About

Strategic Contract Management & Governance will provide you with an in-depth understanding of the contracting process, how to effectively manage contracts, and how to get the most value out of them.

This hands-on training course delivers the key frameworks for designing contracts that work in practice and managing contracts. The course consists of two intensive days filled with pragmatic methods, comprising numerous interactive exercises designed to assist you determine the most effective management techniques for your organisation.

Key Learning Objectives
•  Rate your contract management to a best practice checklist
•  Understand the contract lifecycle and how it affects contract management
•  Implement the contract management team with the right skills
•  Examine contract clauses and specifications from a practical perspectdive
•  Explore the different techniques required to manage the different price models
•  Prepare the Governance Charter – how the parties will manage the deal
•  Implement effective issue, variation and dispute management
•  Effectively plan your options at the end of a contract – extensions, terminations, backsourcing, and handovers to new suppliers

Who Should Attend?
•  Contract managers, officers, and administrators
•  Procurement and purchasing personnel
•  Finance managers and business analysts
•  Internal audit

Training Methodology
Participants are split into small groups with similar expertise areas to ensure you have the maximum opportunity to have your individual questions and needs addressed. In this group, you will work through the issues and course techniques regarding a complex contract volunteered by a group member – be prepared
to be that volunteer!

This intensive 2-day master class will combine tutorial sessions and case studies with interactive learning exercises. All attendees will be provided with full workbook, Governance Charters, best practice checklists and a certificate of completion.

Outline

Introduction and Overview of Training
•  Course design layout – walkthrough what you will learn
•  Meeting individual objectives

Setting up the contract management function
•  Activities required for successful contract management
•  Budgeting the function
•  Preparing the contract management strategy

The Contract Lifecycle – the contract as a program, not a piece of paper
•  The four phases and nine building blocks of best practice explained
•  Managing bargaining power and total cost of contract
•  Targeting the skills you need throughout the lifecycle

Understanding the role of contracts
•  The governing documents – including ‘contract’ and ‘off-contract’ documents
•  Estoppel (variation by conduct) – a key challenge for any contract manager
•  Key objectives of contract documents – making them useful in practice

The conditions of contract – from a practical perspective
•  Explore key contract planning issues – who prepare it, length, extensions, etc
•  Overview of the 100+ issues covered in contracts from a practical perspective

Specification/SLA
•  Key contents – responsibility matrix, specification and KPIs
•  Examine examples of good and poor practice

Managing pricing options
•  Explore the various pricing models and what is required to make these successful
•  Understand the total cost of contract – it isn’t just the price

The Governance Charter – the inter-party management agreement
•  Setting the roles of each party – getting the right inter-party relationships
•  Meetings – structuring the frequent interaction needed at many levels
•  Evaluations, reviews and audits – frequent assessments are critical
•  Issue, variation and dispute management

Relationship design& management
•  Planning a successful relationship throughout the lifecycle – key techniques
•  Team chemistry – will your team work well with the other party?

Planning the next generation options
•  End of term options – extensions, backsourcing, and handovers
•  Disengagement – unwind the deal
•  Assessments –determine the way forward

Closing discussion and evaluation

Facilitator

Dr. Sara Cullen

Dr. Sara Cullen is the Managing Director of The Cullen Group (www.cullengroup.com.au) and is a former national partner at Deloitte (Australia). She has a leading profile in contracting within Asia Pacific and is one of the region's most experienced advisors having consulted to over 125 private and public sector organizations, spanning 51 countries, in 150 projects with contract values up to $1.5B p.a. The 70 functions she has worked with include call centres, claims management, construction, facilities management, finance, food services, HR, logistics, IT, maintenance, property, recreational services, sales, and security. She has designed partnering arrangements, franchise-type agreements, shared risk/reward structures and incentive programs in addition to traditional arrangements.

Sara is a widely published, internationally recognised author having written over 110 publications, conducted 7 independent expert government reviews, featured in 60 articles and presented in 300 major conferences. Her recent books include: The Contract Scorecard, Toward Reframing Outsourcing, Contracting for the Outsourcing Lifecycle:  A Practical Guide, Intelligent IT Outsourcing, in addition to research with various universities since 1994 including the London School of Economics, Melbourne, Oxford, and Warwick.

She holds a PhD (Contracts), a Masters of Management (Technology), a BSc (Accounting) and is a Certified Mediator, Teacher, and Trainer.

Dr. Sara Cullen is also facilitating:

• The Contract Scorecard

In-house Training