Interesting point, Michelle.

I´d strongly encourage you to raise this question also within the IACCM technology network, which is a micro-community, where you will be able to get insights to new trends in this specific field and where I am sure you´ll have the opportunity to share ideas regarding the topic you have brought:

www.iaccm.com/gp/technology

Also, please check our library: www.iaccm.com/resources/
where, you will find some articles about 'escrow agreements' for the software arena and other topics associated with risk management in the hardware world as well. By analogy you will explore ideas regarding hardware coming from best practices and escrow programs with the goal of risk mitigation

www.iaccm.com/resources/;

Best regards
Pablo

Hi Michelle - saw your post. For hardware: having a refresh plan with your supplier following a bit of a mutual benchmark, to see how best to provision for your upcoming capacity needs, might give some assurance. For services or subscriptions-based tech: having a documented 'cookbook' of key players and tech needed to recreate the service, including a list of any solutions 'not commercially available' or not easily re-purchased in Canada updated, might also be helpful to gage the difficulty of transitioning off your current tech,if needs be.

Those two governance-type processes, along with the typical supplier obligation to reasonably cooperate with any successor and to provide some mutually-agreed orderly termination assistance, might serve you well (outside escrow for software). Hope that offers some ideas...good luck. Cheers, Robin

I do not think there are any legal roadblock to do so, if the parties agree to make the amendment that should be it.

Mathieu,

While standardization may be a noble ambition, achieving it is usually quite difficult. You can improve your odds through the use of mutual NDAs that protect the confidential information of both parties and by having fair and balanced agreements, but expecting all suppliers to sign them as-is may be expecting too much.

Your role is to understand their requested changes and to determine the impact to your company and whether the changes are acceptable, and to advise your internal client accordingly.

Hope that helps. Sincere regards.

Consider whether you might be able to use a "standard" and have each negotiated difference stand out as a specific change. There are a number of ways to do this. The most systematic would be to use a master and generate each of the documents from the master, with a patch for the differences. That's possible in a number of technologies. A broad example is shown here: www.commonaccord.org/index.php

Hi Vladimir,

We have standard NDA template and additional clauses in the clause library if the vendor pushes for Mutual NDA. This helps build the agility in NDA execution. My experience says that we are able to push 80% cases on standard NDA template and the balance needs engagement.

If a NDA is well drafted, clear, fair and equitable then it should be signed without issue.

If the client has specific requirements that are reasonable and equitable they should be acceptable to all parties.

If there is an element of inequity or unreasonableness then expect suppliers to push back. The simplest test is "would I sign this on behalf of my organisation": if not, then why expect the other party to sign?

What could be up for discussion: whether the NDA is one-way or mutual? what law and jurisdiction apply? the length/duration of the NDA and of any surviving obligations? whether personal NDAs/statements are required?

I would have concerns if I have received unacceptable terms in an NDA - it wouldn't bode well for any subsequent contract discussions negotiations.

In my organization we use a Mutual Non-Disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement. I can see where there may be a need for specifics to be outlines, and in that event, I would consider an addendum as a sufficient protocol. The addendum can include the customer specifics that would otherwise present as "sticking points" that tie up getting the project off the ground.

Dear Alan,
It´s great to hear that organizations like the one you´re working for as Senior Contracting executive are undertaking this type of exercises in order to gather information around best practices in contract, supplier and performance management.
As the unique global organization identifing best practices in this area, at the IACCM we will be happy to assist enabling other members to share what they have been applying in their respective organizations and, furnished with the results and findings of this networking atmosphere, you will be achieving our goals at Philips 66.
Behind 'best practice' is a simple concept: measurable standards. And that means some form of benchmark is required. So, the exercise proposed in your posting, Alan, is a great example. It will be a comparison against peers, organizations at the same level, in order to get standards and then, you will see how you and others do things and what you and they do.
I know that your company has invested in the developement of contracting skills among your CM staff, and most of your colleagues are currently taking the CCM (Contract and Commercial Management) learning program, in its different certification levels (practitioner, advanced practitioner). At this point, it will be extremely important to consider what IACCM states in module 1 ('Best practices in contracting'), so I'd extremely recommend to review that content, at first sight.
Second, in this link you will find the 'IACCM top ten best practices in contracting' (general): www.iaccm.com/resources/;
Among other relevant resouces provided by IACCM corporate membership, as you might be aware, you have the right to get access to ATEs (webinars) via our IACCM library in subjects such as 'best practices selecting the right supplier': www.iaccm.com/resources/;
In addition, refer to 'Supplier relatioship management: best practices'
www.iaccm.com/resources/;
In sum, over the past several years, supplier relationship management (SRM) has become a major focus within the procurement and supply chain community and many companies are analyzing how best to expand SRM efforts and investment. We look forward to hearing from other members.
Kindest regards,
Pablo Cilotta

