finance department and the human resources department of the company is responsible for the development of the budget for the project. The project manager is primarily responsible for outlining the technical aspects of the project along with providing a risk assessment. The human resources department is responsible for providing an overview of the project team that needs to implemented. The finance team then uses all the information to develop the most appropriate budget for the project. They analyse all the available information and then provide the necessary solution.	The budget must encompass all the necessary aspects of the project so that there is no problem in funding. Every successfully completed part of the project without using any cost-cutting method would imply successful budget planning.
Project Management Process	The standards of the project must be defined and adhered to. The quality of the project depends on the standards that were designated at the beginning of the project. These standards are mere guidelines that the project team needs to follow for effective project execution. Thus delivering the project with the expected standards.	This part of the project should be completed by 2/3/2018. Successive meetings will decide the standards of the project. The assured quality is interpreted in terms of project quality to deliver it to the client.	The project manager and the project team along with the government officials are responsible for overseeing that this phase of the project is completed without any error. Quality control is an important issue in most organizations and since this is the first time NHA is working with MIL, it will be tough figuring out the base line for quality.	A set quality report will be helpful in setting the benchmark for the quality assurance. Successful meetings could be identified by a mutual agreement on both side of the parties.
Workforce Allocation Process	The workforce needed for successful completion of the project must be estimated keeping in mind the risk management report provided by the project manager. The project team would consist of a project manager, project administrator, network engineer and two network technicians. However, additional network engineers and technicians should be prepared for deployment in case of any sickness or accidents.	The workforce needed for the project must be decided by 9/3/2018. The backup team can be created by 16/3/2018, in case the original team cannot finish the work in time.	The Human Resource department is responsible for the selection of the project manager. Then the HR team along with the project manager would be responsible for the selection of the rest of the team. The project manager would be overseeing the operation frothe MIL headquarters, thus giving him ample time to create a backup team for deployment.	The selection of the project manager, who is capable of managing this project, would mark the first benchmark of progress in this phase. The selection of the right team marks the next progress benchmark as without the right team, the project would ever succeed.
Supplier Selection and Tender Bidding	The PQQ process must be undertaken to select the most appropriate suppliers for participation in the closed tender process (De Silva and Hubbard 2016). The supplier list should be created by efficiently analysing the PQQ process. The list must consist of all the best suppliers available in the UK market, who would supply the required equipment. The process of tender bidding then must be used to select the supplier from whom the equipment would be procured.	The PQQ process must be finished within 16/4/2018 (De Silva and Hubbard 2016). Taking more time would mean that the project would be delayed further. The tender bidding process would last for two days. The biding process would close by 18/4/2018. The outcome determining the chosen supplier would be given by 25/4/2018.	The project manager, the finance team and the government representatives would be overseeing the complete tender process. The board members would then decide the supplier from whom they would procure all the equipment.	The progress can be overserved  by completing each of the respective processes in this phase.
Supply Procurement	The supplier must be competent enough to supply all of the required equipment and maintaining the quality standards of the supplied products. MIL must convey to the supplier to maintain additional stock of equipment in the event of any accident.	The supply procurement must be done as the project execution plan progresses. Collecting all the required supplies and storing them at a single place will not be beneficial for MIL. Instead, the project team can collect the equipment on a weekly basis from the supplier and have them delivered to the required project site. The duration of this phase would last from 25/4/2018 to 20/1/2019.	The project team and supplier are responsible for the smooth inflow of equipment supply.	The progress of the supply procurement can be observed as the project progresses further and more and more hospitals and medical centres are equipped with the technology.
Training	The staff and the doctors must be trained at effectively using the new technology. The company is required to give them an elaborate training that would in turn make the operations of the medical centres smooth. Reluctance to accept new technology is a major issue, especially among the old generation people. MIL has to provide a lot of effort in the training process as everyone has his or her own unique learning curve.	The training period must be over a period of eight months from 28/1/2019 to 28/8/2019. A period of six months is not adequate for properly training the staff and the doctors of so many hospitals and medical centres.	A separate team of experts must oversee the training phase. The training phase is quite crucial as it leaves a lasting impression of the company in the minds of the users. Receiving positive feedback from their might be beneficial for MIL’s future business procurement.	Collecting positive feedback from every hospital and medical centre can be termed as progress on the side of MIL.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that the business report effectively analyses, visualizes and summarizes the Wi-Fi reach project undertaken by MIL on the behalf of the NHA. The report reflects and analyses the facts that led to the delay of the project. It shows the flaws in the plans of the project manager. The different problems related to the procurement of the necessary equipment were highlighted. The report also highlights the breach of terms of the contract, as they were not met by the either the NHA or the MIL. The determining factor of the style of contract was flawed. The report elaborates on the objectives of the project and the reasons that suggests that the contract terms does not entirely help in the proper completion of the project. An action plan related to project management is also provided that would help in the successful completion of the project.

There are three recommendations that can be provided here:

• The suitable selection of the project manager with the knowledge of every project management process is of paramount importance. The project managers must be willing to treat every project uniquely. The chance of the failure of the project thus can be significantly reduced by selecting the proper project manager. There are many diverse aspects to a project and the appointed project manager must be adept at reflecting on all of them, observe the project from different perspectives and providing the required solution that would successfully meet the client’s needs.
• Risk management is also another important aspect of the project. The risk management plan must include all the scenarios that could transpire during the execution phase of the project. Several contingency plans must then be developed with respect to the scenarios that were simulated during the risk identification phase. The project manager is responsible for the development of the contingency plans that would prevent the project from failing. The project manager must make pain-staking effort that would assist the stakeholders in understanding the importance of contingency plans and the need of such a plan in this particular project.

The terms of contract must be flexible to accommodate changes as and when necessary. A rapid growth in technology was achieved in the recent years. Thus, the terms of contract that addresses the technological issues must be tangible to accommodate and fulfil any additional requirement provided by the client.

Reference List

De Silva, D.G. and Hubbard, T.P., 2016. Evaluating Bidder Pre-Qualification Requirements for Procurement Contracts

McNeil, A.J., Frey, R. and Embrechts, P., 2015. Quantitative risk management: Concepts, techniques and tools. Princeton university press.