The Project Manager's Guide to Purchasing

This very practical guide describes the whole process of contracting for goods and services, from selecting tenderers to placing a contract. It details the key topics that are necessary for success, such as contract strategy, contract types, contract law and evaluating tenders. Whilst the book also addresses the project context in which purchasing takes place, the subject matter could equally be applied to any business context. The treatment of the subject assumes no prior knowledge but, at the same time, provides the experienced person with new, and sometimes unconventional, insights into the subject. The book includes personal experiences, cases and exercises in order to root the subject into the real world. The Project Manager's Guide to Purchasing has been structured so that the reader can choose the chapter topic areas that they wish to study in isolation. Where necessary references are provided to complement the individual chapters. Illustrations of key documents in the purchasing and contracting process are also provided.

Garth Ward owns the project management training and consultancy business Ritchie Ward Associates. At the same time he has been a Consultant Lecturer at Cranfield School of Management and for ten years was the Director of the Masters Course in Project Management. Prior to this he worked for twenty years as a project manager for leading clients and contractors.