Contract Killers

If you do the BlueSky/Twitter/X thing, follow me at @HousingITguy or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

As most people will be aware, a lot of my work is focused on compliant and successful solution procurement, which always involves an agreed contract. Now, I am far from Rumpole Of The Bailey, however in my three decades in socialhousing ICT, I have had a lot of exposure to contracts and picked up a lot of experiences and gotcha’s.

CCS/DAS and other framework procurements generally come with a ‘default’ contract option, ‘The Model Services Contract’, which comes with yellow optional clauses. Clearly by default this is drafted broadly in favour of the contracting authority and so is not every suppliers cup of Earl Gray. If suppliers are on the framework, they know that the expectation will be to use it. So, its actually very odd for it not to be used.

Two other alternatives can also be used :-
•    The Contracting Body proposes their own contract (likely to be heavily weighted in the favour of the client)
•    The Contracting Body asks the supplier to provide their contract (likely to be heavily weighted in favour of the supplier)

Both of these would be generally provided allowing ‘red line’ points to be challenged, generally via clarifications. In some cases there might be quite a lot of red ink expended here. The types of challenges often will help set a view of the supplier, or maybe the appetite for risk on the client side. Its important to think of this in a proportionate manner. If we are spending £2.6m we might be wanting a lot of contract detail. However, signing up to a monthly subscription of £220 per month for a much smaller purchase, we might be happy to accept five pages of a supplier contract.

Whatever the size of the above, my first takeaway is make sure its properly read (5 pages or 500 !), before signing up. If you are baffled by any legal jargon, get help or engage a friendly legal professional, for English/Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or Republic Of Ireland legal jurisdictions. If I am ever engaged to assist with a failing project or implementation, one of the first documents I ask for is the contract & SOW (The Statement Of Work). Not too uncommonly, that contract is based on a suppliers and has little in the way of teeth for poor or failed delivery, or limited ability to terminate without incurring often excessive costs. My second takeaway is keep an eye on that. Non-delivery needs to be addressed in the contract and provide safeguards.

There is clearly a big and important legal difference between ‘best endeavours’, ‘reasonable endeavours’ etc. In most contracts, the word ‘Reasonable’ does lots of heavy lifting and actually is the logical bridge word, when leveraged to help us share the risk between Client and Contractor.    

Finally, a couple of other takeaways I have recently come across.

Clauses invoked when organisations are renamed, form groups, split from groups, or maybe (as ALMOs have recently) go back into parent councils, can often be restrictive or punitive. These may force a re-contracting exercise, which may mean that a strong contract could be potentially replaced by a weak one for the Contracting Body. Clearly in these cases, this type of clause having to be invoked, may well allow the organisation at that point to look again at the marketplace, or their procurement team might well (try to) force them to. Contracts will generally be expected to run for a set period with extension breaks. EG 5+2+2+2+2, to allow breaks at year 5, 7, 9 etc, but the contract to run for up to 13 years before another (forced) procurement.

Contracts particularly for Cloud/browser applications are often based on number of user seats or set numbers of ‘units’. These being homes/properties, or maybe assets in general. These may change at any point as disposals occur and new developments added and contracts and licensing must flexibly support this. One form of contract I have recently come across, used a clause which casually invoked a ‘reset’ of the procurement / contract term, where unit count was adjusted by any amount. So potentially if during a 5 year contract period, 40 units are added in year 4, the contract now resets to run for 9 years. I seriously doubt if this would satisfy formal 2025 procurement rules, yet if left in a contract can potentially cause you a future world of pain.

I hope this post has provided a bit of food for thought. If I manage it, I would hope to join up with one of my favourite legal experts and do something in-depth later in the Spring.

In the meantime, do share your favourite experience of contract tosh or most ridiculous negotiations, via comment or DM 👍.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ *** Join the discussion with Claire & Aiden *** _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Help with your procurement finalisation?

Get in touch , for a chat soon over a cuppa and a cookie or two ☕😋

       Related Post: Does your organisation purposely 'Warm Up The Market' for more effective procurements?

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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited - Contract Killer .
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here

Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.

