As part of our summer series on the roles that interface with contract management, we hand the floor to professionals whose day-to-day work crosses paths with that of contract managers. After our interview with Jean-François, Project Director, today we turn to Anne-Marie Da Silva, project procurement manager, who shares her view of the collaboration between procurement and contract management, and why, in her opinion, this pairing drives performance.
The contract manager? An ally for the buyer in securing supplier performance, not a guardian of the contract!
Anne-Marie, in a few words, how would you describe your role as project procurement manager to someone who still thinks procurement is just about negotiating prices?
Being a buyer is about far more than negotiating! It is about making sure projects or new products come to fruition, meeting quality, cost and schedule requirements, all within a contractual framework and market and client constraints. It is a job that demands versatility, people skills and an overall understanding: it is not a simple hunt for the best price, it is a global balance to be struck between every component.
A project involves many stakeholders: project managers, engineers, lawyers, contract managers… Where does the buyer fit into this ecosystem?
The project buyer is a key link in this chain. In complex projects, for instance, they obviously step in to make sure that equipment, supplies or services meet the agreed cost, quality and schedule constraints, but also as an interface to mobilise the right resources at the right time, contract managers in particular.
From sourcing through to contract award, by way of the tender, the project buyer is present at every stage of the procurement process, often interfacing with many project counterparts, including the contract manager.
At what point do you think a contract manager can help the project buyer?
As far upstream as possible, right from the tender! To illustrate with an example: in the automotive industry, I have seen many purchasing decisions taken without a contract manager, with only a design office involved, and sometimes with occasional support from an in-house lawyer or external counsel to review the contract. Except that in practice, nobody asked how the contract was actually going to be performed: whether in terms of maintenance, management of non-conformities, and so on.
Ideally, the contract manager should come in as soon as sourcing ends. In the shifting environment we know today, the contractual relationship must be an integral part of supplier selection. In practice, buyers do not always have the time to follow every contract, and that is where the contract manager can take over, provide regular monitoring, identify drift or deviations, notify non-conformities, and so on.
Do you often get the chance to work with contract managers?
Not enough! I sometimes work with legal support (in-house lawyers or external counsel) on an ad hoc basis, for example drafting claim letters, but I still quite rarely have a contract manager dedicated to procurement on projects. That said, I see an underlying trend, with more and more companies taking an interest in supplier contract management & administration and looking for hybrid profiles, whether procurement contract managers or experienced buyers capable of managing contracts.
Can you give me an example of a situation where a poorly managed contract cost you dearly?
Yes! Without naming names, I negotiated contracts for the supply of heavy machinery after a long process. Everything looked perfect… until we realised that spare parts and consumables had not been included in the supplier’s scope. The result: the savings achieved over months of negotiation were lost afterwards.
Conversely, could you tell us about a successful contractual collaboration?
Of course. I have the example of a supplier who, at the end of the consultation, came out significantly cheaper than the others, but with a certain fragility on quality. With a buyer and contract manager pairing, you can contract intelligently: help the supplier build up its capabilities, in exchange for discounted pricing terms. The cheapest is not always the best, but pairing a buyer with a contract manager makes it possible to co-build a framework that fosters performance.
What do you make of the digitalisation of procurement and contracts?
Digitalisation holds real potential, particularly for automating contract monitoring, even if to date I have mostly seen contract repositories that send reminders.
I expect that in the near future we will have solutions that track contractual indicators in real time (year-end rebates, commitments, commercial terms…) and free us from the Excel spreadsheet.
In your view, what does a well-managed contract look like on the procurement side?
It is fairly simple: you must be able to pull your procurement KPIs every month and link them back to the contract (service rate, availability, year-end rebates, etc.). If you cannot, then it is not being properly managed. That said, the reality on the ground is that, as a project buyer, you do not always have the time to monitor every supplier in that much detail, and here again the contract manager can really help the buyer.
Any advice for working better with a contract manager?
They need to become part of the project team, ask questions, and also talk to the buyer to set clear boundaries around their responsibilities and deliverables. Above all, they must never approach the supplier alone without consulting the buyer! The supplier relationship is precious. Actions must be coordinated and “who does what” clarified, so the team moves forward together. It is usually a lack of communication that creates tension or slip-ups.
How do you get a buyer interested in contract management?
Talk to them about performance, because a buyer is a performer! The contract is not a brake, it is a lever for economic, quality and relationship performance. The contract manager brings solutions; they are not simply a “guardian of the contract”. And they must be curious about the world: understand markets, trends, suppliers. They cannot stay locked away in their clauses.
A final word to close?
Contract management is not an isolated profession. It is an essential cog in making procurement more effective, more secure and also more human. And when we work together, we are stronger.
Contract managers have a real part to play in supporting procurement on supplier performance (notably through procurement contract management), so this collaboration should be strengthened to create high-performing pairings!