10 Vendor Contract Management Best Practices Video

Video Transcript

Welcome to today’s Third Party Thursday! My name is Ashley Roberts and I’m a Relationship Manager and Paralegal here at Venminder. Today we’re going to cover 10 best practices with your vendor contract management.

One of the most challenging aspects of third party risk management is contract management. It can either be a real strength or an enormous vulnerability. Let’s stay positive and focus on the best practices in vendor contract management.

1. Have a centralized process from the start – trying to rein in a decentralized process is nearly impossible.
   
   
2. Hire an experienced contract manager.
   
   
3. Establish clear roles and responsibilities on who will craft contracts.
   
   
4. Have a qualified contract attorney or paralegal review all contracts.
   
   
5. Dictate routine language that should be included.
   
   
6. Don’t accept readily a vendor’s boiler plate standard contract – you’ll always be on the short side of the see saw.
   
   
7. Ensure that anyone who is involved with the contract understands the terms.
   
   
8. Make certain that contractual requirements, particularly around performance and pricing are tracked and fulfilled.
   
   
9. Track expiration dates so that no key dates or renewal notifications are missed.
   
   
10. Start any contract negotiations well in advance and build in time for changes.
     

That’s it – there are your 10 steps to happy vendor contract management. Again, I’m Ashley Roberts and thank you for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe to the Third Party Thursday series.