File Under: #HomesForBritain,#HousingDAY,#InternetOfTenants,#Shout,#UKHousing, 07854655009, 1st Touch,1stTouch,360,365Agile,3squared,4Js, ACL,ALMO,AMS,AX,Aareon,Abritas,Academy,Accuserv,Accuserve,Active Housing,ActiveH,ActiveHousing,Acutence,Advanced,Affinity,Agile,Agile365,AirWatch,Alfresco,Alignment,Allpay,Amazon Web Services,Anite,Apex,App,ArchHouse,Archouse,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Associates,Aurora,Average IT Costs,AWI SX Integration Toolkit,AWS, BI,BO,BPR,BancTec,BigChange,Blockwise,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Planning,Business Process Review,Business social networking, CACI,Capita One Housing,CBL,CCS IT Keystone CCSIT,CEDRM,CHICS,CHR,CIH,CMS,COA,CORE,CPL,CRM,CRM2013,CRS,CTI,CTX,Cadcorp,Capita,CapitaOne,Capita One,Capital Management,Cashflow,Castle,Castleton,Castleton Technology,Cedar Open Accounts,Cerrus,Change,Charges,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, Citrix,Civica,Civica CTX,Civica Cx,Civica Genero,Civica Saffron,Clearview,Clik,Cx Assets, Cloud Dialogs,CloudDialogs,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Commontime,Community Reward Services,Company,Competitive Dialogue process,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation, Consultancy,Consultant,Consultants,Contact Manager,Context,Contractor Systems,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,Crystal Reports,Customer Relationship Management,Cx,CxFeedback, DRS,Deeplake,Designer Software,Development Systems,Director,Document,Documotive,Docuware,Dynamic AI,DynamicAI,Dynamics 365,D365,Dynamics365,Dynaway ECMK,EDM,EDRMS,ERP,ESRI,Elmhurst,Enghouse Interactive,England,English,EnterpriseBI,Estatecraft,Esuasive,Etive,Exhibition,Exponential-e, Facebook,Factorwise,Field Service management,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials,FLS,Footprint,Forms,Freezes,Fusion,Fuzzlab Gas Tag,G-Cloud,GCloud,GDPR,GGP,GIS,GasTag,Genero,GeoSolveIT,Getting best from,GoTonySmith,Grasp,Grip,Group Apex, HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,HRA,Hardware,Hitachi Systems,Hitex,HomeMaster,Hometeam,HouSys,House,Housemark,Housemark survey,Housing,Housing Contact,Housing Group,Housing Insight,Housing Management,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Partners,Housing Portfolio Management System,Hub Asset Management,Homeswapper,Housing jigsaw, Housing Support Pro,HousingIT,HousingSupportPro,HyperOptic, HydrogenBI, Hydrogen BI, IMS,IT,IT Budget,IT Training,ITIL,Impact Response,In,In4,In4Systems Promaster,InfoBoss,InHouse,InMotion,InMotion2015,InMotion2016,InfoBoss,Infoflow,Information,Information Technology,Information@Work components,Informix,Innovation, Informetis,Inphase,Inside Housing,Insight,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Invu,Ireland,Irish,itLab, Keyfax,Keylogic,Keypera, Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keynamics, Landlord,Ledgers,Linkedin,Liquid,Locality,Localz, M3,MAVIS,MD,MDM,MI,MIS,MIS-AMS,MISCS,MRI,MS Dynamics,MRI,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Microsoft365,microsoft 365,MWL,Management,Management Server,Manifest,Measuring,Mebus,More IQ,MoreIQ,Microsoft Dynamics 365,Microsoft dynamics GP 2013,Miracle,MobileIron,Mobysoft,Monopoly board images and pictures,Montal,Mr Void,MriEngage,MrVoid,MoreIQ NDL,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,NPS,NPS ASSIST,NPS Housing,NPS Job Manager Mobile,NROSH,Natural,Neighbourhoods and Communities,Nintexworkflow,Northgate,Northgate Codeman,Northgate Public Services,Notice, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,OJEU Limits,ORS,Ohms,OmFax,Omniledger,One,OneAdvanced,OneServe,Open source,OpenContractor,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Options,Optitime,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OutSystems, PIMMS,PIMSS Data,PM,PRINCE2,Paloma,Pamwin,PanConnect,People Value,Peoplevalue,PfH,Pick,PlanForm,Planned maintenance,Plenfific,Plus,Portfolio Management System,PowerObjects,Pro,Pro-Points,Prodo,Progress,Promaster,Propoints,Proval,Providers,Pyramid, QL,QLX, QLF, QL Yuneo,QuantSpark,Qube,QLX,Qlikview,QueryView,Queryview reporting,Quiss, RM865,ROCC,RPs,RSL,Rave,ReAct,Reality,RedkiteCRM,Red Olive,Registered,Registered Social,Rent Increase,RentSense,RentSenseLite,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,RobotAutomation,Rocket,Rubixx, Salesforce,Salesforce.Org,SAP,SASSHA,SDM,SHBVN,SM,SOTI,SP,SQL,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting,SQL Server,Saffron,Safron,Saturn,Saffron,Scenario,Scotland,Scots,Scottish,Scout,Sequoa,Serengeti,Serros,Server,Service,Services,Servitor,Sharepoint,Sim,SimPro, Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Housing ICT,Social Housing Software Applications,Social Media,Software,Software solutions,Spotlight Service,Spotlightservice,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic,SunAccounts,Sunguard,Surveys,Streetwise, Swordfish,Sx3,Symatrix Human,System alignment,Systems,Systemwise, T-Files,TEAMS,TED,TFiles,TP Tracker,TSG,Tagish Casework,Tagra,Task,TAIM,Technologies (India) PVT Limited,Telecetera,Template,Terminal Services,That,Three Star,Tilt,TiltAffinity,Today,Tony Smith,Tony Smith That Housing IT Guy,TonySmith that housing IT,TonySmithHou,TonySmithHousing, ,TonySmithHousingITguy,Total,Total Mobile,Totalmobile,Trace,Tribal,Twitter, U2,UC,UK,UK Housing,Ukhousing,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,United Kingdom,Universal,Universalcredit,Universe,Unrest, Valueworks,Van Stock,Vantage,Vantage Sentinel,Version,Virtualisation,Visitour,Visualmetrics,Voice,Voice and data,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Wheatley,Windows Server,Workflow and,Work Hub,Works Connect, XML,Xen App,XenApp,Xmbrace, Yuneo,TS Acutance Consulting, ...
. . . . . . . . . . . . ES | FR | DE | IT | UK |

