Vendor Contracts—Keeping Control

For those of you who are about to initiate a vendor contract for a major HIS project, your time to clarify some basic expectations is now.  In addition to the legal review required of all contracts, you as an IT or Project person will be living with the contract throughout the entire life cycle.  You can benefit by adding some commonly overlooked items before the contract is final. 

Once the contract is signed and your project begins, you are locked into the terms.  While each contract is vastly different, we have some very simple tips that should be considered.  By covering these in the contract, you will have better control as a customer:

Experience - insert requirements into the contract for the experience level of the vendor's analysts - don't take junior level experts

Scope - understand that the scope document the vendor provides usually covers what you purchased and/or the services the vendor is going to commit to the implementation.  It typically does not address how you intend to utilize the system.  Your RFP may not adequately cover your expectations.

Structure - you need to determine your internal team structure so it works in conjunction with the team the vendor puts together.  Discuss this with the vendor and insert language that helps insure the best possible team on both sides

Domains - be clear in the number of pathways, domains, or environments the vendor will commit to build/maintain for you.  Development, Training, Production, etc., are examples.  Will you need a temporary domain to receive conversion tests?

Build - be very wary of a process where the vendor performs the build for you.  How will you control the outcome and how will you insure the quality, maturity, experience, and understanding of those that build? 

Team Knowledge - insist on your team receiving adequate training of the system capabilities prior to the decision making phase.  Otherwise, you may become your worst enemy and make decisions without adequate knowledge.

Iterative Build - interim build checkpoints or conference room pilots should be put into the contract, with the clear expectation that your system will be built in small pieces until you are comfortable with the design.  Perform an iterative build, making sure you are confident that your design is sound and approved by all.

Testing - don't be shortchanged on the timeline provided for testing, and most importantly, understand the vendor's commitment to addressing issues between rounds of testing.  Will they provide test scripts?

Liaisons - be prepared with your Liaison strategy and commitment levels, and be confident in the role they will play as subject matter experts with their vendor counterparts

Issues - have the right issue tracking system in place - hospitals tend to delay this.  Issues arise and commitments need to be documented, especially during the contracting phase.  Be clear who will control the tracking of issues - avoid offers for your vendor to track your issues.

Training - don't fail to count your training dollars in your budget, and set clear expectations of what support will be provided by the vendor.  Will they provide a CBT?  Will they provide sample training material?

Committees - establish the appropriate level of committees to guide the project, such as Steering Committee, Physician Committee, etc., including members from the vendor.

On Site - clearly document the expectations for vendor visits, including agenda, number of visits, duration, schedule, and participants.  Clarify that your visits should begin by noon on Monday and end by 5 pm Thursday, or whatever you feel is appropriate and reasonable.

Partnership - prepare the contract in such a way that there are incentives for both sides to work as a team and succeed together.  Be cautious of using too many penalties, as they may backfire and cause one side to take shortcuts to avoid them.  Insert checkpoints that will support honesty in disclosure of critical issues.  It's all about the safety of the patients - don't lose sight of that in your contract.

Related posts:

1. Vendor Built System—Is It Right For You?