12th Annual Contract Performance Management Summit

About

Contracts are a vital component for delivering the benefits needed by organisations in a time when markets are tight and bottom lines are bleeding red ink.  Market conditions have inherent advantages and disadvantages, so instead of focusing on the challenges this is an opportunity for contract managers to utilise the unique advantages of the current environment.

Summit speakers are actively involved in the field and face many of the same issues you do.  They have learned best approaches to given situations from their many years of experience, ensuring that the insight which they share is immediately applicable to your situations. These practitioners come from such organisations as:

• Roading NZ
• Metrowater
• Genesis Energy
• Auckland City Council
• FMG
• NZ Contractors’ Federation

Separately bookable full day workshop
Accurate and best practice performance measurement and reporting underpins contract cost control.  You have the opportunity to engage in a highly pragmatic workshop facilitated by Tim Munro that will enable you to design best practice performance measures and reporting practices.  This is a extensive full day workshop to be held February 18.

This summit features many opportunities in one place; you can engage with peers, tap into the knowledge of more experienced practitioners, and expand your professional network.  All of this will see your investment rewarded as you will be able to deliver greater value from the contracts you manage.

Agenda

Agenda: Day 1

8.30

Registration & Coffee

9.00

Opening remarks from the Chair

Malcolm Abernathy, Executive Officer, NZ Contractors’ Federation

9.10

Contract procurement in perspective: What have the past 30 years taught us?

To put the last 18 months of turbulent market conditions in perspective and to highlight what learnings from the past should be embraced, Chris will share insights into these points drawing from his 30 years of experience.
• The way markets and contracts have developed and matured
• The positive initiatives that we should build on
• Those developments and trends that we can learn from

Chris Olsen, Chief Executive, Roading NZ

Speaker has declined permission for his material to be online

10.00

Advancing organisational goals by aligning contracts with strategic direction

The challenge of maintaining a long term view in a time when ‘quick wins’ maybe expected is a difficult, yet essential task that must be met. This presentation demonstrates some tools for working with suppliers to capture information around their performance and understanding opportunities for sustainable outcomes on their everyday activities separately from large projects.
• How long term goals can be broken down into attainable short term goals
• Contractors as partners to achieving strategic objectives
• Fostering innovation and change with contracting partners

Fiona Towers, Property and Facilities Manager, Genesis Energy

10.50

Morning tea

11.10

Growing trends in procurement: What’s hype and what’s worthwhile pursuing?

This presentation will cover a range of the current procurement trends and will detail their advantages, disadvantages, which scenarios they are best suited for, and how they would be implemented.
• Collaborative procurement
• Early contractor involvement
• Alliancing & Partnering
• Panel agreements
• E-tendering
• Lean procurement

Philip Simpson, Director, Spire Consulting

12.00

Business Strategy, Contract Methodology, Success! Value for Money?

A holistic approach involving quality, resource use, cost, timeliness amongst other factors throughout the lifecycle of the contract needs to be considered and tightly managed to deliver VFM from contracts. VFM is widely discussed in the alliancing contracting methodology, yet many organisations undertake the traditional methods of procurement. Does this mean they are missing out on VFM? This myth and other factors of business strategy and success will be discussed in this session.

Anin Nama, General Manager Asset Management and Investment, Metrowater
Please check back shortly for presentation

12.50

Lunch

1.40

Renegotiating contracts to improve value and/or reduce price without harming the existing contract

Renegotiating ongoing contracts to deliver cost savings and improve value is a process that can be challenging and risky – but there are significant gains to be made in doing so. This presentation draws on many years of commercial experience in negotiating ICT supply and/or outsourcing agreements to address the challenges of the renegotiation process. You will take away strategies to:
• Develop an effective negotiation strategy
• Identify and measure value improvement
• Renegotiate the contract while it is still in action
• Ensure quality outputs and outcomes throughout the process

Conrad McDonnell, Managing Director, McDonnell

2.30

Undertaking discussion orientated negotiations to enable greater achievement of contract goals and outcomes

Engaging in two-way communication provides a deeper understanding of the expectations of all parties involved before entering into a contract and helps all parties to the contract achieve their goals over the contract lifecycle. From this session you will gain an understanding of an alternative process for contract negotiation which involves discussion and promotes relationship building.
• A different approach to contract negotiations to foster discussion
• How to use the process to strengthen your relationship with your contractor
• Managing expectations and ensuring they are clearly understood and reflected in the contract

Jean Cresswell, Procurement Manager, FMG

3.20

Afternoon tea

3.40

Establishing a design brief that sets realistic expectations so accurate estimates can be established and monitored to control costs

Getting the basics right is essential to the success of any contract, and with increased pressure to control costs, an accurate and realistic design brief needs to be established at the very beginning. This session will take you through the process of developing the brief, scoping costs accurately and setting realistic expectations. By controlling these factors as the contract develops, the final costs delivered can be kept as close to budget as possible.
• Setting realistic expectations so accurate estimates can be established and monitored to control the final cost
• Refining, clarifying and even compromising to manage costs as the brief evolves

