It is essential for every company to have three key documents related to contracts:
1) Templates
2) Exhibits (separate post)
3) Playbooks (separate post)
I will soon share downloadable samples of templates.
Templates
These are complete documents that set out a company’s standard terms based on its internal policies, processes and position.
Templates streamline the contracting process, reduce contract cycle time and enhance legal protections through consistent legal terms. An efficient contracting process helps procurement build stronger partnerships with business units and vendors.
Templates should be complete and simple. They should have all necessary terms that are expected in most contracts. They should avoid one-sided terms and edge cases that get pushback from too many vendors and the process inefficient. The language should be simple so anyone can understand the purpose. Templates should evolve through iterations based on learnings from vendor negotiations and changes in internal expectations.
Generally, smaller vendors with less leverage are more likely to accept templates, and vice versa. Vendors will specialized services and contract terms, like most software vendors, are less likely to accept other templates and strongly prefer to use theirs.
procurement simplified 