Performance Work Statement (PWS)

A Performance Work Statement (PWS) describes a requirement in terms of the contractor's outcome, objective or results. It does not prescribe the detailed steps for getting there. The "how" of the work is left to the contractor, who proposes and manages its own methods.

A PWS also establishes performance standards. These are the measures the buyer uses to decide whether the contractor has met the stated objective. The term comes from NATO performance-based contracting, where it is defined in the Bi-Strategic Command capability programming and resourcing documentation.

How NATO defines a Performance Work Statement

NATO's definition has three parts. The PWS describes requirements as the contractor's outcome, objective or results. The method of performing the work is left to the contractor. The PWS sets the performance standards for measuring whether the contractor has complied with the objective.

This makes a PWS a results document. The buyer says what success looks like and how it will be measured, and the supplier decides how to deliver it.

PWS compared with a Statement of Work

NATO distinguishes a PWS from a traditional, prescriptive statement of work. A prescriptive document directs the contractor's detailed work methods. A PWS focuses on the required result instead.

NATO's competitive procurement guidance treats the two as related tools. It says solicitation documents should include a clearly defined problem statement, PWS, SOW or technical specifications describing the goods, works or services required.

Where a PWS appears in NATO solicitations

NATO requests for proposals show the PWS in practice. A NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation RFP for IT contractor support contains a section titled "Performance Work Statement (PWS)". That section describes the scope of work, required skills and service requirements.

The same RFP identifies "FFP" as Firm Fixed Price. It requires bidders to provide an all-inclusive firm-fixed-price proposal for the services described. A second CMRE solicitation, the IT Service Manager RFP, also pairs a PWS with a firm-fixed-price proposal or contract.

Statement of Work in Canadian federal procurement

The Canadian federal examples reviewed here use the term Statement of Work rather than PWS. Public Services and Procurement Canada describes requirements definition as including the development of the statement of work or goods specifications, as set out in its acquisition services description.

A CanadaBuys RFP issued by the Canada Energy Regulator states that the work to be performed is detailed in the resulting contract's Statement of Work. Canadian suppliers should expect that wording on federal tenders.

What a PWS means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

If you meet a document titled PWS, for example in a NATO solicitation open to Canadian firms, read it as the definition of the outcomes you must deliver and the standards you will be measured against. This is a practical reading of the NATO definition, not a Canadian clause.

• Build your technical response around the stated outcomes and show how your own methods will achieve them.
• Identify every performance standard and explain how you will meet and report against it.
• Check the pricing instructions. NATO examples tie the PWS to an all-inclusive firm-fixed-price proposal.
• On Canadian federal tenders, read the Statement of Work with the same discipline.