Stephen Drake, Manager Project Management, Auckland City Council

4.30

Digging deeper into the most challenging aspects of contract performance management

This session will be broken up into small group time to facilitate discussions around key issues. Each group will be lead by a facilitator but this is a more informal time to bounce ideas of one another, ask questions, and share experiences.
• Roundtable 1: Renegotiating contracts to reflect market rates
Facilitated by: Conrad McDonnell, Managing Director, McDonnell
• Roundtable 2: Effective contract reporting
Facilitated by: Paul Rogers, Managing Director, Spire Consulting
• Roundtable 3: Improving your procurement processes
Facilitated by: Neill Forgie, Procurement & Contract Performance Consultant Specialist, Auckland City Council

5.20

End of conference day and networking drinks

Agenda: Day 2

9.00

Opening remarks from the Chair

Malcolm Abernathy, Executive Officer, NZ Contractors’ Federation

9.10

Partnering with contractors to establish shared objectives and promote a highly effective working relationship

Accurate reporting and monitoring of a contract is essential for gaining the information needed to make control actions if a contract is going off course. This presentation outlines the reporting approach taken by this organisation that they have used to improve the frequency, the accuracy, and the verification of their reporting.
• Establishing reporting lines to verify what is reported by the contractor
• Making reporting more transparent
• Contract Control Group formats
• Offering useful feedback to contractors to make contract control actions

Peter Waterhouse, Director, Value Solutions

10.00

Determining performance measures which reflect organisational strategies

This session highlights the need to develop performance measures which account for both operational and strategy objectives, and will demonstrate how to undertake their development.
• How contract performance management affects overall organisational strategy
• Developing KPIs and SLAs that align contracts with organisational strategies
• Discussing performance measures with contractors to ensure they fully understand how they will be measured and what is expected to be delivered

Tim Munro, Managing Consultant, Infracure Ltd

10.50

Morning tea

11.10

Ensuring specifications and expectations are accurately communicated during the procurement process so results delivered meet expectations

Never underestimate the power of good consultation with those who will be affected by the work you are proposing. Contractors and consultants must understand that their quality and professionalism will be judged during the short listing/tender process. This presentation demonstrates how to work your way through the procurement process so that contractors are able to meet your goals.
• Understanding the market
• Stamping authority on the contract from day one to receive all the tenderer’s promises
• Understanding the dynamics of each party’s drivers
• Ensuring that what is delivered is to the specified standard and within budget
• Capturing learnings from the procurement process for future use

Neill Forgie, Procurement & Contract Performance Consultant Specialist, Auckland City Council

12.00

Alliance delivery of Auckland City Council’s Western Roads Maintenance Programme

Leighton Contractors, Blacktop Construction and MWH won the tender for Auckland city’s Western Roads Maintenance Programme, and nearly two years down the track the trial has delivered measurable benefits to both Auckland City Council and the alliance partners. This representative from the alliance will share the outcomes of the trial and the dynamics involved with an alliance contract to highlight its benefits and challenges.
• Advantages of the alliance arrangement over traditional contracting
• The culture shift needed on both sides of the contracting fence to make an alliance work
• Outcomes that have been reaped by all parties
• What scenarios would best benefit from this approach?

Chris Grainger, Alliance Manager, Auckland Road Maintenance Alliance West

1.40

How does relationship based contracting work in actuality?

To provide different perspectives on this topic, panellists will share their experiences with relationship based contracting to shed light on the dynamics involved with its real life application as they answer the following questions.
• The 4 critical success factors: Impact, Vision, Intimacy, Process
• What does it take to make it work?
• How did your organisation approach relationship based contracting?
• The underpinning processes and support structures
• What were the results it delivered?
Garry Miller, Lecturer, University of Auckland
Chris Grainger, Alliance Manager, Auckland Road Maintenance Alliance-West
Stephen Drake, Manager, Project Management, Auckland City Council

2.30

The essential legal update for contract managers

This session will equip you with the most pertinent legal knowledge that affects common contract procedures and recent cases which have implications you must know about.
• Legal implications of contract negotiations
• What you need to know about enforcing contract performance through legal channels
• Mitigating the legal risks inherent in the tendering process
• Standard IP clauses in contracts
• Contract case law update

Stuart Robertson, Partner, Kensington Swan

3.20

Afternoon tea

3.40

Effective contract variation management that avoids formal contract dispute

Very few contracts can account for all the future scenarios. Changes to the scope of the contract may be necessary over its lifecycle, especially given the unpredictable nature of the current times. Ineffective management of variations can result in contract disputes which are costly and often lead to a breakdown in the client/contractor relationship.
• Planning for variations and defining the change management process at the start of the contract
• Tackling issues as they arise
• Avoiding “master - servant” relationships
• Designers / specfiers being overly defensive when supervising the delivery
• Ensuring proper documentation of changes and verbal agreements to variations are made
• Amending variations with minimal disturbance to the overall contract and performance
• Getting help with disputes

Garry Law, Principal, Law Associates

4.30

End of conference

Sponsors/Partners

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