Contract management and dispute resolution strategies - IACCM Europe Conference 2019

Bad meetings no more

In his new book, UNC-Charlotte professor Steven Rogelberg offers an evidence-based guide to holding better meetings.

2019 Academic Symposium - Failed Joint Innovation Activity Case Study

2019 Academic Symposium - Failed Joint Innovation Activity Case Study

Ranking (and reforming) Public Procurement: a complex task

The Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University recently released a report containing its 2019 assessment of International Civil Service Effectiveness. Within this, it included a series of specific assessments, one relating to public procurement.

Flexibility in technology contracts with the Public Sector?

When does 'no negotiation' mean 'no negotiation' in technology contracts with the Public Sector? In principle, public procurement rules are seen in Europe as providing no flexibility for negotiation of terms and in general, policy on areas such as liabilities and indemnities allows for no variation. However, in reality, what do you experience? On these terms - and others like warranties, IP, data security - do you experience that there is no negotiation, or do you find a less consistent approach? And if inconsistent, is that because some countries are less rigid, or some situations? Thanks! Pablo Cilotta

SME Policy

Hello Folks. I am currently developing a SME / SME Friendly Policy and would be interested to hear from anyone else who has developed such a policy or is thinking of doing so. We are a large UK company (>4,000 employees and turnover of around GBP1.0bn) and already trade with a number of SMEs but are looking to formalise our approach in policy. Best wishes Stephen

USA Public procurement transparency

Could someone clarify what kind of details must be available in the USA on websites of federal government or agancies? What legislation can be screened for it apart from Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) or The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA). It it fine that federal government lists on the website data such as pricing of a particular vendor?

Recommendations

I am the Contract Administrator for a municipality in Illinois (US) and we are currently evaluating various systems. Our goals include using GIS to tie documents to pinpoints on a map; setting alarms for alerting of key terms in contracts; managing the contracting process at arms length; minimalizing man power in the procurement process; providing transparency to the public; and ensuring protection of all documents. Does any one want to share research, provide suggestions, or discuss flaws in particular systems?

Employee Non solicitation in USA w.r.t recently issued AntiTrust Law

With the recent US Dept of Justice ruling and FTC guideline on Anti Trust Law on No Poaching clauses in Agreements between companies, issued October 2016. Does the non-solicitation of employee clauses are now per say illegal in the US and cannot be accepted? A clarification would be of a great help.

IFRS15 will apply from January 1, 2018. Will your processes and contract management platforms be ready?

In July 2015 the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) confirmed a one-year deferral of the effective date of the revenue Standard, IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers, to 1 January, 2018. Companies have the option to apply the Standard earlier if they wish to do so. As of January 1, 2018 IFRS 15 comes into force to address revenue from contracts with customers. This new standard is in line with initiatives from the IASB and FASB and is relevant for almost all customer contracts. IFR's 15 replaces IAS11, IAS18, IFRIC15 IFRIC13 IFRIC18 SIC31. It does not replace IAS39 or FRS9. IAS17 (leases) remains outside the scope of IFRS15. The revenue recognition model upon which it is based comprises five steps:- - contract identification - tracking of performance obligations - transaction price management - linkage of performance obligations to transaction pricing - revenue recognition The additional complexity associated with this new standard will in many cases place enterprise process and IT system demands which existing contract visibility are not able to address. An enterprise will be obliged to address processes, compensation plans, tax implications, key performance indicators and additional employee training. Enterprises may also discover that additional roles within the organization require visibility into contract data. These additional roles may include shareholders, investors, audit committee members, Board of Directors and others. Decisions must also be taken to conceive and allocate transition mechanisms for contracts at different stages in their life ranging from contracts initiated and completed prior to January 1, 2018, contracts running across January 1, 2018 and new contracts starting only after January 1, 2018. The fundamental concepts behind IFRS15 is increasing disclosure with respect to revenue recognition with an ability to link precisely that disclosure to contract data. The implications not only impact the management of individual contracts but particularly in cases where there are multiple contracts with single suppliers and where there are complex contract hierarchies. Even within a single individual contract multiple performance obligations may be required to be unbundled requiring fine granularity visibility into contract data. The timeline recognition of revenue becomes increasingly critical with the core concept being one of revenue recognition in line with the actual delivery of products or services. There is however ever greater consideration given to the time value of money thus the revenue value required for reporting purposes may be significantly impacted by exactly when and entity fulfils its delivery requirements, performance obligations, receives customer payment and any relevant interest rate at that moment in time. In summary IFRS 15 elevates contract management from being simply a commercially beneficial activity albeit with real financial rewards to a well-run enterprise to now being a governance obligation. This new obligation demands both internal processes and contract management IT platforms be sufficiently capable and reliable to provide accurate, repeatable and auditable reporting data. Hope this is useful..........www.symfact.com

LOGIC vs FIDIC

I have seen mostly FIDIC (Yellow Book) based contracts in my work environment for offshore contraction/installation works. But also LOGIC is widely used in the industry. I have searched the internet and the IACCM website, but I do not really seem to find an answer to the following question: - What are the main differences between FIDIC and LOGIC - And following when would LOGIC be preferred or FIDIC be preferred. Looking forward reading your opinions about this