Tips and Tricks: How to negotiate quicker and better your contracts?

Usually procurement professionals don't enjoy to much to deal with bible-thick contracts stuffed with graffiti-style track-changes and endless discussions with legal professionals - which not surprisingly end-up being procurement enemies. That leads to doing most enjoyable strategic sourcing part first, then leave the papers at the end.

And here you end up feeling that negotiation is not quite finished yet - you got to convince some stubborn legal guy that such and such wording is not relevant for that specific deal, than you engage your legal so that they talk their language and sometimes they'd end up racing their egos: who's better lawyer, especially when they are paid hourly :).

Most of the times you'll find all process quicker and simpler for everyone if you use the Tips&Tricks below:

• Have a contract draft created before you issue your RFQ.
• Include the contract into your RFQ along with a T&C Compliance file for respondents to fill in which clauses they don't agree with and their proposed alternative wording.
• After receiving the Quotes make sure you analyze the Compliance file and address respondent's proposal together with your commercial negotiation.

In this case respondent will be aware of all the costs to comply with your T&C, will engage it's legal well ahead and will address/negotiate only critical clauses.

As a result you will be spending less time and resources negotiating clauses, will have a ready to sign contract by the time you communicate your RFQ result and last but not least you will have a balanced decision based on both commercial and contract terms/risks associated to suppliers' T&C Compliance response.

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