Statement of Work: [Project name]

Full Statement of Work (SOW) that defines exactly what a supplier will deliver to a client under an agreed contract: background, objectives, scope, deliverables with acceptance criteria, milestones, roles of both parties, assumptions and dependencies, acceptance process, change control, pricing and payment schedule, governance, warranties and signatures. Based on common contracting and project delivery practice. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example. This is a document format, not legal advice: have the final SOW and the governing agreement reviewed by legal counsel.

Document control

Approvals

Revision history

Contents

1. Background
2. Objectives
3. Scope
4. Approach
5. Deliverables and acceptance criteria
6. Milestones and schedule
7. Roles and responsibilities
8. Assumptions and dependencies
9. Acceptance process
10. Change control
11. Pricing and payment schedule
12. Governance and reporting
13. Warranties and support
14. Signatures

1. Background

[Client] operates [business context]. [Describe the problem or opportunity.] Following [proposal reference / tender reference] dated YYYY-MM-DD, [client] has engaged [supplier] to [high-level purpose].

Example: "The client runs an online store on a self-hosted platform that reaches end of support on YYYY-MM-DD. Following proposal PROP-2026-041, the client has engaged the supplier to migrate the store to a hosted commerce platform and integrate it with the existing warehouse and accounting systems."

2. Objectives

3. Scope

3.1 In scope

• [Activity or work package, for example storefront build using the client's brand guidelines]
• [Migration of products, customers and 24 months of orders]
• [Integrations with warehouse system and accounting system]
• [Training and hypercare as described in section 13]

3.2 Out of scope

• [For example, new product photography]
• [For example, changes to the warehouse system itself]
• [For example, marketing campaigns and paid media]

Any work not listed in section 3.1 is out of scope and may be added only through the change control process in section 10.

3.3 Standards and constraints

[List standards, policies and constraints the supplier must follow, for example the client's information security policy, accessibility level (such as WCAG 2.2 AA), brand guidelines, approved hosting regions for personal data, and change freeze periods such as peak trading weeks.]

3.4 Location and working arrangements

[Where the work is performed, working hours, travel, access to client premises and systems, and any security vetting required.]

4. Approach

[Describe the delivery method (for example, phased, with two-week iterations), the environments used, testing approach, and how the client will see progress.]

Example: "Work runs in three phases: design, build and launch. The build phase uses two-week iterations, each ending with a demonstration in the client's staging environment. The supplier maintains separate development, staging and production environments; only the client may approve a release to production. Testing covers unit tests for custom code, integration tests for each interface, and a user acceptance test cycle run by client staff using scripts prepared by the supplier. Progress is visible at all times in a shared project board."

5. Deliverables and acceptance criteria

6. Milestones and schedule

The schedule below shows the planned sequence.

7. Roles and responsibilities

7.1 Supplier

7.2 Client

8. Assumptions and dependencies

9. Acceptance process

1. The supplier submits each deliverable with an acceptance form listing the criteria from section 5.
2. The client reviews within [10 working days] and either accepts or issues a rejection notice listing each unmet criterion.
3. The supplier corrects the listed issues and resubmits within [5 working days]; the client re-reviews only the listed issues.
4. If the client neither accepts nor rejects within the review period, [the deliverable is deemed accepted / the supplier escalates under section 12], as agreed in the governing agreement.
5. Use in live operation of a deliverable counts as acceptance, unless the parties agree otherwise in writing.

10. Change control

1. Either party raises a change request (CR) describing the change and the reason.
2. The supplier assesses impact on scope, schedule, price and risk within [5 working days].
3. Both parties approve or reject the CR in writing. Approved CRs amend this SOW and are recorded in the revision history.

11. Pricing and payment schedule

Pricing model: [Fixed price / Time and materials with cap / Retainer].

• Rates for changes and out-of-scope work: [role and day rate table or reference]
• Expenses: [for example, pre-approved travel at cost, capped at amount]
• Invoicing and payment terms: [for example, invoice on milestone acceptance, payable within 30 days]
• Tax: amounts exclude [VAT / sales tax], which is added at the applicable rate.

12. Governance and reporting

The weekly status report uses a red, amber or green rating for scope, schedule, budget and quality, with a one-line reason for any rating that is not green. Risks and issues are kept in a shared log with an owner and a due date for each action.

Escalation path: project managers, then delivery lead and client sponsor, then [executive contacts], within [3 / 5 / 10] working days at each level.

13. Warranties and support

[Placeholder: summarise the warranty period, for example "the supplier corrects defects in accepted deliverables reported within 60 days of go-live at no charge", hypercare hours and response targets, and any exclusions. The governing agreement's warranty and liability clauses apply and prevail.]

14. Signatures

This SOW is entered into under, and is governed by, [governing agreement reference]. In case of conflict, [the governing agreement / this SOW] prevails.

Standard and licence note

Based on common contracting and project delivery practice for statements of work. This template is original text written for this collection. It is a document format, not legal advice; have the SOW and its governing agreement reviewed by qualified counsel. Template licence: MIT.