contractual advice for engineering group
the challenge:
A UK based provider of Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) solutions was involved in supply negotiations
with a major engineering group with both UK and US
operations. The client’s US affiliates supplied the customer
with a standard contract inconsistent with the UK’s approach.
Adjustments to the contract would be needed to protect our client
from the potential risks of contracting with unsuitable
terms. However this would need to be achieved without major
amendments or additions which could undermine customer confidence
in our client whilst recognising that the contract already worked
for US operations.
our approach:
We made only minimum changes to the US services contract and
addressed contractual concerns in the individual Statements of Work
(SoWs) made under the auspice of the main services contract.
Although the SoWs substantially varied the terms of the services
contract, the changes were closely related to, and appropriate for,
the work to be carried out under the SoWs.
the result:
Some of the terms called for extensive negotiations, however
the customer accepted the appropriateness of a legal framework in
which many of the key terms were contained in the SoWs. Our
client was able to secure the deal with the suitable contractual
protections it needed.