Statement of Work

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What is a Statement of Work?

A Statement of Work (SOW) is a narrative description of the required work and is essential to a successful procurement process. It stipulates the deliverables and services required to fulfill the contract and it defines the tasks to be accomplished or service to be delivered in clear, concise and meaningful terms. The SOW must also identify the objectives and the standards to be reached, or levels to be attained and the timeframe required in order to meet the client’s needs.

The SOW must also be explicit in detailing the client’s requirements and the contractor responsibilities, so that questions of interpretation can be avoided. It must be detailed enough to ensure that the department receives the goods or services that it requires, but at the same time, not too restrictive to prevent innovation or initiative by the contractor in providing a solution to the stated requirements.

A well written SOW will:

• Determine the objectives and standards to be attained;
• clearly describe the tasks to be carried out;
• identify the deliverables;
• define the timeframe;
• identify the skills and qualification required to do the work;
• Identify the constraints in meeting the objectives;
• Identify any travel requirements; and
• Identify performance criteria necessary to verify contractor’s compliance.

Do

Don't

To produce a well-written SOW, you need to consider the following: Remember that the SOW is part of the resulting contract, so it must be written using language that is appropriate to creating contractual obligations. Use precise and complete language that addresses the Who, What, When, Where and How of What must be done. Use proper numbering system, not including bullets. In lists, be sure to use the proper form of punctuation. Deal with the same subject just once. This means ensuring there are no overlapping provisions within the SOW itself and that no provisions in the SOW overlap with the articles of agreement, the General Conditions, or any Supplemental General Conditions that are part of the resulting contract. Use the same words to mean the same thing. This means you must become familiar with the defined terms in the General Conditions and Supplemental General Conditions so that you can use them in the SOW. Use acronyms and additional defined terms where they will assist your reader, but don’t overwhelm your reader by filling your SOW with acronyms. Focus on performance and outcomes, not the design or how to achieve the required or desired outcome. Refer to international or other objective standards, but not to brand names or the names of functionalities coined by particular manufacturers or service providers. Think ahead. Have you defined the scope in a way that will allow your requirement to evolve as technology does? Have you considered how you might need this contractor’s assistance for the transition to the next contractor? Will you have the date you need to conduct the next competition? Is the term of the contract long enough to complete the transition to this contractor, enjoy the benefits, and also redefine the requirement and hold a competition with enough time for a transition to the next supplier all before the term of this contract ends? Use simple, precise, and concise language and sentence structures. Perform quality control checks on the document. Have someone else who is knowledgeable about the area proofread your document. Use examples and tables.

Don’t include any bid submission requirements in the SOW. Don’t include anything concerning the evaluation in the SOW. Don’t engage in excessive or unnecessary cross-referencing. Don’t write using passive voice, instead use the active voice. Don’t use jargon or words that could be misinterpreted. Don’t break the SOW into lots of annexes. Don’t use (M) Mandatory and (I) Information notations in the SOW.

Examples of Statements of Work (Services) and Design Specifications (Goods)

• Statement of Work sample 1 - French Language Training
• Statement of Work sample 2 - Leadership Coaching and Mentoring
• Statement of Work sample 3 – Calibration and Preventive Maintenance – Lab and refrigeration equipment
• Statement of Work sample 4 – Calibration and Preventive Maintenance – Lab pipettes
• Design specifications sample 1 – simple for laboratory equipment
• Design specifications sample 2  - average complexity for laboratory equipment

Note: these examples may not currently reflect the standard templates layout and format