What is the Statement of Work (SOW)?

A statement of work is a description of the specific services that a supplier is expected to provide, indicating the type, level and quality of service, as well as a schedule of deadlines and schedules.

It is important to know that most of the conflicts and issues related to the performance of the contract result from improper performance of the SOW. Therefore, if you are involved in any way in the administration of the contract, you must first understand what the job declaration is and then analyze it. In addition, you need to know how to differentiate types of EDT from the 3 most common formats. All this and more, we explain below.

SOW types:

We found 3 categories:

1. Personalized / detailed work declaration:

This type of SOW tells the vendor how to do the work. Define the requirements of the buyer who control the vendor's processes. For example, this may include concrete measurements / dimensions, tolerances, materials, quality control requirements, etc.

The important thing about this type of EDI is that the buyer assumes the risk of performance, since it is the buyer who asks the supplier how to do things.

2. Statement of work or level of effort or time and materials or unit rate:

This type of EDT can be run for almost all types of services. The time and materials needed to complete the work are the critical points of this statement of work.

3. Statement of work based on performance:

If you do not provide details on how the work should be done, you must use a performance-based EDT. This is the type of document preferred by many companies.

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