Chapter 34 - IT Contract Administration

34.2.9 Monitor agency obligations

The contract administrator should carefully review the contract and create a list and schedule that includes all agency obligations under the contract. Successful IT contracts are not only dependent on the supplier's performance, but also on the agency's performance in fulfilling their contractual commitments and enabling, or not preventing, the supplier to perform. The agency's non-performance or interrupted performance could put the contract/project at risk for delayed schedule and increased costs or invite risk to the Commonwealth for a contract dispute. IT contracts may require any of the following and more:

• Informing agency and other Commonwealth users of software license access/use rights and limitations and obtaining signed user acknowledgement for the contract file.
• Informing Commonwealth users and third-party representatives of all confidentiality restrictions and obtaining signed confidentiality or non-disclosure statements for the contract file.
• Ensuring that the agency fulfills any contractual obligation that includes the following or a similar requirement: "Within thirty (30) days of the end of each calendar quarter, the Agency must provide to Supplier a report of the net number of additional copies of the Software deployed during the quarter." (From the "Reproduction Rights" clause in the contract, if included.)
• Enabling or facilitating the conduct of any testing, IV&V activities, supplier demonstrations, and/or training sessions within a certain timeframe, with a specific technology environment or resources already prepared for use.
• Providing certain data, information, equipment or facilities to the supplier within a certain timeframe for enabling any software or solution requirements definition, design, interface, testing or implementation efforts by the supplier.
• Defining a timeframe for the review and acceptance of any deliverable and testing.
• Preparing and providing specific reports, technical data, specifications, standards, software configuration/architecture, legacy/interface code or data to be converted (including the condition of such data).
• Arranging the attendance of any IV&V, Steering Committee or other invitee for any critical project reviews or other contract-related meetings per the contract's schedule.
• Interaction with VITA-NG partnership Service Management Office, VITA Project Management Division or VITA Security experts for any infrastructure preparation or integration efforts required for supplier's performance.
• Providing to supplier any notification of non-conformance or error discovered related to supplier's performance (product, service, solution) within a given timeframe.
• Providing any contractually required technical or administrative notification obligation within a given timeframe.
• Facilitating any statutory, Steering Committee, CIO or other VITA policy required approvals, waivers or exceptions  
• Ensuring that project, technical and other agency stakeholders do not directly or indirectly alter, increase or decrease (i.e., scope creep) the supplier's performance obligations as required by the contract without formal contract modification.
• Processing, approving and paying supplier invoices within statutory timeframes.