Making contract risks visible means you can see at any moment which end dates, SLAs, indexations and open actions need attention, without that knowledge sitting in one person’s head. Research by WorldCC, PwC and McKinsey shows that on average 2.6% of contract value leaks away each year through poor contract management, and that 95% of organisations lack full insight into their own contractual obligations. GRIP is contract management software for supplier contracts at Dutch organisations in healthcare, education and the public sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You come back on a Monday morning after two weeks off. First thought: did something expire while I was away? You are not sure. Somewhere in your mind you know the cleaning contract for three sites runs out this autumn, but the exact date? That sits in a spreadsheet managed by a colleague. And that colleague has retired. Most contract risks are not in a system, but in the head of one person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As long as that person is around, everything appears under control. Until they fall ill, go on leave or move on. Then it turns out the knowledge was never recorded anywhere. An automatic renewal at the wrong rate, an indexation nobody checked, an SLA that has gone unmet for months. These risks were always there. They simply were not visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A contract manager in the public sector easily handles 40 to 200 contracts. Some sit in AFAS or another ERP, with a name, supplier and end date. The content, the agreements that really matter, is scattered across spreadsheets, mailboxes and conversations that were never minuted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That works as long as nothing changes. But the moment staff change, the organisation grinds to a halt. The knowledge of when each contract ends, which indexation clause applies and which supplier consistently underperforms leaves with them. No handover document fully covers it. One person’s gut feeling cannot be exported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PIANOo, the procurement knowledge platform of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, identifies contract risks such as poor delivery, additional and reduced work, missed discounts and late re-tendering. Translated into daily practice, this comes down to four concrete types you need to be able to see at any moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What these four share: they stay invisible until it is too late. The difference between “I think that contract runs out at the end of the year” and “the dashboard shows 87 days to the end date” is the difference between reactively firefighting and steering ahead of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many advisory practices recommend a periodic reassessment rhythm: high-value contracts every quarter, medium ones every six months, the rest annually. On paper that sounds structured. In practice it misses the moment the risk arises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An indexation applied incorrectly on 1 January only comes to light at a quarterly review at the end of March. By then, three invoices have already been paid at the wrong rate. A notice period you missed in February is irreversible by the half-yearly review in July. Risks that only surface at a periodic review have often already occurred by that point. The position is clear: the solution does not start with a tighter review schedule, but with visibility at the moment a risk arises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n