PMO Implementation: In House vs Consultant Aided?

I know there is a lot of discussion out there on and around PMO Implementation and Enhancements… “Should we get a consultant to do it for us?”, “We want to do it ourselves!” or “Why should I pay for a consultant to come and do this for me, it is our PMO?”

I would never say “Get a consultant to do it for you”, a good consultant will give you an edge and help you, but not do it for you. If we came in a built what we thought you needed, it would be wrong, and not adopted and therefore fail. A good consultant will take you on a journey to successfully implement your PMO. They will help you with the bits you cannot do (Yet) or have not done before and get you to do the bits you can already do. This not only reduces cost but also increases the effectiveness and likely success of the PMO.

When selecting your Consultant to assist you in your PMO Implementation/Improvement, not only ask for a proposal, but ask for client testimonials and references. You want to make sure that they successfully delivered the previous ones and that the change was managed professionally.

In the proposals you should always see the following (not in any order):

• Your requirements that they would deliver too (this makes sure you know they listened to you, and are not just giving you a cookie cutter approach, as this never works apart from to kick off (80/20 rule).)
• The history of what you have tried before and why you need a PMO.
• High level time frames and milestone dates (so you have an idea of what you will be delivered and when, but remember they may not know all they need to at this stage of the implementation, but they can give you indicative time frames and dates)
• Gateway review details (You should always have set review time frames to assess quality of what is being delivered and check on progress.)
• Cost and Payment terms.
• Profiles of the consultants planed to assist you with this change (This should always be taken into account, as certain companies I know (which I will not name)always submit the best consultants in proposals as possible or example consultants and then just give you “who ever is free”, this is not acceptable. You may not always be able to hand-pick you consultant, but you need to know  exactly who is coming in and ask to speak with them before you accept so you get to know them.)

You need to own your PMO and remember it is always set up to serve the business and increase/maximise Business Benefit.

I hope this helps, but what are your thoughts on this matter?