Contract Administration in the Public Sector

Contract administration covers a multitude of industries including the public sector. Topics pertaining to government and private sector contracts will be covered in this workshop. Students will learn basic processes in setting up contract terms, how to account for change orders (or cost overruns), contract disputes and financial audits. This class is designed for contract managers at every level and will walk participants through the Contract Administration process.

Contract administration includes preparing pricing structures and budgets for contracted projects. This course will teach concepts in cost-price analysis and show students how to develop budget or cost structures for public sector projects. Specific topics of study may include the life cycle of cost elements, supply and demand, economic cost factors and operations cost estimates.

A contract administrator may need to deal with client negotiations or bargains. This course will demonstrate tried contract negotiating techniques. The contract life cycle will be explored, from preparing negotiations and modifying contracts to securing contracts and implementation. The workshop will offer mock negotiations, so that students can learn from real-world, case study experiences.

Contract administration includes the procurement of labor contracts, as well as disputes or discrepancies that may come along with those contract procurements. In this course, students learn how to deal with unhappy customers, contracts that did not meet expectations or failure to make contract payments. Students learn techniques for dealing with each of the aforementioned situations and how to determine if the situations should be handled in arbitration with the help of a third party. This course will also provide information on how to choose arbitrators, how to prepare for arbitration and tools to use for tracking or collecting evidence in an arbitrated case.