Negotiate with Supplier
Having established which product best fits your needs you are in a position to negotiate with your preferred supplier. The extent to which you are free to negotiate on terms and conditions is determined to some extent by the procurement route you choose and what you specified in your Invitation to Tender. One of the aims of this methodology is to put you in a good bargaining position at the end of the evaluation so you are advised to choose a route that allows you to negotiate after you have gained a thorough understanding of the product.
Contract negotiation is a minefield and your project plan should allow plenty of time for to-ing and fro-ing between your lawyers and the supplier's. JISC infoNet offers a separate infoKit on Contract Negotiation which covers most of the common issues but you are advised to seek legal advice at an early stage.
One point to bear in mind is that all of the large software companies will tell you that their standard contract terms are non-negotiable. The multi-nationals will say this very convincingly but all of them are able to exercise a greater or lesser degree of flexibility when it comes to winning your business in the end. Should you procure via GCAT you will sign a GCAT contract but this too is likely to be amended to reflect the particular circumstances of your project.
Two ways in which you can get a head start in preparing for this stage are to:
Include a sample set of your terms and condition with your Invitation to Tender or
Include a session on contract terms as part of your evaluation event - this will allow you to sum up the supplier's different approaches to contracts as a factor in your final decision.
It is tempting after a possibly lengthy and wearing selection process to want to get this stage out of the way as quickly as possible and get on with implementation. Everyone believes at this point that things will go well and the signed contract will go into a drawer never to be looked at again. In the real world this is all too often not the case. Cutting corners at this stage could be your biggest mistake. A well-drawn up contract should protect you (and the supplier) against unforeseen circumstances that throw your project off-track. View the Contract Negotiation infoKit.
