The hard copies of all parts of the Contract should be stored in a easily accessible and secure location which is also accessible to the contact management team. Consideration should be given as to whether they could be maintained on a shared basis with the Contractor. WIDP recommend a collaborative approach with the Contractor to avoid the very real risk that, at some point, the two parties cannot agree which is the current version of the Contract. In any event a protocol will be needed to ensure that any agreement to change any term of the Contract is properly documented and there is a system in place to alert readers of the original version of the Contract that there has been a change.
The Contract Manager should be aware that there is software available in the market which can be used to make documents more user friendly as a contract management tool. This can be particularly useful in managing and recording updates to the Contract whilst retaining the original wording for reference.
In the WIDP Contract (Clause 84.6) there are provisions that prevent the Contractor making use of the Contract, other than for the purposes of the Contract, without the prior written consent of the Authority. There are also a provision (Clause 97) that makes it clear that the Contract may be executed in a number of parts all of which taken together constitute the same instrument. The Contract Manager must be mindful of the possibility that there may be multiple parts to the Contract and filing arrangements should be designed to ensure that a copy of the complete agreement is retained by the Contract Management Team at all times.