Dear Alan,

At Seal Software, we can provide you with a technology which locates, understand and extracts data from your contracts. This can help you with supplier and performance management by:
- Extracting information from your contracts, such as the parties to contracts, and their obligations.
- Maximizing revenue opportunities, by identifying unknown business intelligence.

It would be great to discuss how Seal can help you, in more detail. Please feel free to call me on +4420 735 9892.

Kind regards,
Abigail

We are revamping as well this year and I attended a training from State of Flux in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. I found there approach on planning very particle. For me it is very situation on how you manage your supply base hwoever keys are

1) Outlining performance expectations
2) Holding regular reviews
3) awarding business based on performance

Regards

Thanks Jessica for posting this question. I appreciate all the inputs from everyone most especially Jason's reply. Like many others, suggesting to our vendors the use of our company templates for professional services is always a challenge. But as Jason suggested, explaining the benefits of using the company template (e.g. easy approval of subsequent statements of work once an MSA has been approved) makes the vendor think and eventually agree. Of course, there is negotiation in the process. It is not a straightforward demand of asking them to accept the template per se but making them aware of the benefits does help.

Since this discussion started almost 2 years ago, the world of technology has progressed and IACCM can today offer a service to validate 'contract norms'.

A challenge for buyers and suppliers is that their templates start from positions of self interest and naturally this creates contention and delay. It is now quick and relatively easy for us to provide members with insight to what is a normal position / term for any particular type of. Ontract. This allows internal discussion of the desirable business position and of course informs external discussion to accelerate agreement.

Even though it has been a long time since Jessica posted this, I would like to add my comment (may be somebody is still interested in this topic). Usually, I don't face problems with internal clients in the way they don't want to share the template with our customers. On the other hand of course, customers sometimes come back with their template (instead of any comments/tracked changes in our template) or, if not such a "strong" company to insist on their template, they send our template back with all important clauses deleted and replaced with their template wording. Sometimes it is just a matter of wording, and when I see the content is the same and can imagine how long would it take them to have our wording reviewed and approved, I agree with theirs instead. However, sometimes it is really a totally different story, setting us in such an unpleasant situation, that the best option would be not to sign the contract at all. What I learned is, that is not only a question of the size of a company or its hierarchy (=how many approvals do they need), it is often also a "cultural" thing. Some nations have negotiations or even fighting for a win in their veins, and they push back just as a matter of principle. When you set up relevant points in front of them, they usually agree and you get their respect. A great distinguishing model here is the one of Hofstede, which was also mentioned in one of the modules.
Coming back to Jessica's comment, I sometimes face a different problem - internal clients wish to send the template immediately to the customer without any prior discussions or involvements of Contracts. They simply tend to find somewhere a blank template and go out. I always need to explain, that Contracts need to see it and that we, Contracts, are the one responsible for it. Even though using a template, every single deal is unique and a template needs to be adjusted not only with regards to the deal's specific, but also based on our experience with the customer (e.g. I know Czech companies insist on having their ID and information about incorporation in the legal name and address description - if I wouldn't place it in the contract prior sending to the customer, we would look stupid and like we don't care about customer's needs at all. the same is with Russian customers, who, due to their law requirements, need to have bank details explicitly written in the agreement - so I won't release any draft for their review without inserting those bank details).
So I think nobody can only focus on one side of the business - I believe it is not only about customers (CRM) but about relationship with the internal clients (trusted advisor) as well.

Hi Jessica
This is a common problem. Many of the relationships with indirect
suppliers are less formal and may have been in place for years, leading to resistance over use of standard templates.

