SP Vendor - How to Negotiate a Statement of Work (SOW)

This article provides Services Procurement Vendors with the steps necessary to negotiate contractual and financial terms specific to a statement of work (SOW).

This content reflects standard Beeline Enterprise functionality which may vary from what you see when logged into Beeline Enterprise depending on any client-specific settings or adjustments.

Table of Contents

Step 1: Review SOW

1. Navigate to the Beeline Enterprise Home screen.
2. In the My To Do section, click the number link located within the alert sentence, “You have # ‘You have been invited to contribute to a SOW’ tasks awaiting action”. A new window with a list of SOWs available for review opens.
3. Click the Action drop-down arrow of the specific SOW to be reviewed.
4. Select the View Details option. This opens the SOW Profile screen.

   Although Vendors have the option to select either “accept” or “edit” rather than “view details”, for the initial review, it is “best practice” to review the complete SOW by selecting the “view details” option.

5. From the SOW Profile screen, click the SOW name to open the SOW record in the tabbed view.
6. Starting at the Welcome tab, use the Next button to navigate through the Terms sections.

   A single tab can include multiple sections displayed on separate screens. The Next button option ensures that you cycle through ALL content associated to a single ribbon tab. You can scan the section topics associated with a single ribbon tab by hovering over the section icons displayed directly beneath the tab icon in the ribbon.

   All reviews after the initial review will identify previous edits using a variety of marking techniques. Details are provided in the Negotiate Terms section of this document.

7. Use the Comments feature to make notes as you review the content. You can use these notes to identify changes you will want to make when you switch to edit mode, or you can use the check box option if you want to share any comments with the Program Office/client user. Remember to click Save to retain your comments.
8. When you have completed your review of the Terms tab, click Next to continue to the Financials tab. Use the same process as outlined in Step 7 to create/save your comments.

If you accept the Terms and Financials as presented:

1. Click the check mark icon on the ribbon and go to the Action tab. Click the Accept button.
2. Click Accept again in the dialog box to confirm your acceptance. The system returns to the SOW Profile screen and displays the new status, “Vendor Negotiation Accepted.”
3. Click Return to exit the SOW Profile and return to your Home screen.

If you plan to negotiate modifications to the Terms and Financials:

1. Click the check mark icon on the ribbon and go to the Action tab. Click the Edit button.
2. Click Edit again in the dialog box to confirm your intention. The system returns to the SOW Profile screen.
3. Proceed to the Step 2: Edit SOW section below to continue.

Step 2: Edit SOW

1. From the SOW Profile screen, click View Details to open the SOW record in edit mode (tabbed view.) Hint: The pencil icon to the left of each section number is a quick way to confirm that you are in edit mode.
2. From the Welcome tab, click the Next button to navigate through the Terms tab.

   As previously noted, a single tab can include multiple sections displayed on separate screens. The Next button option ensures that you cycle through ALL content associated to a single ribbon tab. You can scan the section topics associated to a ribbon tab by hovering over the section icons displayed directly beneath the tab icon in the ribbon.

3. Modify the SOW terms as follows.
   • Check any Comments created during the Review process. The number displayed within the comment icon indicates the total number of comments and is a helpful tracking feature. New comments can be created at any time. Use the check box if the comments are intended for the Program Office/client user audience.
   • Click the Pencil icon to edit displayed sections. Sections without a pencil icon indicate content that is not editable.
   • Click the down arrow next to the + Add Content box to add additional text blocks to your current screen.
   • Click the Plus icon displayed below the ribbon bar to add a new section at the end of the existing tab section.

     Remember to click Save after each of the above modifications to retain your changes.

   • Click the down arrow next to the “more actions” box to view previous edits.
4. Proceed to the Action tab if no adjustments are made to the SOW financials. Either use the Next button to cycle through the Financials tab or click the check box icon in the ribbon to go directly to the Action tab. Skip to the Step 3: Submit Edits section to continue.
5. Otherwise, modify the SOW financials as follows:
6. Click Next to go to the Financials - Fixed Bid section. Displayed line items are milestones.
   • Check any Comments created during the Review process. The number displayed within the comment icon indicates the total number of comments and is a helpful tracking feature. New comments can be created at any time. Use the check box if the comments are intended for the Program Office/client user audience.
   • Click the Pencil icon to edit the milestone. An Edit Milestone dialog box opens. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk (*). Make your adjustments and click Save Milestone to exit and return to the tabbed view.
   • Click the + Add Milestone link to create additional milestone line items to add to the current list. (Note: The prev | next link is used to move up and down the milestone list; the Next button takes you to the next Financials section.)

