Standard 6: Early transition and start-up planning (including pre-award).
Transition from the design/proposal team to the project start-up team and plan and conduct early start-up activities.
Document the rationale behind the project design and budget decisions to facilitate start-up and handover to the project start-up team.
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Why
Projects are not always managed by the staff who designed them. Documentation of the project design and budgeting decisions:
- Creates a clear record of the rationale for a project’s technical approach, partnering arrangements, budget allocations, targeting, indicators and other decisions which shaped the project.
- Serves as a permanent, objective reference for staff if questions arise during implementation.
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Who
- Primary responsible: Proposal transition manager (PTM)
- The PTM oversees the process and compiles the relevant documentation.
- Others involved: Proposal development team members
- Proposal development team members (e.g., technical lead, budget lead, MEAL lead, human resources lead) play a critical role in creating, documenting, and collecting relevant information about project design and budget decisions.
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When
- Throughout the proposal development process, with final documentation compiled immediately after proposal submission.
- Update documentation as needed during donor review and final notification.
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How
This key action contributes to the following ProPack I “standard of quality”:
- The detailed rationale behind all project design decisions (including the budget) is documented for handover to the project implementation team.
Follow these steps to ensure proper documentation of project design decisions:
- The proposal decision-maker identifies the PTM at the start of the proposal development process.
- The PTM reviews the Proposal Handover Process Protocol and ChecklistThe Proposal Handover Process Protocol and Checklist:
• Outlines the PTM’s handover responsibilities at each stage in the project design/proposal development and donor proposal review process (Table 1);
• Describes and provides tips on how to collect required handover documentation (Tables 2 and 3). . - The PTM orients other proposal development team members to their responsibilities in documenting key project design and budget decisions.
- Other members of the proposal development team prepare and/or compile key information (related to options considered, decisions and revisions made, and the rationale for the same) throughout the proposal process and share with the PTM for inclusion in the proposal handover file.
- The PTM adds information as received to the proposal handover file (see Table 3 in the Protocol for a list of required content for the handover file).
- The PTM uses the Proposal Handover Checklist Template to log and track the various proposal documents which must be included in the proposal handover file.
- Once the proposal is approved, the PTM finalizes and zips the proposal handover file for sharing with the project manager/chief of party, and uploads the zip file to Gateway.
Review the Proposal Handover Checklist Example to see what a completed checklist looks like. The example also illustrates the type of information to include as supporting documentation in a proposal handover file.
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Partnership
- The Proposal Handover Process Protocol and Checklist are internal CRS documents and refer to processes closely linked to specific CRS systems; as such, they may not be very user-friendly for other organizations, and partners are not required to use them.
- However, to support partners with their own transitions from design to start-up and implementation, CRS can provide guidance to partners on documenting key decisions early in the design stage by drawing on ideas in the Handover Protocol.
When CRS is a sub-recipient- As a sub-recipient, CRS may have access to fewer proposal documents than it would as a prime. It’s therefore even more important that the PTM use the “Transition Notes” section in the Proposal Handover Checklist Template to summarize prime-sub discussions, agreements and decisions.
Emergency projects- For emergency projects, documenting project-design decisions and underlying assumptions is particularly important given high staff turnover and the frequent use of temporary duty assignments (TDYs) for project design and proposal development.
Key resources
Tools and templates
Other resources
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ProPack I, Chapter XI, Post-Design Activities (pgs. 139-142)
- Primary responsible: Proposal transition manager (PTM)