A supreme state authority intended to implement a very large SAP HR application and, among other things, organized a negotiated procedure under public procurement law. We were commissioned to review service specifications and the contract to be concluded with view to IT-related regulations (on acceptance, error classes, project management, etc.) already before the contract was awarded to the contractor. We were to check the specifications to be prepared by the contractor to determine whether they were suitable for the acceptance to be carried out by the authority. The acceptance tests had to point out deviations between the contractually agreed and ordered services and the designed and delivered services. In addition, we were responsible for accompanying the project, reviewing change requests, and supporting the state authority in disputes with the contractor. The project duration was originally set to be just over three years and was significantly exceeded.
During project implementation, we provided a great number of individual services, including in particular:
- Review of specification documents and draft contracts
- Support in contract negotiations (regarding technical points)
- Support in ensuring a professional controlling (auditable invoices)
- Review of project plans for conclusiveness and usability, especially for further project work and acceptance units
- General status review at short notice to justify the denial of acceptance of a major milestone
- Support in the defense of alleged change requests to substantiate subsequent claims
- Close cooperation with the assigned lawyers
Our services caused the contractor to make multiple concessions and the project partners to come to a reasonable commercial agreement. As a result, the project was successfully completed within a still acceptable time frame since a basis for a reasonable commercial agreement had been created.