This workshop aims to equip delegates with the capability to manage complex contracts more effectively.
Introduction
This intensive workshop explores the challenges faced by managers of complex contracts. It features a selection of complex issues and aims to explore practical solutions drawing upon good practice from procurement, legal and behavioural science.
This course is designed for
The workshop will benefit those who are responsible for managing high value and/or high risk contracts, and who wish to build upon a basic appreciation of contract management.
Course structure
A practical two-day workshop consisting of nine sessions involving exercises, case studies, presentations and trainer-facilitated discussions. Each of the sessions will be led by an experienced facilitator and will feature the key principles and practical methods which may be used in the contracting process, together with practical case study sessions to maximise the transfer from the workshop to the workplace.
Benefits of attending
Attendance will help equip delegates with specific initiatives to manage the end-to-end contract cycle, and develop organisational capability to sustain this across the contract portfolio.
As well as this participants will gain three key benefits from attending:
- More capability to define the role of the contract manager and deploy this role with other stakeholders involved in the contract management process
- More capability in applying the tools of contract management, especially in respect of complex contracts for services
- Less likelihood of role conflict or lack of organisational capacity or capability in contract management causing risk for their organisation
Key learning outcomes
- Select the most appropriate contractual approach to secure co-operation and/or share risk with the contractor
- Evaluate specifications used in the acquisition of services and develop specifications that define the scope of the work and the quality standards to be performed
- Identify opportunities to reduce waste and loss in contracting through reducing fraud and reducing complexity
- Identify when and how performance based contracts may be deployed in the contracting portfolio
- Design and implement a simple mechanism to capture and share lessons learned and share with other stakeholders
Course Content
Key challenges facing contract managers
- Developing specifications for services
- Early contractor involvement in practice
- Co-operative contracting in practice
- Reducing complexity in contracting
- Detecting malpractices; fraud, cartels and poor practice
- Risk management in practice
- Performance based contracting in practice
- Capturing lessons learned; what works and what doesn’t
Developing specifications for services
- SERVQUAL; identifying potential gaps in quality
- Format of a specification
- How to define quality standards for services
- Measuring service quality in practice
Early contractor involvement
- What is early contractor involvement?
- When is it appropriate and when not appropriate?
- Stage one contract terms and payment basis
- Stage two contract terms and payment basis
Co-operative contracting in practice
- When is co-operation appropriate?
- The role of contracts in co-operation
- Partnering charters
- Risk sharing between the parties
- Problem resolution in a co-operative culture
- What factors enable- and destroy- co-operation
Reducing complexity in contracting
- CYNEFIN; simple, complicated and complex contexts and appropriate contracting approaches
- Practical steps to simplify contract management
Detecting and dealing with malpractice
- Detecting fraud; symptoms and controls
- Detecting collusive supplier behaviour; symptoms and controls
- Detecting poor contract management practice; symptoms and controls
Risk management in practice
- The limitations of contracts in risk mitigation
- Joint risk identification and resolution
- Contingency planning and business continuity
Performance based contacting in practice
- How performance based contracts differ from input based contracts
- Types of performance based contract
- Setting the base level of performance
- Setting the threshold to trigger an incentive
- Setting the incentive level to incentivise improved performance
Capturing lessons learned
- Why is this phase so often ignored
- Capturing contract-specific lessons learned
- Capturing transferable lessons learned
- Drafting and sharing critical incident reviews
