Optimizing Post-Award Contract Management Through Shared Management Activities

Jim Bergman

Contracts are often celebrated at the moment of signing, with both parties relieved that negotiations are complete and obligations clearly defined. Yet the real story begins after the ink dries. Post-award contract management is where agreements come to life, where promises are tested, and where relationships either flourish or falter. Too often, organizations treat this phase as a compliance exercise—monitoring deadlines, enforcing penalties, and ensuring obligations are met. While compliance is essential, it is only part of the story.

The true potential of post-award contract management lies in collaboration. When parties move beyond transactional enforcement and embrace shared management activities, they unlock value that far exceeds the original scope of the agreement. These activities—such as supplier boards, joint steering committees, or shared performance reviews—provide structured mechanisms for optimizing performance. They transform contracts from static documents into dynamic frameworks for partnership, resilience, and innovation.

Why Shared Management Activities Matter

Shared management activities are not just administrative add-ons; they are strategic tools. They create forums where suppliers and customers can jointly monitor performance, identify challenges, and pursue opportunities. By working together, parties can:

  • Enhance transparency: Shared boards and committees provide visibility into performance metrics, risks, and opportunities.
  • Strengthen accountability: Joint oversight ensures that both parties remain committed to agreed outcomes.
  • Drive innovation: Collaborative forums spark creativity and accelerate the adoption of new ideas.
  • Build trust: Regular engagement fosters stronger relationships and mutual confidence.
  • Mitigate risks: Shared management activities allow parties to anticipate and address issues before they escalate.

In short, shared management activities shift the focus from “meeting contract terms” to “creating shared value.”

Supplier Boards: A Prime Example

One of the most effective shared management activities is the supplier board. A supplier board is a structured forum where representatives from both parties meet regularly to review performance, discuss challenges, and explore opportunities.

Supplier boards typically include:

  • Performance reviews: Assessing whether obligations are being met and identifying areas for improvement.
  • Strategic discussions: Exploring opportunities for innovation, cost savings, or process improvements.
  • Risk management: Identifying potential disruptions and developing mitigation strategies.
  • Relationship building: Strengthening trust and collaboration through regular engagement.

The beauty of supplier boards is that they provide a predictable, structured mechanism for collaboration. Instead of ad hoc conversations triggered by crises, supplier boards create a rhythm of engagement that fosters continuous improvement.

Shared Activities Beyond Supplier Boards

While supplier boards are powerful, shared management activities can take many forms, depending on the context and needs of the relationship. Examples include:

  • Joint steering committees: High-level forums for strategic oversight and alignment.
  • Shared performance dashboards: Collaborative tools for monitoring metrics in real time.
  • Joint audits: Cooperative reviews of compliance, quality, or sustainability practices.
  • Innovation workshops: Collaborative sessions to generate new ideas and solutions.
  • Capability-building programs: Shared training initiatives to enhance skills across organizations.

These activities deliver tangible benefits while strengthening relationships and fostering long-term partnerships.

The Business Case for Shared Management

Why should organizations invest time and resources in shared management activities? The answer is simple: the benefits far outweigh the costs.

  • Enhanced performance: Joint oversight drives improvements in quality, efficiency, and reliability.
  • Cost savings: Process improvements and resource sharing reduce waste and lower expenses.
  • Innovation: Collaboration sparks creativity and accelerates the adoption of new ideas.
  • Resilience: Shared risk management enhances the ability to withstand disruptions.
  • Reputation: Demonstrating collaboration and sustainability strengthens brand credibility.

In a competitive marketplace, these advantages can be the difference between thriving and merely surviving.

Keys to Success

Implementing shared management activities requires more than good intentions. Success depends on several critical factors:

  • Clear alignment: Both parties must agree on shared goals and understand how they benefit from collaboration.
  • Strong governance: Establishing structures for decision-making, accountability, and conflict resolution is essential.
  • Open communication: Transparency builds trust and ensures issues are addressed promptly.
  • Flexibility: Activities must be adaptable to changing circumstances and evolving needs.
  • Measurement: Defining metrics and tracking progress ensures accountability and demonstrates value.

When these elements are in place, shared management activities become powerful engines of value creation.