It is of course important to establish whether the issue is just general resistance or whether the standards are not really appropriate to the range of indirect relationships required, or lack required flexibility.

We do have benchmark data at IACCM on cycle times and will be issuing reports on the latest information at the end of April. It should be possible to provide interim data if you need it sooner.

Tim

Internal Template application rather than the one of the supplier is usually a requirement nevertheless the real issue behind is do we protect ourself correctly. Legal usually is validating a template that he wants verybody contract manager to apply. As legal ressources are scarce and expensive ressources it is ovious that this is the first thing that should be pushed. Once you know that he does not work the more complex but more interesting solution for the company is to look at the mandatory clauses that are requested from the contract. So instead of pushing your template you should fight on the mandatory clauses. Fall back position should be created as a handbook of best practices.

Ms. Prendergast,

Templates, while easy to copy and work with, present a challenge to many companies in part because the template is usually written from one side or the other, providing all the advantages to the author's side and none to the recipient. This is frequently seen in EULAs, where the equivalent of "Not only do we have all the rights, but you are lucky we let you use our product at all, you horrible little vendor!" is common contract parlance.

So how do you overcome the natural inclination of a vendor to resist your templates? The same way you advertise anything else!

Make the option of using your product (the templates) both appealing and advantageous to the vendor. When sending internal templates to a vendor for use, do not present them as a "use or lose" option. Instead, deliver the items with the contracting equivalent of a box of chocolates: Provide vendors a summarized explanation of the benefits offered through using your templates. Bullet-oriented briefs are more effective here, as they provide not only a quick list for the vendor to read, but a point-summary for the vendor's contract manager to use in presenting the overwhelming benefits offered by your templates to their management.

Explain (again in short form) the potential realized cost savings of template use, including ease of follow-on contract development by way of utilizing your "easily-tailored, customer-specific templates." Make every effort to ensure using your templates is so much easier than having the vendor's contract department reinvent the procurement wheel that the vendor (who at this point you should view as your customer) would actually be acting against their own best interest to do anything other than to use your templates.

As M. Fouquier rightly points out, the usual greatest challenge is getting your templates past the legal department guardians. Providing a brief mandatory clause list may be a more advantageous initial step, as it tends to ease legal's protective instinct toward its client(s). Once you present not merely a palatable offering of clauses, but a tasty array of work-easing options to the vendor (and the vendor's legal counsel), your job is 90% done. Offering updates and non-critical individual tailoring options (which would not, of course, change the mandatory clauses) gives the vendor the personalized attention so critical to obtaining their final approval. It is the after-dinner apertif of contracting: "Not only do we offer all these options, but our true focus is on YOU."

Granting the vendor a choice of either (a) using your banquet of templates designed to ease their workload or (b) going through the tedious grind of negotiating back and forth on every item for months makes you and your templates the obvious and preferred choice every time.

The governance and framework for outsourcing service on-boarding and general service contractor on-boarding would be largely applicable here. The key here is that the SOW's, SLA's and KPI's are clear and complete - but that holds true in any services contract. From what I have seen, SIAM principles are highly relevant here.

Governance framework for vendor management should be standard, however, level of engagement to manage a vendor varies depending on type of contract and value of spend.

I would recommend at minimum to onboard vendor onto these governance framework discipline:

Contract Administration
Service Performance
Financial Management
Risk and Compliance
Transition Management


Regards,
Dave

Isabelle,
I did a search on the website for KPI and there are several items, including an interview from Suntrust around customer satisfaction & loyalty.
John Henke gave a great presentation at the last Americas conference on the link between the Working Relationship Index and the profitability of automobiles in the US.
Good luck, and give me a call if you want to talk through what you want to achieve.
Regards,
Nick Seiersen
647 299 8360

Hi Isabelle.
I've just joined the community so I appreciate this reply may be too late. Please take a look at www.contractswise.com/ecms to see a contract performance and contract risk dashboard.
Regards
Noel

It would seem logical to have one interface and have other entity operate as a sub-contractor. Failing that, make the implementation partner accountable for operational performance.

Thank you Anonymous.

Hi Ituka, thank you for your interesting post. Let's chat about having you join one of our Expert webinars - IACCM members love hearing about cross cultural challenges.