Three Ways Enterprise Contract Management Technology can Add Value to Complex Project Management

Abstract

Commercial contract creation is an extremely costly under taking. In the case of large contracts the direct effort can be measured in the thousands, even tens of thousands of any currency you care to think of, even prior to contract award. For example, the US Department of Transport’s ITOP program office charges other departments 2.5% of contract value on initial award, and $15,000 for each no-cost modification.

Such large upfront investment is justified by the fact that the contract provides the very fabric of inter-company relations as illustrated by a recent study showing that more than 50% of all business litigation is related to contractual disputes. However, managing contracts through their lifecycle is still a manual process in many companies and tools to effectively extract the business value from the documents are only just emerging. The management of that business value has become increasingly popular, indeed necessary, since the recent economic downturn, as companies have tested their ability to abandon agreements or identify breaches by their co-parties.