Everyone has to be involved in preparing it - especially the customer. We set up procurement review teams made up of at least two representatives of the project office, the contract administrator and the contracting office technical representative. Over a period of months they developed the statement of work. The Center has had formal courses in Total Quality Management where employees were trained to work in teams. But it takes time to develop the team.
People have to learn to deal with each other, get along, and agree.
The team has to be open to learning, to understanding what the needs are, to touring the process, to seeing how the work will be done. It requires people who will listen. We now have better communication among all parties through our teams. As we go forward, we will further expand the team work concept with the contractor. We will let industry comment prior to a solicitation to identify the types of changes they believe would work.