A Sample Scope for a Legacy System Condition Assessment (Copy and Adapt)

When a public body asks for quotes on "a review of our old system," it usually gets back three proposals that cannot be compared: one is a two-day health check, one is a strategy engagement, and one is a replacement pitch in disguise. The fix is to send every supplier the same short scope.

Below is a sample you can adapt. It is written to be supplier-neutral. Send it to us or to anyone else; the point is that the quotes you get back describe the same piece of work.

How you are required to buy this, whether by direct purchase, a quote process or a competition, is set by your own purchasing bylaw or policy. Confirm the route with your procurement office before sending it.

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Sample scope of work

Title: Condition assessment of [system name]

Purpose

[Organization] seeks a fixed-price, read-only condition assessment of its [system name], which supports [service, e.g. building permits]. The objective is to understand the system's current condition, identify material operational and security risks, and determine the most cost-effective measures to keep it reliably in service for approximately [three to five] more years.

Replacing the system is not within the scope of this engagement. If the supplier concludes that replacement is the better course, the report should say so and explain why.

Scope

The supplier will:

1. Describe the system in plain language: its purpose, users, and the services that depend on it.
2. Review its technology: language and framework, database, operating system, hosting, and third-party components, noting which are out of vendor support.
3. Review its integrations and identify critical dependencies and single points of failure.
4. Assess maintainability: source code availability, build and deployment process, documentation, and reliance on particular individuals.
5. Assess operational resilience: backups, tested restores, access control, logging and monitoring.
6. Identify material security risks, including unsupported components and the handling of personal information.
7. Recommend prioritized corrective actions, separating essential work from optional improvements, with an individual cost for each.
8. Identify conditions under which continued operation would become impractical or uneconomic.

Constraints

• Read-only. No changes to the production system. Any testing that could affect availability or data integrity requires prior written approval.
• Data handling. Any copy of the system or its data is held in an environment approved by [organization] and deleted at the end of the engagement, with deletion confirmed in writing.
• Staff time. State the expected hours required from [organization] staff, by role.

Deliverables

1. A draft report for review and correction of any factual misunderstanding.
2. A final written report containing:
   • a one-page plain-language summary suitable for senior management and council;
   • condition ratings across defined dimensions;
   • ranked failure modes with likely consequences for service delivery;
   • a prioritized, individually priced list of corrective actions;
   • an estimate of remaining working life, with assumptions and uncertainties stated.
3. A briefing of up to one hour with [organization] staff.

Commercial terms

• Fixed price in Canadian dollars, inclusive of all fees and expenses, excluding applicable taxes.
• A stated completion date, measured from receipt of access and information.
• No additional work without prior written authorization.
• No obligation to purchase implementation, remediation or ongoing support.
• [Organization] owns the report and may share it with any other supplier.

Proposal should include

• Fixed price and expected completion date.
• Assessment method and an outline of the report.
• Relevant experience with comparable systems.
• Any commercial interest in follow-on work the report might recommend.
• Proof of professional liability and cyber insurance, and WorkSafeBC clearance.
• References, where available.

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Notes on using it

• One system per scope. Bundling three systems into one assessment makes the quotes impossible to compare and the report impossible to act on.
• Insist on the draft stage. It is where a supplier finds out what it misunderstood about your operation, and it is the cheapest point to fix that.
• Ask about conflicts. The supplier who writes the report may hope to do the work it recommends. That is not disqualifying, but it should be disclosed, and the report should be yours to hand to anyone.
• Keep it small. An assessment of one system is one to four weeks of work, depending on the system. If a proposal comes back much larger, it has probably turned into something else.

For reference, Bluestone's own condition assessment is fixed at $6,500, $9,750 or $14,500 depending on the system, and its report covers the contents listed above. If your version of the scope asks for anything more, such as a closing briefing, raise it in your first email. Our supplier facts list the registrations and insurance a procurement office will ask for. If you would like to send us this scope for a quote, write to us.