Contract Initiation and Reviewer Responsibilities

The individual initiating the contract on behalf of the College (the initiator) and subsequent reviewers are responsible for reading the entire contract and determining that its content, objectives, definitions, and terms:

1. Accurately reflect agreements made during negotiations.
2. Are consistent with the initiator’s or unit’s requirements.
3. Contain the standard terms and conditions preferred by the College to the extent applicable and to the extent that they can be obtained given the relative bargaining power of the parties (see Template Forms).
4. Are clear and consistent throughout.
5. Do not constitute a conflict of interest for the parties affected by the contract.
6. Are in accordance with College policy.
7. Are in accordance with state and federal laws as may be applicable.

    

   In addition, contract initiators are responsible for ensuring that contracts:

8. Are routed through the appropriate College officials for review prior to signing.
9. Are appropriately filed and stored.

Levels of risk exist in all contracts. A key responsibility of the contract initiator and subsequent reviewers is to assess the institutional risk of a contract. If a contract initiator is concerned about risks being assumed by the college under the terms of the contract, the contact initiator should contact the risk manager or other appropriate staff (see Getting Help).

Contract Signer Responsibilities

All contracts must be signed by both parties. Individuals whose titles appear in the signatory authority section of the policy are authorized to sign contracts on behalf of the College up to the dollar amounts specified.

The contract signer is responsible for:

1. reviewing and signing the contract,
2. ensuring that all mandatory reviewers have reviewed the agreement and that their comments have been considered in the final document, and
3. sending the signed original contract and any related correspondence or other related documents to the responsible office for storage and management.

See How to Manage Contracts for more details.