Contract Administration

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION

Once your organisation has agreed and signed a contract with a supplier of products or services, you need to put in place arrangements for the efficient delivery of the contract. The priority is to ensure that all actions are compliant with the terms and conditions of the contract.

CONTRACT PLANNING AND DELIVERY

Contract administration is concerned with contract delivery. In order for it to be effective, careful contract planning needs to have taken place. A prerequisite of contract administration is therefore the establishment of a contract management plan.

A detailed contract management plan will include the following indicative content:

• Who will be responsible for managing the delivery of the contract.
• Key stakeholders and how these relationships will be managed.
• The nature and extent of engagement with the supplier.
• How issues and disputes will be resolved.
• Potential risks, how they will be mitigated and managed, and by whom.
• How performance will be monitored and measured.
• Expected savings and benefits that should be delivered
• An exit strategy to be applied at the end of the contract.

THE ROLE OF CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION

Once a contract management plan has been set up, contract delivery can take place. The diagram below shows the relationship between contract administration and other aspects of contract delivery:

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Once the contract management team has been set up, the contract administrator monitors, reports and ensures that the obligations defined under the contract are met. Key aspects are the management of under-performance, risks, payments and variations  to the contract. Effective contract administration has a direct impact on the performance management of the contract and the relationship management of the supplier.

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION RESPONSIBILITIES

Contract administration includes the following responsibilities:

• Administration of paperwork: new contracts, extensions, amendments, terminations and completions.
• Ensuring all compliance documentation and administration is in place and adheres to the organisation’s policies.
• Primary point of contact for the contractor.
• On-going communication with contractors.
• Processing of contract extension documentation.
• Act as a liaison between contractors and other internal departments.
• Own and manage contractor queries and administration through to resolution.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of individual business units.
• Maintenance of contractor reports.
• Managing performance trackers on a daily basis.
• Ad-hoc reporting as the business requires.
• Assist in meetings between the organisation and contractors.
• Creation and maintenance of contractor records on in-house systems.
• Maintaining administrative records.

Contract administrators require excellent customer service and administration skills. 

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION TASKS

The diagram below shows the detailed contract administration tasks which are typically undertaken: