Contract and commercial management for practitioners

A five-day workshop (an IACCM qualification (CCMP))

This five-day programme empowers participants with the skills and knowledge to understand and effectively apply best practice commercial and contracting principles and techniques, ensuring better contractor performance and greater value add.

This is an assessed programme, leading to the International Association for Contracts & Commercial Management (IACCM)’s coveted Contract and Commercial Management Practitioner (CCMP) qualification.

Develop robust contracting plans, including scopes of work and award strategies
Undertake early market engagements to maximise competition
Conduct effective contracting and commercial management activities, including ITT, RFP, negotiated outcomes
Understand the legalities of contract and commercial management
Negotiate effectively with key stakeholders and clients, making use of the key skills of persuading and influencing to optimise outcomes
Undertake effective Supplier Relationship Management
Appreciate the implications of national and organisational culture on contracting and commercial activities
Set up and maintain contract and commercial management governance systems
Take a proactive, collaborative, and agile approach to managing commercial contracts

Develop and monitor appropriate and robust KPIs and SLAs to manage the contractor and facilitate improved contractor performance
Appreciate the cross-functional nature of contract management
Collaborate with clients to deliver sustainable performance and to manage and exceed client expectations
Understand the roles and responsibilities of contract and commercial managers
Use effective contractor selection and award methods and models (including the 10Cs model) and use these models to prepare robust propositions to clients
Make effective use of lessons learned to promote improvements from less than optimal outcomes, using appropriate templates
Effectively manage the process of change, claims, variations, and dispute resolution
Develop and present robust propositions
Make appropriate use of best practice contract and commercial management tools, techniques, and templates

Who should attend?

The practitioner level (CCMP) qualification is ideal for experienced (and semi-experienced) contract or commercial managers in both the public and private sectors who would like to demonstrate significant achievements in the field and gain knowledge and best practice insights. It is expected that participants will have had a range of experiences.

Format

This five-day programme can also be delivered virtually. Offered here on an in-house basis, the programme is also run as an open programme, sometimes virtually and sometimes in classroom format in central London as circumstances dictate: call or email us for dates, formats and prices.

Special features

The content of this course has been framed around the IACCM contract and commercial management process.

Expert trainer

Dr Ray Carter runs his own international training and development consultancy, specialising in procurement. A prolific author, his fourth book, Practical Contract Management, with Steve Kirby and Alan Oxenbury, was published in 2012. He has also had numerous articles and papers published in journals such as Supply Management and the Centre for Advanced Procurement’s Praxis publication.

Session outline

DAY ONE

1. Introduction

Aims
Objectives
KPIs
Learning strategies
Plan for the programme

2. The contracting context

Key objectives of contract management
Importance and impact on the business

3. Critical success factors

Essential features of professional commercial and contract management and administration
The 6-step model

4. Putting the ‘management’ into commercial and contract management

Traditional v ‘new age’ models
The need for a commercial approach
The added value generated

5. Definitions

‘Commercial management’
‘Contract management’
‘Contracting’
… and why have formal contracts?

6. Stakeholders

Stakeholder mapping and analysis
The ‘shared vision’ concept
Engaging with key functions, eg, HSE, finance, operations

7. Roles and responsibilities

Contract administrators
Stakeholders

8. Strategy and planning

Developing effective contracting plans and strategies

DAY TWO

1. Contract control:

Tools and techniques, including CPA and Gantt charts
A project management approach
Developing effective contract programmes

2. Tendering:

Overview of the contracting cycle
Requirement to tender
Methods
Rationale
Exceptions
Steps
Gateways
Controls
One and two package bids

3. Preparing effective specifications:

Developing robust scopes of works
Use of performance specifications
Output-based SOWs

4. Tender assessment and contract award I – framework:

Tender board procedures
Role of the tender board (including minor and major tender boards)
Membership
Administration
Developing robust contract award strategies and presentations

DAY THREE

1. Tender assessment and contract award II – processes:

Pre-qualification processes
CRS
Vendor registration rules and processes
Creating bidder lists
Disqualification criteria
Short-listing
Using the 10Cs model
Contract award and contract execution processes

2. Minor works orders:

Process
Need for competition
Role and purpose
Controls
Risks

3. Contract strategy:

Types of contract
Call-offs
Framework agreements
Price agreements
Supply agreements

4. Contract terms I: Pricing structures:

Lump sum
Unit price
Cost plus
Time and materials
Alternative methods
Target cost
Gain share contracts
Advance payments
Price escalation clauses

5. Contract terms II: Other financial clauses:

Insurance
Currencies
Parent body guarantees
Tender bonds
Performance bonds
Retentions
Sub-contracting
Termination
Invoicing

6. Contract terms III: Risk and reward:

Incentive contracts
Management and mitigation of contractual risk

DAY FOUR

1. Contract terms IV: Jurisdiction and related matters:

Applicable laws and regulations
Registration
Commercial registry
Commercial agencies

2. Managing the client-contractor relationship:

Types of relationship
Driving forces
Link between type of contract and style of relationships
Motivation – use of incentives and remedies

3. Disputes:

Types of dispute
Conflict resolution strategies
Negotiation
Mediation
Arbitration

DAY FIVE

1. Performance measurement:

KPIs
Benchmarking
Cost controls
Validity of savings
Balanced scorecards
Using the KPI template

2. Personal qualities of the contract manager:

Negotiation
Communication
Persuasion and influencing
Working in a matrix environment

3. Contract terms V: Drafting skills:

Drafting special terms

4. Variations:

Contract and works variation orders
Causes of variations
Risk management
Controls
Prevention
Negotiation with contractors

5. Claims:

Claims management processes
Controls
Risk mitigation
Schedules of rates

6. Close-out:

Contract close-out and acceptance / completion
HSE
Final payments
Performance evaluation
Capturing the learning

7. Close:

Review
Final assessment
Next steps