Contract
Management
Contracts
Management Process
The contract management process fell under the operations function as an enabling service managed by the Chief Operating Officer. ENS availed tax and various legal resources to support the Fund to carry out its operations and remain compliant with laws and regulations.
- Contracts were initiated when required and were written to ensure that the activities and responsibilities of all parties were clearly articulated and aligned to the requirements of the Fund.
- The appropriate executive would brief ENS as to the intention of the project, invite ENS and the COO to negotiations with implementing parties. The CEO got involved in more difficult negotiations. ENS drafted almost all of the Fund’s contracts.
- The full sign off of contracts was verified before commencing with implementation.
- The execution of obligations against contract terms for all contracts was tracked by the project team.
- The diverse partner network, including those providing support services to the Fund, and those who are part of the supply of goods, was managed through contracts.
The Fund used SmartSheets as a master contract registry. Contracts were managed and signed through an encrypted adobe process to ensure the appropriate level of controls.
Time estimates for turnaround of contracts were often over optimistic given internal and external constraints resulting delays in timelines for project implementation. It is important to establish a clear contract process to manage the disbursement pipeline, to appoint the appropriate capacity, and to manage external constraints so that the contracting process will not be a bottleneck in the process.
The partnership with ENS and their commercial lawyers was imperative to ensure contracts were set up to protect the Fund’s reputation and align with the Fund’s values and ethos.
The application of the same contracting and payment approvals processes for projects and for operating costs created unnecessary complexities. Suppliers of goods and services for projects should have more stringent contracting processes than for much smaller organisational supplier costs. Different policies should be developed and applied for the two types of suppliers.
Challenges arose with a misalignment of expectations around implementation and reporting timelines between the Fund and implementing partners. It is crucial to balance the urgency required with real constraints in implementation and the effect of those on timelines. The Fund should also be as specific as possible in contracts on reporting requirements and underlying evidence required for audit purposes to ensure accountability from partners.
There were challenges with implementation and reporting timelines that were not aligned to the Fund’s expectations from implementation partners. It is crucial to balance the urgency required with real constraints on rolling out implementation and the effect of those on timelines and to be as specific as possible around reporting requirements and underlying evidence that is likely to be required for audit purposes in contracts to ensure accountability from partners.
External audits should be proactively planned for when structuring programmes and resourcing model. Contracts should be set up in an appropriate way to obtain the right data and reporting from implementation partners.
Pillar Leads and Finance must ensure that implementing partner contracts are clear about the responsibilities of partners as regards the pre-implementation, implementation, and post-implementation. The Fund requires documentation and sometimes support, in respect of all aspects of the project through to the proof of the actual beneficiary signing for receiving the benefit. The contract should state that post-implementation partners are expected to assist the Fund in verifying the information received. Project documentation must also be held by the Fund directly, not accessed through portals.
Contracts must ensure that documented evidence is available to show that the projects’ objective - that the ultimate benefit is received by the beneficiary – has been achieved. Failing to provide this requires the partner to return funding provided to the Fund. Sometimes the broad strokes of a project were captured and the steps that ensure this ultimate objective were not clearly laid out.
Related Reading
