Managing University Contracts
The Contracts and Agreements Policy sets out key requirements for personnel who plan, negotiate, authorise and manage agreements made between the University and third parties.
The University updated the Contracts and Agreements Policy on 28 March 2022, changing its expectations of how contracts with the University should be managed. 聽You can read here about changes to what is considered a significant contract, contracts with foreign parties and expectations about record keeping and contract management.
Contract Management
Each academic or administrative unit is responsible for its own contracts, which means that staff must comply with the University鈥檚 Contracts and Agreements Policy and the Contract Management Handbook.
Contracts aren鈥檛 set and forget. We need to keep records of who the University has contracted with, and we need to monitor how those third parties are meeting their obligations under their contract with us.
The Procedures in the Contracts and Agreements Policy lists the obligations for contracts in local academic and administrative units. They include:聽
- Lodging the executed contract, and all associated documents, as a 鈥淟egal Document鈥 with Records Services by completing the 鈥淟egal Document Lodgement Form鈥;
- Recording the contract on an Approved Contract Register. 聽Many areas are now using the register maintained by Legal Services. 聽Please complete all relevant data fields when lodging a contract in the register;聽
- Regularly reviewing their contract register to ensure it is up to date and relevant;
- Ensure that the parties that the University has contracted with are meeting their obligations under the contract, for example, with respect to the quality of their service delivery, timeframes and charging;聽
- Ensuring that the University meets its obligations to third parties; and
- Responding to key dates in the contract, which may include such things as reviews of the cost of deliverables, renewal and termination of contracts.
Electronic Execution of Contracts
Most contracts can be executed electronically. The COVID-19 Electronic Signatures Guideline lists those contracts which cannot be executed electronically, for example:聽
- Contracts with a value of more than $2million
- Any documents requiring assessment of stamp duty or other government filing
- Deeds
- Any document which is required to be witnessed
Please see the COVID-19 Electronic Signatures Guideline for a complete list of agreements which must not be executed electronically.
To sign a document electronically, you can:聽
- Copy a scanned image of your hand-written signature into the document鈥檚 signature block; or
- Draw your signature into the signature block, using Adobe Reader.
Contact helpdesklegal@adelaide.edu.au if you would like to arrange a contract management training session for your area or if you have any questions regarding contract management.