Chapter 34 - IT Contract Administration

34.3.3 Assignment/novations

The contract administrator will process all supplier assignment and novation requests or notices according to the contract's requirements. Most contracts will state that the supplier may not assign a contract without the prior written approval of the agency. The licensing rights of the contract will dictate how the agency can or cannot assign its rights to another party; however, the contract hopefully was negotiated to allow license assignment and/or access to other Commonwealth agencies, including VITA, to not prohibit infrastructure and/or enterprise architecture redesign, supportability and improvements that may occur during the life of the contract.

If a supplier is bought out by or merges with another corporation, the contract administrator should perform a financial viability analysis and obtain a Dun & Bradstreet report on the new corporation before agreeing to anything. The new business entity could introduce new risks to the contract/project if they are not financially or professionally responsible. Also it will be necessary to confirm and update any new contact information.