Effective contract management for school trusts

Understanding the theory and practice of post-award contract management

Relationships and contracts with suppliers are key to your trust’s success but are you managing them effectively? Could you be getting better value and greater benefits from them?

This CST masterclass provides in depth insight into the theory and application of leading practice in post-award contract management. It gives you the knowledge and practical guidance to assess and enhance your trust’s practice to ensure that the children and staff in your schools get the best value and service from your commercial partners.

Who is it for?

Chief finance and operations officers
Contract managers and those who work with suppliers
Chief executives

What you will gain

This course will give you:

An understanding of what contract managers in school trusts must do to comply with the Procurement Act 2023
Insight into the culture and behaviours of effective contract management and how these can be developed and enhanced across all levels of the organisation
Knowledge of the tasks, roles and processes needed to effectively manage contracts
An understanding of what good practice contract management looks like
Guidance on wow to identify risk areas and contracts that need more attention
Information on the key risks at each stage of a contract’s lifecycle and what should be done to manage them

Meet your seminar leaders

Walter Akers, Founder and CEO, In2 the Bargain Limited

Ciara Campfield, Partner, Stone King

Samira Sadeghi, Director of Trust Governance, CST

Course overview

Session one: The best practice framework for contract management

The best practice framework of activities, processes and controls
How the framework can be deployed in your trust for effective contract management

The framework for post award contract management which will be covered in this session was originally developed by the UK Office of Government Commerce and the National Audit Office. The framework provides the foundation for the UK Government’s guidance on contract management.

Session two: Contract management requirements of the new Procurement Act

New requirements in the new Procurement Act 2023
Mandatory contract management procedures
New public notices, implied contract terms, poor performance, contract break, varying public contracts, and more

The new Procurement Act 2023 requires significant changes to the way contracts are managed after they are signed. It has far-reaching consequences for all public sector organisations including school trusts, as procurement rules have been significantly expanded to introduce a range of procedural requirements for the performance management of contracts.

Session three: The behaviours of successful contract management