Risks and How to Manage Them

Collaboration is not without risks. Organizations must be mindful of potential challenges:

  • Misaligned incentives: If one party benefits more than the other, resentment can build.
  • Resource constraints: Shared activities require time, money, and expertise, which may be limited.
  • Confidentiality concerns: Sharing data and insights can raise issues of security and intellectual property.
  • Cultural differences: Divergent organizational cultures can hinder collaboration.
  • Scope creep: Activities may expand beyond the original intent, creating inefficiencies.

The key is to anticipate these risks and build safeguards into the plan. Clear agreements, strong governance, and regular communication go a long way toward mitigating challenges.

Sector-Specific Applications

Shared management activities are versatile and can be applied across sectors:

  • Manufacturing: Supplier boards drive lean production initiatives and quality improvements.
  • Healthcare: Joint committees ensure compliance with patient privacy regulations and medical technology standards.
  • Technology: Collaborative dashboards monitor cybersecurity performance and innovation initiatives.
  • Retail: Shared boards align sustainability practices with consumer expectations.
  • Construction: Joint risk management committees ensure project success and safety compliance.
  • Energy: Collaborative forums align renewable energy projects with emissions reduction goals.
  • Transportation: Shared boards optimize logistics, routes, and fuel consumption.
  • Financial Services: Joint oversight ensures compliance with evolving banking regulations.
  • Hospitality: Supplier boards enhance service standards and guest satisfaction.
  • Government: Shared committees foster transparency and accountability in public procurement.
  • Non-Profits: Collaborative boards align contracts with donor expectations and regulatory requirements.
  • Faith-Based Universities: Shared management activities ensure supplier relationships align with mission-driven values and accreditation standards.

These examples demonstrate the versatility and power of shared management activities in diverse contexts.

Energizing the Future of Contract Management

The future of contract management is collaborative. Organizations that embrace shared management activities will be better positioned to:

  • Respond to market shifts with agility.
  • Innovate faster and more effectively.
  • Build resilient supply chains.
  • Meet evolving customer and stakeholder expectations.
  • Create sustainable, long-term value.

Those that cling to transactional, compliance-focused approaches will find themselves constrained, reactive, and vulnerable. The choice is clear: collaboration through shared management activities, or stagnation through isolation.

Conclusion and Call to Action

Contracts are not just legal documents—they are frameworks for relationships. In the post-award phase, the true potential of contracts is realized when parties move beyond compliance and embrace collaboration. Shared management activities provide the structure for this collaboration, enabling organizations to achieve outcomes far greater than the sum of their parts.

The benefits are undeniable: enhanced performance, cost savings, innovation, resilience, and reputation. The risks are manageable with clear alignment, strong governance, open communication, flexibility, and measurement. And the applications span industries, from manufacturing to healthcare to faith-based universities.

The message is simple: post-award contract management is not about enforcing obligations—it’s about creating shared value.

Call to Action: Audit your current contracts. Identify opportunities for shared management activities. Engage your partners in conversations about supplier boards, joint committees, and collaborative dashboards. Build structures for governance, communication, and measurement. And most importantly, commit to treating contracts as living frameworks for collaboration.

The future of contract management belongs to those who embrace partnership. Don’t wait for a crisis to force collaboration—start building shared management activities today, and unlock the full potential of your supplier-customer relationships.

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Published by Jim Bergman

Jim Bergman is a commercial contract professional with global experience spanning the USA, Latin America, UK, Europe, China, South Korea, Japan, India, SE Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Australia. He has worked on a wide range of direct and indirect spend categories in numerous sectors, developing a deep knowledge of services, goods and technology procurement and sales. Across this wide array of commodity and services experience, Jim has found the keys to success in maximizing value for money through customer-supplier relationships founded on innovative category management and strategic sourcing practices, key performance metrics and measures, as well as Total Cost of Ownership principles and collaborative contracting tenets. He has shared his knowledge through advisory engagements, as well as in developing and delivering training programs both on-line and in classrooms, in both open-enrollment and internal environments. Jim has assisted his clients through all phases and steps of contracting, negotiation, strategic sourcing and bidding processes, demonstrating value generation in excess of $250 million. His audiences and clients have included over 7,000 attorneys and commercial professionals students from over 1,000 corporations and public-sector entities.

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