Endeavour

If you do the X / Bluesky thing, follow me at @HousingITguy or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

I often get involved with projects to help determine what’s needed when changing from legacy or poor performing software and systems. Quite often its four or five a year, for organisations managing 100 or less homes, right up to larger socialhousing organisations or councils managing tens of thousands of homes or greater. Most of the legwork is supporting a compliant process, essential to be fair and prevent a situation which might provoke a feared challenge. Rather than OJEU as we had prior to Brexit in the UK, public bodies now have new legislation which came in from Feb 2025.

Hopefully, the process will be compliant and a preferred bidder will be determined, as best fit of quality and value for what the public body (social landlord or local authority) requires, such as Asset Management, Repairs, Self-Service, addressing Damp & Mould , Finance, or other solutions. 

One of the finalisation stages of procurement is the contract. Sometimes these are defined by frameworks (like CCS), put forward by the contracting body initially in the early part of procurement, or what the supplier provides. In smaller procurements, often the latter is the (only) default option. In any of these situations, there should be ‘Contract Finalisation’. This should not drift into ‘Contract Negotiation’, which might be a wholesale cutting up of the agreement, which ultimately needs to be a compromise that all parties can work with, to achieve successful projects, as they were sold.

Having someone with experience of software contracts (as they are different than when procuring other goods/services) or spending some well-spent money on legal assistance, is a great idea. Beside that, it is always worthwhile as bedtime reading, to review the whole contract yourself. Amazingly, I have seen many quite obvious clauses binding customers into whole contract term (5+ years) payments, even if you can contractually terminate early, or a reset of contract term, if you change your stock number. Another thing the contract should allow you to do, as number of properties for anyone is bound to change. For goodness sake, just don’t sign that 121 page contract and hope for the best.

