Contract management is the process of managing the creation of contracts, execution of agreements and the analysis of contracts to ensure there is a maximum financial and operational performance in a firm while reducing financial risks. Brilliant contract management creates a robust relationship in business and paves the way to more profits to a firm when it comes to dealing with contracts (Fried, 2015).

A contract lifecycle has the following stages:

• Request- one party initiates the contract process.
• Author-the contact terms, clauses and conditions get drafted, and signings details get captured.
• Negotiate-the parties lay their views on the contract and try to come to a consensus.
• Approve-there is an acknowledgment of the contract document by signing in the presence of lawyers from both parties. Present-after acknowledgment the contract documents get present to the right people ready for execution.
• Execute- the contract goes into effect.
• Manage obligations-both parties meet their ends of the bargain such as delivering and meeting deadlines.
• Amend- in case of any ball of contention both parties can meet and talk over the issue and if need be, and in unison agreement, they can change those parts of the contract.
• Renew-the parties can renew the deal to make it stay active if it is beneficial.

The people involved in the contracting process ought to have contracting competencies. These competencies can get included in a contracting competency model that has the following levels; pre-award and award, negating, price analysis, contract administration, contract termination, contracting in a combat environment and other professional competencies such as customer service, communication, resilience, accountability, and credibility (Peel, 2015).

During the process of contracting the contract managers should ensure that supply chain alignment configurations namely; lean supply chains, agile supply chains, fully flexible supply chains, and continuous replenishment supply chains should get considered since they affect the process directly (Gattorna, 2016).

References

Fried, C. (2015). Contract as a promise: a theory of contractual obligation. Oxford University Press, USA.

Gattorna, J. (2016). Dynamic supply chain alignment: a new business model for peak performance in enterprise supply chains across all geographies. Florida: CRC Press.

Peel, E. (2015). Treitel on the Law of Contract (Vol. 414). London: Sweet & Maxwell.