Beyond Compliance: How Contract Lifecycle Management Systems Can Improve Accountability in Government Procurement
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Transitioning to a modern contract lifecycle management (CLM) system allows organizations to adhere to policies and procedures by being customizable.
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CLM improves compliance, auditing expectations, contract negotiation, and communication.
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CLM can alleviate some of the burdens that procurement professionals experience by having contract notifications and automating manual tasks.
Procurement and contract technology have been evolving rapidly over the past few years. This includes the modernized contract lifecycle management (CLM) system that is part of a robust Procure-to-Pay or Source-to-Contract tool being used by multiple public purchasing entities. With the ability to automate manual tasks, provide increased transparency, and store contract data electronically, CLM is transforming the way government buyers manage all contracts and data in one system.
Many public sector entities have already utilized a modern CLM system to take advantage of its compliance features to improve their office’s accountability. SANDAG, San Diego Association of Governments, transitioned to Bidnet Direct’s CLM solution and has since become more organized and compliant with contracts and data. Learn more about their experience.
Aspects of Contract Lifecycle Management That Improves the Process
Time after time, the modern contract lifecycle management system helps government agencies to manage contracts more effectively by providing a central repository of all contracts and contract-related information. This ensures that all stakeholders can access the most up-to-date information and can track progress throughout the contract lifecycle. At the same time, alleviates the burden of procurement professionals manually keeping track of each aspect of contracts’ life.
Increased Compliance and Beating Audit Expectations
The most advantageous feature of CLM is it helps ensure that contracts comply with all relevant laws and regulations. CLM can get customized based on the organization’s procurement policies. This includes ensuring that contracts are in line with procedures and any other relevant regulations or laws.
Providing complete transparency, audit trails, regulatory compliance, and business intelligence, CLM can improve audit performance for government procurement while meeting audit requirements. These features can help auditors understand, improve, and advise on procurement processes and outcomes.
A comprehensive database allows agencies to easily find what the state agencies and central procurement purchase, from which supplier, how much, and when. Furthermore, agencies can also collect information about compliance and performance including how long it takes to generate purchase orders, whether the employees comply with purchasing regulations, and comparisons of planned and actual spending. Data regarding suppliers – such as ontact information, insurance and certification updates, pricing quotes, and amendments – are important to keeping the procurement department running smoothly before, during, and after an audit.
Better Contract Negotiations and Improved Communication
CLM allows government departments and agencies to track and analyze contract data to identify areas where cost savings can be made. This can help reduce the procurement cost and ensure that the best possible deal is negotiated. By using CLM, government agencies can identify and mitigate potential risks associated with contracts. This can help protect the government’s interests and ensure that contracts are delivered as expected. Using one system, all stakeholders can communicate and collaborate on contract-related matters. This helps to ensure that all parties are on the same page and can work together to achieve common goals.
Transition to a Modern Contract Lifecycle Management System
Bidnet Direct’s CLM is designed to simplify every aspect of contract lifecycle management. With powerful and easy-to-use tools, procurement professionals are empowered to simplify the process from capture through renegotiation and renewal. The flexibility of Bidnet Direct allows teams to decide what level of functionality they require to meet their organizational needs, allowing for custom solutions that meet their needs.
Our CLM solution includes many features to make the procurement process easier, with an extensive reporting capability, tracking of contracts and other documents, a search of COIs, notifications upon the end of the contract period, and more. Some of the features include extensive documentation search and filtering capabilities as well as tracking and notification of contracts nearing or entering their end-of-lifetime (EOL) phase. Additionally, our CLM gives the ability to collaborate with vendors directly from BidNet Direct through red-line capabilities and custom templates for vendor collaboration.
The ultimate goal of utilizing a CLM system is to provide peace of mind for organizations to be compliant without the risk of costing too much. Request a demo today to learn more about Bidnet Direct’s CLM.
Find out how BidNet Direct can help your government organization today! 
