Strategic Contract Management

• Contract managers and professionals involved in contract management and procurement.
• Project managers, procurement specialists, and team leaders responsible for overseeing contracts.
• Legal advisors and compliance officers involved in contract drafting and negotiations.
• Senior executives and managers seeking to enhance their understanding of strategic contract management.

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, and 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 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 (WBS)
• 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 (EVM)
• 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 realization