A specific problem and an agreed boundary
Look for a description of the situation the consultant understands today, together with assumptions that still need checking. The proposal should identify the locations, processes or teams covered. “Improve business performance” is a goal, not a workable scope.
Ask what is excluded. For example, a project may diagnose dispatch delays and design a revised process without selecting software or managing daily dispatch. Naming those boundaries prevents both parties from making different plans.
Deliverables with a practical acceptance test
Each output needs more detail than a document name. An SOP library should specify which processes are covered, who validates them and how the team will be shown to use them. A dashboard should define its measures, source data and update owner.
Hypothetical acceptance test: “The dispatch checklist is tested on five suitable orders with the supervisor, issues are recorded, and an agreed revision is handed over.” This is an example of a verifiable output, not a promised commercial result.
- Output and format
- Person responsible for review
- Evidence or test for acceptance
- Feedback period and revision process
A timetable that includes your team’s work
Check the milestones and the decisions needed to reach them. Interviews, data access, staff availability and internal approvals can affect the schedule. Ask what happens if an assumption proves wrong.
Name an internal sponsor and day-to-day coordinator. Confirm the effort expected from managers and frontline staff. An external timetable is not credible if the people needed to implement it have no time reserved.
Fees, changes and information handling
Check the fee basis, payment milestones, taxes where applicable, travel and other expenses. Ask how additional work is estimated and approved before it starts. Clarify what happens if the project pauses or ends early.
Agree ownership and permitted use of deliverables, confidentiality, access controls and the handling of business records. Have an appropriately qualified adviser review contractual terms when necessary; this checklist does not replace that review.
Implementation and handover
Ask whether the engagement ends with recommendations or includes a pilot, training and follow-up. Both can be valid, but the difference must be visible in the scope and price.
Before signing, identify who will maintain the outputs after the consultant leaves. Ask for editable files where appropriate, a list of unresolved issues and a handover meeting. The business should know what to do on the first working day after the project closes.
Approve a proposal when the scope, outputs, responsibilities and handover are clear enough for your team to explain back. Resolve vague promises before work starts.