7. Click the Next button to navigate to the next financials section. Depending on the nature of the SOW, there will be a separate financials section for each financials type. Options include milestones, units of measure, roles, non-billable resources, and resource funds. The modification process steps for Units of Measure are similar to those described for milestones. Follow the prompts in the Edit Unit of Measure dialog box to make your adjustments or use the “plus” option to create new ones. Roles and Non-billable Resources are both role-based financials. Follow the prompts in the Edit/Add Role dialog box to modify/create these entries. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk (*). And remember to click save to retain all adjustments/changes. Resource Funds is a single text box where you enter the total Resource Funds Amount. The Summary is always the final Financials tab. Review the content and check the math!
8. Once you have completed your adjustments under the Financials tab, click the Next tab to proceed to the Action tab to submit your edits to the Program Office/client user.

Step 3: Submit Edits

When you have completed making all your adjustments to the SOW, you are ready to submit your changes back to the Program Office/client user for their review.

1. Click the Action tab indicated by the check mark icon in the SOW tabbed view. (You can access the tabbed view by clicking View Details on the SOW Profile screen.)
2. Click Submit for Approval. A dialog box appears.
3. Click OK to confirm the SOW submission. The system returns to the SOW Profile screen and displays an updated status, “Pending Client Approval.” The SOW record is routed to the Program Office/client user for review.

Negotiate Terms

The negotiation process may go back and forth between the vendor and the Program Office/client user until a final version is accepted. “Version” controls allow both the vendor and the Program Office/client user to view the changes throughout this negotiation process. If the vendor responds to their initial review by submitting edits to the Program Office/client user, then ALL subsequent edits made to the SOW content are marked to track version changes. Marking techniques include:

• Redline – identifies changes to text; previous version displays with a redline overlay. Items in list format (e.g., financials), new sections, or deleted sections are indicated by a vertical red line adjacent to the item rather than through the text.

• Icons – used to highlight edits other than text edits
  
  ‘boxed’ A - indicates added content
  ‘boxed’ D - indicates deleted content
  ‘boxed’ M - indicates modified content
   
• Tags – identifies tabs and tag sections that have edited content; the number in the tag indicates the total number of edits in that tab/tab section

  

  This example shows an open Terms tab indicating 6 total edits; 5 edits in the first section tab and 1 edit in the 6th. There are 9 edits in the Financials tab but the breakdown by tab section is only visible when the tab is open.

You can filter which changes you want to view by using the More Actions pull-down selection list located above the tab ribbon. (Hint: to view a SOW in tabbed view, click View Details on the SOW Profile screen.) Filter options include:

• Show Final – ability to view the SOW changes in a final state (i.e., all redlining removed) prior to acceptance
• Show Our Changes – ability to view just the changes made by the vendor
• Show Client Changes – ability to view only the changes made by the Program Office/client user
• Show All Changes – ability to view changes to the SOW regardless of user role
   

Be advised: If you use these filters during the review or edit stages, you need to click Show Final before you can proceed to the Action tab. This ensures that the “save” option on the Action tab, saves the current version of the SOW.

Use the process steps described above to review, edit, and re-submit a SOW to the Program Office/client user. These steps will be repeated throughout the negotiation process until the final version is accepted.

Please note: Content entered in Comment tags is not marked, tagged, filtered, or tracked throughout the negotiation process. This is totally separate functionality and not considered part of the contractual content even if you select to make comments visible to the Program Office/client user.

Final Step: Accept SOW

1. Complete the review process as described in Step 1: Review SOW.

• If you accept the initial SOW contents without changes, then go to the Action tab (click check mark icon on the ribbon) and click the Accept box.
• If you negotiated with the Program Office/client user to adjust the SOW and now have a final version to accept without changes, then go to the Action tab and click the Accept box.

2. Click Accept in the dialog box to confirm your acceptance. The system returns to the SOW Profile screen and displays the new status, “Vendor Negotiation Accepted.”
3. Click Return to exit the SOW Profile and return to your Home screen.