The major part of this Chapter refers to the period from the signature of the contract to its closure. The aim of this Chapter is to provide guidance to the Contracting Authorities and to present best practices related to the management of contracts entered into with economic operators (Contractors), and more specifically how to:
| ● | manage their relationship with the Contractor (e.g., development of a spirit of cooperation and trust, observance of the Code of Ethics and professional behaviour, communication, dealing with problems), |
| ● | perform the administrative tasks required in the framework of contract management (e.g., maintaining documents in updated format, asset management, conducting payments, management of variations and claims), |
It is self explanatory that, the best practices regarding issues of time limits, deadlines, penalty clauses, amounts or other procedures are preceded by the force of Laws, Regulations, Circulars and the provisions of the contract each time as long as there are differences between the two.
The last part of the Chapter refers to the procedures for the transition into productive operation and it mainly involves contracts for the development, installation and operation of integrated information systems, as well as service contracts for the organisational-operational reengineering.