Mastering Contract Management and Claims Mitigation

Introduction:

Contracts establish the responsibilities and rights of the parties. This highly interactive program will provide a practical hands-on approach to effective management of contracts and offer techniques and contract strategies to assist this process. It will also assist in establishing an international risk management strategy regarding contracts and develop good business practices to take advantage of opportunities, enhance efficiency, and increase profitability

Targeted Groups:

Contract Professionals
Tendering, Purchasing and Procurement Professionals
Project Management Professionals
Engineering, Operational, Finance, and Maintenance Professionals

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course the participants will be able to:

Understand the necessary contractual and legal knowledge
Understand and apply the different types of agreements
Increase commercial awareness needed to enhance the smooth running of contracts
Increase the ability to manage contracts to reduce claims and conflict
Identify and mitigate risk factors and associated commercial and program implications
Understand the importance of good record-keeping and service of contractual notices
Increase the understanding of commercial liabilities resulting from schedule changes and variations
improve the ability, successfully to negotiate and maintain long term inter-business contracts with confidence
Understand the need to deal with issues as they arise and to resolve disputes within the contract structure wherever possible
Analyze, negotiate and implement the most appropriate method of resolving disputes preventing escalation by early identification

Targeted Competencies:

Mastering skills in managing contract management
Exceptional negotiation skills
Greater ability to develop professionally
Increased job satisfaction
Receiving increased recognition by their organization leading toward advancement and promotion
Superior confidence in leading, planning, and managing the entire contract process

Course Content:

Unit 1: The Legal Framework of Contracts:

The need for contractual relationships
External and internal dimensions of a business relationship
Formation of a Contract
The key elements of a contract
Oral or written?
Electronic contracts
Terms of the contract
Inter-business contracting
Law of Agency
Sources of Law
Developing legal knowledge and skills

Unit 2: Some Issues Arising in Contracts:

Precedence of documents in a contract
Obligations to perform
Delivery, acceptance and transfer of title and risk
ICC Incoterms
Liability in negligence - relationship with contract conditions
Product liability and defective goods
Intellectual Property clauses - some special issues
Letters - Intent; Instruction/Award; Comfort; Awareness
Conflict of Laws and Choice of Law and jurisdiction Clauses

Unit 3: Different Contracting Strategies in International Contracts:

Some types of Standard Form/Model Form Conditions
Drafting Standard Terms
Potential problems with Standard Form Contracts
Limiting or excluding liability
Unequal Bargaining Positions
Traditional contracts
Fixed Price/Lump Sum
Bill of Quantities/Schedule of Rates – re-measured contracts
Full reimbursable – “cost-plus” – why this is sometimes the right answer
Dealing with volatile markets – economic price adjustment clauses and the use of indices
Adding incentives to lumps sums
Non-Traditional contracts
Build Own Operate and similar structures
Alliances and Partnering
No Cure/No Pay – a technique from marine salvage that has wider uses