“getting negotiated results from your contract and risk management”
Too often contract and risk management are just good recommendations without a call for action:
- How things should be (from your point of view), but never will.
- What we want in an ideal world.
- Done by bystanders that don’t work on the actual implementation.
At AfiTaC, we don’t work like that. No support, no recommendation, no advice, no training is worth anything if it can’t make your contract clearer, more balanced, beneficial to you for your day-to-day business. We support you in getting negotiated results from your contract and risk management.
Contract Management
In the past, contracts were a side product for doing business. Something to put in the drawer just in case of conflict.
The world has changed and, if you haven’t yet, you should do so asap for your business to survive. Your counterparts will apply the contract when asking for extensions, claiming LDs, etc. You have to respect notice periods or otherwise you may lose your rights.
At AfiTAC, we know contracts inside out. We have different types of support available that help you to adapt to the new reality: from the low threshold contract hotline to actual advice and coaching.
Risk Management
Risk Management should be about effective decisions making, not just raising red flags.
What risks are you, honestly and transparently, willing to take? What risks do you need your counterpart to take? How can you convince them of the right risk sharing? Will they accept the risk sharing during negotiation? Can you mitigate your risks during project execution?
The first step in this process is to identify risks in the tender documents or existing contracts. We support this process and render it more objective by establishing a Contract Risk Scoring.
The second step is bench marking to industry standards, relevant contracts and past experience.
Then, as a third step, you need to prepare an action plan, all the options, scenario’s and exposure, a walk-away position.
Risk boards can, and probably should, be part of this process. AfiTaC can help you set up a solid process, actually lead or participate in your risk boards.
Getting Negotiated Results
Most people believe they can negotiate, without actually giving it a lot of thought. That’s a problem. In the reality, negotiation is much more about training and preparation than a natural gift. If you don’t take advice, you will realize this yourself … but only at the end of your professional life.
Negotiation should be a conscious process, thinking several steps ahead, using massive amounts of creativity to determine options. This doesn’t come automatically. You need a plan, arguments, ideas, observations, team-work, persistence, etc.
We have a passion for it and can help turn your contract and risk management into negotiated results.
Dispute Resolution
In a commercial dispute, that’s where you don’t want to be. Disputes destroy value due to the extra costs for resolving them. If you end up there, at least you want to have arbitrators and dispute adjudicators that know your world, your type of contracts, your technical challenges and your time constraints. Jan Bouckaert can be selected as arbitrator or dispute adjudicator.
What we do in more detail
AfiTaC can provide you with the following services :
Click on the pieces of the puzzle for specific services:
