GovWire

You can now register for the free Department for Education (DfE) approved contract management training course.

The course aims to give you the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage your contracts effectively. This way you can get the best value for money.

The training is suitable for anyone within a school or multi-academytrust (MAT) who is responsible for managing contracts, not just those in a specific commercial role.

How to access the training

The course can be found on the Government Commercial College site.

Schools should already be registered on the site as part of the Transforming Public Procurement (TPP) programme, or can register for an account.

Once logged in, you can access the course by selecting Find Learning at the top of page, then searching for Contract Management Foundation.

If your supplier is employing another company to do some or all of the work, its the suppliers responsibility to make sure they have the appropriate:

• health and safety policies
• insurance
• professional qualifications
• certification

Make sure that this is clear in the contract. You may want to seek legal advice on sub-contractor warranties.

Suppliers might ask to change your contracts terms and conditions or use their own. If its important to you to use your own, you should state this in your invitation to tender.

Check that the signed contract the supplier sends back to you is exactly the same as the copy you sent them. The last copy of the terms and conditions sent by either side is the one that is legally binding, so make sure that you are the last to sign.

Decide the level of service you want from the supplier.

You may want a service-level agreement (SLA) with them as part of your contract, especially if there will be ongoing support or maintenance.

The supplier may offer you a pre-set SLA as part of the contract. You may want to adapt this or write your own, but some suppliers will charge extra for that.

Your contract should also include key performance indicators (KPIs). These monitor how the supplier is performing. Good KPIs should:

• set targets. such as things you need fixing within a specific time
• set the quality of service you want, such as timeliness or reliability
• set the level of service you want
• be measurable
• help you check you are getting value for money
• specify what happens if the service is poor, such as money back

Make sure you already collect the information you need to monitor your KPIs. If not, youll need to set up new systems for this, or get the supplier to do it.

Review the KPIs with the supplier as part of regular contract update meetings.

If your contract is complex, high-value or high-risk, include an exit strategy. This should set out:

• what everyone is responsible for if the contract expires after its specified completion date, you end the contract early or you end the contract with immediate effect
• who owns what at the end of the contract
• what information the supplier will provide, by when and under what circumstances
• what access the supplier will allow to procedures, systems and people, and when and how they will allow it
• what the supplier will do to support the contract ending
• how long the supplier will give support while you change to a new supplier
• who pays for what, by when and how
• under what conditions either side can end the agreement, such as if the supplier does not meet the service level agreement, there are changes in circumstances or there is any misconduct
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