To minimize risks and maximize organizational value, it is important to have a thorough grasp of how to formulate business needs, define and organize projects, choose suppliers, negotiate contracts, and oversee project delivery. Contract failures may be exceedingly expensive, time-consuming, and disruptive.

This strategic contract management training will examine a range of advanced contract management notions that will help the attendees deal with the constantly shifting corporate environment and implement a tried-and-true structured approach to the contract management process, fostering the proper and effective attainment of organizational goals.

Participants on the Strategic Contract Management training course will develop the following competencies:

• Basic Project Management
• Contract Monitoring and Control
• Contract Negotiation
• Contract Risk Management
• Effective Management of Contract Stakeholders
• Strategic procurement planning and development of acquisition strategy
• Supplier Relationship Management
• Value Based Procurement

The goal of the training program is not to offer a thorough examination of the legal ramifications of contracts. It will touch on the organizational procedures and relationship management challenges faced by contract professionals while also briefly addressing the fundamental principles of contract law that every professional should be aware of.

 Programme Objectives

• Increase their understanding of important contract management ideas, contractual procedures, best practices, and challenges.

• Improve managerial approaches to contract management and develop essential skills to deliver contract outcomes effectively and efficiently

• Focus on delivering measurable organizational value in every contract, every time

• Identify and mitigate contract risk factors and associated commercial implications

• Understand different types of contractual relationships and choose an effective contracting strategy

• Use certain "tricks of the trade" in negotiation, procurement, and contract administration.

• Use fundamental project planning, scheduling, and budgeting procedures to develop successful contract baselines.

• Examine robust contract management documents that will withstand tough audits

• Create strategies for effective project execution, monitoring, and control

 • Investigate how to manage contracts that don't go as planned, resulting in disputes, poor performance, deviations from plan, and, if necessary, premature contract terminations

Who Should Attend?

• Professionals from all industries who need to advance their skills in contract management
• Personnel at all levels who deal with vendors and contractors, and are interested in maximising the value of contract expenditure
• Personnel from project teams, planning departments, process improvement teams, contracting teams, internal audit personnel, risk and / or contract strategists

Course Outline

Day 1: Introduction and Key Concepts

• Contract Management overview
• The purpose and nature of contracts
• Key contract management principles
• Typical issues connected with contract management
• Projects, programs, endeavors
• Project lifecycle
• The Role of Stakeholder Management in Successful Contracts
• Understanding key stakeholders; stakeholder management planning
• Effective stakeholder management strategies
• Business need analysis and requirements elicitation
• Definition of project requirements

Day 2: Strategic Procurement Planning

• What are contracts and how are they created?
• Corporate procurement strategy
• Contract delivery models
• Pre-contract Fundamentals
• Procurement / contract management cycle: before, during and after signing the dotted line
• Pre-tender activities
• Developing acquisition strategy and specifications
• Contract pricing strategies
• The tender process, tender documentation required, evaluation planning, evaluation methodologies
• Supplier selection: requirements for a good set of selection criteria; evaluation matrix
• Structure of contracts

Day 3: Contract Negotiation and Transition

• Preparing to negotiate: objectives, context, issues, negotiating strategies
• Negotiation styles, assessment of negotiating position/power
• Negotiation planning and process
• Interest based bargaining
• When things don’t go as planned
• Negotiator tactics and skills
• Contract transition
• Contract Risk Management
• Contract risk management definitions and process
• New concepts in risk mitigation

Day 4: Planning the Contract Delivery: Establishing the Baseline

• Project scope, requirement traceability and Work Breakdown Structure
• Using the Critical Path Method to manage contract deadlines
• Managing budget and contingencies
• Identifying and mitigating risks
• Effective Contract Monitoring
• Fundamentals of effective contract performance monitoring and control
• Refining project requirements and managing variations
• Earned Value Management
• Payments management, linking payments to performance, payment records

Day 5: Maximizing Value through Effective Control

• Managing project creeps and time delays
• Issue / dispute resolution
• Managing poor performance and non-conformance
• Closing the Contract
• Contract termination / extension
• Decision making on options for contract extension, renewal or termination
• Project completion / inspection / handover / acceptance
• Lessons Learned
• Contract performance reviews and benefit realisation