News |
26 April 2019
At the turn of the year it will be time for a relaunch of the SSG Delivery Contract. The new contract, which has been revised, simplified and undergone a linguistic review, is strategically an extremely important service for SSG.
The SSG Delivery Contract is revised as required, which usually means every four years. The last time was in 2012. Now it’s time to do it again.
“The Delivery Contract Committee carries out a revision when it’s warranted. Over the past year a handful of external legal experts have carried out extensive work on a review of the terms of insurance in the insurance annex and also of the Delivery Contract’s two key documents containing the commercial and legal terms and conditions,” says Anna-Karin Bohman, the committee’s process manager.
The aim is to speed up work for both suppliers and purchasers by reversing a trend of the last 7-8 years in the form of an increased of deviations from the SSG Delivery Contract and other standard contracts.
“The deviations from the standard contract for major procurement contracts can now sometimes cover 2-5 pages, which makes it more difficult to both read and interpret the standard contract. The objective for the new revised contract is to create a more efficient approach and implementation for our customers,” says Anna-Karin Bohman, continuing:
“We’ve reduced the total number of annexes, even though two new ones have been added for options and the code of conduct. We’ve imported and incorporated fives different annexes into annex three, which we believe both suppliers and purchasers will appreciate. Apart from that, users will find the new, revised contract familiar. As before, the focus is on the supplier’s tender being incorporated into the contract and much of importance being contained in annexes 2 and 3. We’re keen to convey a sense of reassurance. The structure has been changed, but the ambition has at all times been to make work even smoother and faster.”
The SSG Delivery Contract is available in four languages: English, Swedish, Finnish and German. There is also already a translation into Polish.
“We’re keeping that, but we’re not producing a new update of this language version. We’ve also conducted a more detailed linguistic review of the English version in order to make sure we have the correct English terminology.”
The revised version will soon be going out for consultation with a number of suppliers, after which the new Delivery Contract will probably be launched in January 2019.
“Everyone who has a subscription with SSG will then automatically receive a mailing with the new contract documents with associated annexes,” says Anna- Karin Bohman.
The Delivery Contract Committee will start working on SSG’s small contract, which is actually called “SSG General Terms and Conditions 90-12”, in early 2019, and it will be launched later the same year.
“This is the first time we’re doing a shared release. We’re doing it because there’s a desire and a need to revert to the benefits of the standardised contract and to strike a balance in which the parties can keep additions and deviations to such a level that company legal experts or external legal experts only need to be engaged in special cases,” says Anna-Karin Bohman, who also recommends that SSG’s customers organise contract courses on a regular basis.
“Training courses should be held regularly. Those specialising in contracts do courses with us about every 18 months.”
SSG, members of the Delivery Contract Committee and many external employees have invested a lot of time and work in this revision.
“The groups in all committees normally meet 3-4 times a year, but since February we’ve already held seven meetings and we have a couple more scheduled for the rest of this year. External contract law experts with experience from other similar contracts have also been involved, and this time the translation of the English contracts is being carried out by companies with strong legal expertise,” concludes Anna-Karin Boman.
