A Practical Guide to Contract Management in the Public Sector

If you are a CIPFA Publications subscriber ... have you downloaded the Briefing Note to accompany this title?

This publication focusses mainly on the operational period, is easy to read and illustrated with practical examples, making it easy for practitioners to understand, even if they have no previous knowledge of the subject.

The guide considers the issues from both the corporate and individual contract manager's perspectives. It will therefore appeal to a wide audience including:

• those responsible for setting corporate strategies and budgets
• senior managers who rely on contracts to deliver their services
• operational staff with a hands-on role in managing contracts
• anyone else wishing to gain an insight into what it takes to manage contracts.

Detailed practical advice is provided on a variety of topics including:

• developing a corporate approach to contract management
• setting up contract management arrangements
• maintaining basic records and tools
• financial management and control
• use of open book accounting to improve value for money
• managing the contractor's performance
• benchmarking and market testing
• continuous and periodic review
• adapting to change, varying the contract and achieving savings
• managing risk
• managing relationships with the contractor and with stakeholders
• exit planning.

The main principles apply to all types of contract - whether for supplies, services or works.

The detailed material is most relevant to services contracts, but an overview of what is different about construction contracts is provided in the relevant sections.

This publication is only available as an online version.

It has both searchable HTML and a bookmarked downloadable PDF of the publication that can be shared throughout your organisation. Customers will need to register and login to CIPFA's website to access the publication.

Details of licensing arrangements for other categories of purchaser, which includes those organisations operating shared service arrangements, are available from CIPFA's Publications Department.