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Contract Administration and Management

This 1-day seminar explore the legalities of contract and contractual obligations from the perspectives of a contract manager. This overview and understanding of the operations of contract management will better enable persons employed in the role of contract managers or project managers to fulfil their responsibilities in an effective way. The course topics also include Outsourcing contracts and Service Level Agreements.


** Prior to attending this course, participants should preferably have completed:
- Essential Contract Law: Risk Management Skills on Business Contracts for Non-
legal PMEs
- Practical Understanding of Legal & Common Commercial Clauses in Commercial
Agreements for Non-legal

** Upon completion of this course, participants may progress to attend:
- Essential Business Law – Managing Your Business Risk with Practical Legal
Know-How for Non-legal PME
- Developing, Managing and Implementing Service Level Agreements

** Prior to attending this course, participants should preferably have completed:
- Essential Contract Law: Risk Management Skills on Business Contracts for Non-legal PMEs
- Practical Understanding of Legal & Common Commercial Clauses in Commercial Agreements for Non-legal

** Upon completion of this course, participants may progress to attend:
- Essential Business Law – Managing Your Business Risk with Practical Legal Know-How for Non-legal PME
- Developing, Managing and Implementing Service Level Agreements

Outline

1. Roles and responsibilities of a contract manager

• Drafting skills
  - Formalities, structure and format
  - Drafting with or without precedents
• Commencing the contractual process
  - Relationship building
  - Setting Targets, timelines and periodic review
• Defining expectations
• Project Manager - Outsourcing contracts
  - Role definition and responsibilities

2. Features of Contract Management

• Contract Management Process
• Contract Administration
• Negotiating and Managing Performance through Service Level Agreements
  - Identify issues to be managed
  - Establish an effective team
  - lists of services and deliverables expected
  - importance of having a well constructed SLA
  - evaluating and managing contractor performance
  - developing, implementing and measuring Key Performance Indicators to monitor the quality of service
  - drive business value to meet company’s goals
• Statement of Works
• Change Orders

3. Outsourcing Contracts

• checklists for IT Outsourcing contracts
• services to be performed by vendor
• charges e.g. GST
• Hardware and soft ware
• project managers
• employees to be taken by the Vendor
• warranties e.g. performance standards
• backup and disaster recovery
• exclusion of liabilities
• turnback services
• indemnity
• confidentiality
• force majeure
• waiver
• assignment
• entire agreement
• governing law
• Intellectual Property management Issues
  - patents
  - trademarks and service marks
  - confidentiality clauses
  - copyrights, industrial designs

4. The Contents of Contract - how to manage?

• Standard form contracts
• Conditions and Warranties
• Identifying fundamental terms and minor terms
• Express & Implied Terms
• Parol Evidence Rule
• Unconscionable bargains and unreasonable terms of contract
• Interpretation of Terms
  - from literal to contextual interpretation

5. Managing Contract Performance

• Variations to the existing contract
• Negotiating variations and potential legal pitfalls - Extensions and renewals - effective use of extension and renewal clauses - best practices with regard to notices
• Completion of works and original expectations
• Reviewing contract specifications and matching with performance
• Withdrawing from the contract - understanding the legalities of wrongful withdrawal
• Termination and post-termination actions

6. The Effective Use of Service Level Agreements

• Measuring performance levels
• Key performance Indicators
• SLA and the substantive Contract between the parties
• Penalties, Charges, Earn back points and Invoice Adjustments

7. Contract Review and Meetings

• Identifying performance issues
• Constructing an Agenda for a meeting
• Setting out specific roles for participants in the meeting
• Anticipating the positions and expectations of the other party
• Managing the meeting process

8. Managing Contract Documentation

• files and records
• defensive record keeping for evidential purposes
• version controls and software
• document sharing and security

Who should attend

Contract Managers, Contract Administrators, Project Managers, and anyone who is assigned the role of managing contracts and would like to discharge their responsibilities effectively.

Profile of Catherine Tay

Catherine Tay has over 35 years of lecturing experience as an Associate Professor lecturing business law at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Department of Strategy and Policy, NUS Business School. She is an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore. She is also a barrister-at-law (of Lincoln’s Inn, United Kingdom). She is an author of more than 8 law books, including her best-seller book title called "Contract Law - A layman Guide".

She studied law at Queen Mary College, University of London and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws with Honours and with a Master of Laws, in which she specialised in Company, Shipping, Insurance and Marine Insurance Laws.

She has facilitated seminars and in-house training courses for many business law topics such as tenancy agreements, contract administration management, procurement contracts, legal and practical aspects of tender management, Service Level Agreements and Outsourcing contracts, oil and gas contract management, insurance contracts, Intellectual Property Laws and PDPA data privacy laws. She is an examiner on law subjects for a number of professional bodies and universities in Singapore and overseas. She has lectured at the NUS Extension in professional and business management law courses.

She was an adjunct lecturer at NUS Institute of System Science, in IT outsourcing contracts for over 20 years. She is the Honourable Legal Advisor for Singapore Optometric Association, as well as for the Singapore Institute of Engineering Technologists.