Mixed reaction to OGC contract guidelines
Final version is released, but some of Intellect's concerns remain
The final version of the Office of Government Commerce's (OGC's) controversial contract guidelines for public-sector suppliers has been released. However, watchers have said it fails to address concerns raised by suppliers' representative body Intellect that the guidelines could impose undue risk on suppliers.
Yet Intellect has agreed to support the new guidance in principle. It hopes instead to influence how the contracts are implemented in practice.
John Kenyan, deputy director of contract innovation at the OGC, and the man who put the contracts together, said: "Intellect had some late concerns and we took on board some of its views."
He said the OGC agreed with Intellect on broad principles, but had not reached accord on every detail. "There are one or two minor points where we had a slight difference of view," he said.
Nick Kalisperas, public-sector head at Intellect, said: "There are areas where we agree with the OGC. Where we can't address them we'll address them through the embedding process."
The embedding process will decide how public-sector buyers implement the contracts, and will be managed jointly by the OGC and Intellect. Kenyan and Kalisperas stressed that the guidelines are not applicable in their entirety to all contractual situations.
"It's a case of pic 'n' mix," said Kenyan. He added that risk is distributed equally in the contracts.
"The principle of this guidance is that risk should be allocated to the party best able to manage it," Kenyan said.
Intellect had previously raised concerns that the new model contracts would burden IT suppliers with a disproportionate share of responsibility for failure in future government IT projects.
Rosemary Mulley, a lawyer specialising in public-sector IT contracts at Nabarro Nathanson, questioned the obligations placed on suppliers to ensure they are satisfied with customers' requirements during due diligence.
"How can you do due diligence on customer requirements? That's set out in the contract," she said. "How can a supplier do this, when a contract has yet to be written?"