Anyone who like me has been involved on the sidelines of much contract finalisation, will be familiar with ‘Endeavour’ and the concept of ‘Reasonable’. Some words that always make me smile in contracts and often will be found in paragraphs that suppliers will be keen to strike-through and have dropped from the contract, to protect themselves to a greater degree and remove some ‘teeth’, lest poor service/product encourages you to bite them later down the line.  

On some occasions I have encountered some suppliers (I am too polite to name them here), who have tried to drop contract clauses as they declared they thought they were ‘un-reasonable’, which I pointed out that the word ‘reasonable’ was actually in the clause being dropped! Hence, the supplier ask was bogus and mostly I have seen those being roundly and rightly rejected.

Lets explore the various ‘Endeavours’ you might well encounter….

The gold standard in English, Irish and Scottish law is ‘Best Endeavours’. A supplier here is bound to “Use no less than its best efforts to produce the desired results in the circumstances”. While onerous, this is not regarded by the courts as an absolute one, and is regarded as subject to reasonableness.

“All reasonable endeavours”, is the next compromise down and softens the above. Case law indicates that the steps have to be taken will depend on the circumstances. The obligation may exhibit the characteristics of both best and reasonable endeavours. So this is rather grey. Suppliers may be required to sacrifice their own commercial interests (or not).

The wooden spoon goes to “Reasonable endeavours”. Not so demanding, the supplier is obliged to pursue a reasonable course to achieve the objective. IE this is less stringent, supplier commercial interests need not be sacrificed.

So, what should you choose?

Well, its very much down to your appetite for risk and how risky might your preferred bidder might be? Hopefully in your procurement journey you will have done an early soft-market exercise and looked at independent reference sites and have an idea of how similar projects have panned out previously. Hopefully they didn’t go down the pan, if so, the stronger options above might be more advised. Always ask the right questions (understanding the answers!), working as a Critical Friend its quite commonplace for me.

Remember too that contracts should not need constant revisiting during challenging projects. However, if projects are going adrift then know where they are and decide if teeth provided should be used to bite ! 

Repairs scheduling, whats new ?

Get in touch , I will drop in for a brew & bring the Crunch Creams ☕

       Related Post: Can some products or suppliers survive losing founders or key people?

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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Rod Gozzett - Endeavour

(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here

Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.

