Procurement Tip #4: Negotiations and Contracting for your Open Competitive Procurement

The final step of an Open Competitive Procurement process is ‘Award’, which includes negotiating your contract with the successful Vendor. Timelines for this step can vary substantially depending on your procurement and the amount of negotiations required to finalize the agreement.

Procurement Services will continue to facilitate the process during the Award, and you also have an important role to play! You will:

• Review the Statement of Work drafted by Procurement Services (based on your RFx Scope),
• Engage with the Vendor to determine if any changes are required to the Statement of Work, and
• After the agreement is signed, submit a Purchase Order Requisition in eShop.

Once a contract is signed, you and your department are responsible for monitoring the contract to:

• Ensure Carleton is upholding our responsibilities,
• Receipt your Purchase Order as work is invoiced, and
• Manage your relationship with the Vendor and their performance under the agreement. Performance Management may be defined formally as part of your RFx, in which case Procurement will continue to facilitate – this is typically reserved for very large or high risk procurements.

We’re here to help! If you have questions about your contract, email us at ProcurementServies@carleton.ca.