Machine Learning Project Procurement Plan
This is a practical guide to building a procurement plan for a machine learning project project — what will be bought, how and from whom, adapted to the realities of building and deploying a machine-learning model.
What a Procurement Plan is
A procurement plan is what will be bought, how and from whom. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Procurement Management. On a machine learning project project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Machine Learning Project project
Machine Learning Project projects live or die on building and deploying a machine-learning model. A well-built procurement plan gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how machine learning project projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- What to procure
- Contract types
- Selection criteria
- Timeline and SLAs
Machine Learning Project-specific considerations
Tailor the procurement plan to the risks that most often derail machine learning project projects:
- Data labelling and quality
- Model drift
- Productionisation and monitoring
Example
On a real machine learning project project, the procurement plan would be shaped by building and deploying a machine-learning model. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — data labelling and quality, model drift, productionisation and monitoring — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.