File Under: #HomesForBritain,#HousingDAY,#InternetOfTenants,#Shout,#UKHousing, 07854655009, 1st Touch,1stTouch,360,365Agile,3squared,4Js, ACL,ALMO,AMS,AX,Aareon,Abritas,Academy,Accuserv,Accuserve,Active Housing,ActiveH,ActiveF,ActiveFinance,ActiveHousing,Acutence,Advanced,Affinity,Agile,Agile365,AHB,AirWatch,Alscient,Alfresco,Alignment,Allpay,Amazon Web Services,Anite,Apex,App,ArchHouse,Archouse,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Associates,Aurora,Average IT Costs,AWI SX Integration Toolkit,AWS, BI,BO,BPR,BancTec,BigChange,Blockwise,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,BrikHousing,Browser Applications,BC, Business Central, Business Objects,Business Planning,Business Process Review,Business social networking, CACI,Capita One Housing,CBL,CCS IT Keystone CCSIT,CEDRM,CHICS,CHR,CIH,CMS,COA,CORE,CPL,CRM,CRM2013,CRS,CTI,CTX,Cadcorp,Capita,CapitaOne,Capita One,Capital Management,Cashflow,Castle,Castleton,Castleton Technology,Cedar Open Accounts,Cerrus,Change,Charges,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, Citrix,Civica,Civica CTX,Civica Cx,Civica Genero,Civica Saffron,Clearview,Clik,Cx Assets, Cloud Dialogs,CloudDialogs,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Commontime,Community Reward Services,Company,Competitive Dialogue process,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation, Consultancy,Consultant,Consultants,Contact Manager,Context,Contractor Systems,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,Crystal Reports,Customer Relationship Management,Cx,CxFeedback, DRS,Deeplake,Designer Software,Development Systems,Director,Document,Documotive,Docuware,Dynamic AI,DynamicAI,Dynamics 365,D365,Dynamics365,Dynaway ECMK,EDM,EDRMS,ERP,ESRI,Elmhurst,Enghouse Interactive,England,English,EnterpriseBI,Estatecraft,Esuasive,Esynergy,Etive,Exhibition,Exponential-e, F&O, Facebook,Factorwise,Field Service management,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials,FLS,Footprint,Forms,Freezes,Fusion,Fuzzlab Gas Tag,G-Cloud,GCloud,GDPR,GGP,GIS,GasTag,Genero,GeoSolveIT,Getting best from,GoTonySmith,Grasp,Grip,Group Apex, HCL,HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,HRA,Hardware,Hitachi Systems,Hitex,HomeMaster,Hometeam,HouSys,House,Housemark,Housemark survey,Housing,Housing Contact,Housing Group,Housing Insight,Housing Management,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Partners,Housing Portfolio Management System,Hub Asset Management,Homeswapper,Housing jigsaw,HousingOne,Housing-One, Housing Support Pro,HousingIT,HousingSupportPro,HyperOptic, IMS,IPC,iProperty Cloud,IT,IT Budget,IT Training,ITIL,Impact Response,In,In4,In4Systems Promaster,InfinityGroup,InfoBoss,InHouse,InMotion,InMotion2015,InMotion2016,InfoBoss,Infoflow,Information,Information Technology,Information@Work components,Informix,Innovation, Informetis,Inphase,Inside Housing,Insight,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Invu,Ireland,Irish,itLab,InclineIT, Keyfax,Keylogic,Keypera,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keynamics, Landlord,Ledgers,Linkedin,Liquid,Locality,Localz, M3,MadeTech,MAVIS,MD,MDM,MI,MIS,MIS-AMS,MISCS,MRI,MS Dynamics,MRI,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Microsoft365,microsoft 365,MWL,Management,Management Server,Manifest,Measuring,Mebus,More IQ,MoreIQ,Microsoft Dynamics 365,Microsoft dynamics GP 2013,Miracle,MobileIron,Mobysoft,Monopoly board images and pictures,Montal,Mr Void,MriEngage,MrVoid,MoreIQ, MRI,MRI Housing One, NDL,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,NPS,NPS ASSIST,NPS Housing,NPS Job Manager Mobile,NROSH,Natural,Neighbourhoods and Communities,Nintexworkflow,Northgate,Northgate Codeman,Northgate Public Services,Notice, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,OJEU Limits,ORS,Ohms,OmFax,Omniledger,One,OneAdvanced,OneServe,Open source,OpenContractor,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Options,Optitime,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OutSystems, PIMMS,PIMSS Data,PM,PRINCE2,Paloma,Pamwin,PanConnect,People Value,Peoplevalue,PfH,Pick,PlanForm,Planned maintenance,Plentific,Plus,Portfolio Management System,PowerObjects,Pro,Pro-Points,Prodo,Progress,Promaster,Propeller,Propoints,Proval,Providers,Pyramid, QL,QLX, QLF, QL Yuneo,QuantSpark,Qube,QLX,Qlikview,QueryView,Queryview reporting,Quiss, RM865,ROCC,RPs,RSL,Rave,ReAct,Reality,RedkiteCRM,Red Olive,Registered,Registered Social,Rent Increase,RentSense,RentSenseLite,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,RobotAutomation,Rocket,Rubixx, Salesforce,Salesforce.Org,SAP,SASSHA,SDM,SHBVN,SM,SOTI,SP,SQL,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting,SQL Server,Saffron,Safron,Saturn,Scenario,Scotland,Scots,Scottish,Scout,Sequoa,Serengeti,Serros,Server,Service,Services,Servitor,Sharepoint,Sim,SimPro, Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Housing ICT,Social Housing Software Applications,Social Media,Software,Software solutions,Spotlight Service,Spotlightservice,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic,SunAccounts,Sunguard,Surveys,Streetwise, Swordfish,Sx3,Symatrix Human,System alignment,Systems,Systemwise, T-Files,TEAMS,TED,TFiles,TP Tracker,TSG,Tagish Casework,Tagra,Task,TAIM,Techlabs,Technologies (India) PVT Limited,Telecetera,Template,Terminal Services,That,Three Star,Tilt,TiltAffinity,Today,Tony Smith,Tony Smith That Housing IT Guy,TonySmith that housing IT,TonySmithHou,TonySmithHousing, ,TonySmithHousingITguy,Total,Total Mobile,Totalmobile,Trace,Tribal,Twitter, U2,UC,UK,UK Housing,Ukhousing,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,United Kingdom,Universal,Universalcredit,Universe,Unrest, Valueworks,Van Stock,Vantage,Vantage Sentinel,Version,Virtualisation,Visitour,Visualmetrics,Voice,Voice and data,Voicescape,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Wheatley,Windows Server,Workflow and,Work Hub,Works Connect, XML,Xen App,XenApp,Xmbrace, Yuneo,TS Acutance Consulting, ...

