Courses in Contract Administration
- Contract administration involves a knowledge of both legal and business issues.firma contract 20309 image by pablo from Fotolia.com
Contract administrators are involved in the drafting and negotiation of agreements between parties. Their work involves a knowledge of the law and an understanding of the business issues involved in creating a contract that serves the best interests of their client. Students who major in business will typically take courses in contract management, but there are also degree programs in the field that prepare specialists to negotiate and manage contracts. Often, these professionals will work as purchasing executives or project managers. - The laws the govern the making and enforcement of contracts are a critical knowledge area for contract administrators. These courses cover a number of specific areas to prepare students for varied opportunities in the field. Students study labor and employment law, business issues such as mergers and acquisitions and human resources and employee relations law. Students also receive instruction in the language that is used in the construction of contracts to aid them in writing and understanding them.
- The ability to ensure that a deal is fair and profitable is key to contract administration. In order to train students in this area, classes involving budgeting and financial issues are part of a contract-management curriculum. Students must learn to allocate both financial resources and time to the development of the project being contracted. Students also learn how to analyze pricing proposals and to compare them to each other in the selection of the appropriate partner.
- The art of communicating a position well both verbally and in written form is a critical aspect of contract administration. Students take courses in negotiation that teach them how to read a negotiating partner and make necessary changes to a contract, and then sell those changes to the other side. These courses often incorporate face-to-face mock sessions to practice the skills being taught in a classroom setting.
- Once a contract is in place, there are bound to be points of contention between the parties. Contract administrators need to be able to work through those disputes and understand the third-party options available to help them do so. Courses in dispute resolution and arbitration teach students how to work with unhappy customers or suppliers and also help them understand what to do when outside arbitration is needed.
