ART - Book Review - World Class Contracting 2004

The document is a book review of "World Class Contracting: How Winning Companies Build Successful Partnerships in the e-Business Age" by Gregory A. Garrett. The book focuses on best practices in contracting methods, with an emphasis on the similarities between private and public sector contracting techniques. It starts by discussing how contracting organizations can build trust and communication in the procurement cycle, and then delves into the contract formation process and the importance of defining terms and conditions. The book also highlights the need for teamwork between project management and contract specialist officials. It provides techniques for coordinating progress reports and describes the historical use of international contracts and their weaknesses. The appendix contains relevant official documents related to international contracts. The book thoroughly reviews the contract acquisition cycle, including the selection, review, and evaluation aspects. It recommends best practices in documenting negotiations, responding to customer needs, and managing the contracting relationship. The use of graphs, charts, and sample forms helps illustrate the contracting process. The book is useful for both beginning level contracting specialists and experienced contracts managers. It focuses on practical aspects of contract management for project management personnel and emphasizes the importance of leadership support for contracts, acquisition, and procurement agreements. The book provides useful material for working professionals and academic reviewers, and also covers the international arena and novice in international contracts. However, it does not provide in-depth knowledge on certain aspects of procurement such as performance-based contracting and specification writing. It also does not cover topics like oral proposals, online auctions, cooperative purchasing, or the details of specific contract types. The author aims to describe how to manage long-term strategic supplier alliance relationships between businesses and customers, but also seeks to generalize business contracting best practices to the genre of contracting best practices. Overall, the book serves as a condensed guide to best practices in contracting, but additional sources may be needed for more specific variations on traditional procurement processes.