All contract renewals for technology services and products must go through the state’s technology review process.
To get the most value out of your contract renewal process; check out these quick tips:
To get the most value out of your contract renewal process; check out these quick tips:
- Develop and maintain a program-wide schedule for your technology contract renewals and end dates. This will help with the coordination of renewing contracts and updating them in a timely manner.
- List the fiscal year-end and quarterly reporting cycle for each
vendor.
- Don’t wait. Start your contract renewal process 3-4 months
before the contract expires; allowing you and your BIT POC to step
through the process at a comfortable pace.
- Allows ample time to define changes and communicate those to your vendor.
- If you want or need concessions or changes from your vendor 6 months is not too soon.
- If you want or need to change vendors, contact your BIT POC ASAP. Changing vendors can be a complex undertaking and the sooner the planning starts the higher the chance of a satisfactory change.
- If your vendor has changed ownership this can affect their
business model, their altitude toward you, their fees, and their fee
structure. This can lead to a longer and riskier contract process.
- Spend a few minutes reading articles about states that have been hacked by criminals or hostile nations.
- Educate yourself as to why security matters by checking out the cyber secruity awareness articles on our BIT blog.
- Understand that vendors operate for profit. Unless it is going to make them money, they will rarely tell you your options or your risks. Have someone who knows how to ask the vendor important questions make sure your data and systems will be secure, supportable, and recoverable.