. . . . . . . . . . . . ES | FR | DE | IT | UK |

 

The Price You Pay

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @HousingITguy or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

It’s a typical conundrum, how do you do your best to keep software implementations on-time?

I was asked this the other week and (as you do) drifted into a long and varied discussion into ‘service credits’, other penalties and contract conditions. While I am not a massive advocate of reaching for your application software contract, every five minutes. However, it should be somewhere close to hand and able to be ‘playfully waved about’ when needed.

The purpose of the contract is of course to protect both parties, if executed properly. In that sense, its best partly a compromise by both. Specific penalties are useful, although they are no guarantee or pot of gold if things go wrong.

For example, I have seen clients get them selves in knots coming up with elaborate service credits, but in the big scheme of things, these often amount to maybe only a few hundred pounds in a particularly performing month. Raising a credit for under a grand is no biggie to most suppliers, that’s unlikely to change habits anytime soon.

One off penalty payments hanging over delivery or implementation can be another misnomer. On one occasion I had a client clearly unhappy with their supplier, for a number of reasons, over a number of years. Routinely, they would insist on penalties of a few grand, to guard against long delays (of which they had experienced many). I was on site one morning of a project meeting with the supplier, their account manager and a manager from the software house at director level. The client correctly pointed out in a contract where there was a £9k penalty. The project was nearly 18 months late.

Depressingly the (well known) supplier director, analysed the small print and replied, “Yes – we will pay that”. He was then looking for some look of gratitude or a ‘Thank You Mate’ I guess. Of which he didn’t get one. Nor should he either as that 18 month overrun had perhaps caused four staff to need a new temporary workaround and having lost the opportunity for some serious transformation. The £9k was barely touching the sides.

Personally, my favourite clause in contracts based on overruns is getting senior software people of director level in the meeting with you each month. Then they might see for themselves the unpleasant SMT style meeting prior to the project one, where ICT and the project manager get ritually flogged. Directors of software houses getting a taste of that pain themselves can be really helpful. Spookily enough after having their ar*e dragged in to those for a few months, that can be much more effective than raising a few credit notes.

Subscribe to our blog here on this link, to always catch the latest news on whats happening in the sector.

Acutance Consulting would be happy to help you review systems options, 

please just get in touch, for a chat over a brew ☕😋

       Related Post: Any idea even where your software contract is? 

Catch the blog monthly archive at https://soundcloud.com/housingitguy/

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Savatage - The Price You Pay.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here

Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.

File Under: #HomesForBritain,#HousingDAY,#InternetOfTenants,#Shout,#UKHousing, 07854655009, 1st Touch,1stTouch,360,365Agile,3squared,4Js, ACL,ALMO,AMS,AX,Aareon,Abritas,Academy,Accuserv,Accuserve,Active Housing,ActiveH,ActiveHousing,Acutence,Advanced,Affinity,Agile,Agile365,AirWatch,Alfresco,Alignment,Allpay,Amazon Web Services,Anite,Apex,App,ArchHouse,Archouse,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Associates,Aurora,Average IT Costs,AWI SX Integration Toolkit,AWS, BI,BO,BPR,BancTec,BigChange,Blockwise,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Planning,Business Process Review,Business social networking, CACI,Capita One Housing,CBL,CCS IT Keystone CCSIT,CEDRM,CHICS,CHR,CIH,CMS,COA,CORE,CPL,CRM,CRM2013,CRS,CTI,CTX,Cadcorp,Capita,CapitaOne,Capita One,Capital Management,Cashflow,Castle,Castleton,Castleton Technology,Cedar Open Accounts,Cerrus,Change,Charges,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, Citrix,Civica,Civica CTX,Civica Cx,Civica 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