Summary

Establish and maintain supplier agreements.

Description

A supplier agreement is any written agreement between the organization (representing the work) and the supplier. This agreement can be a contract, license, service level agreement, or memorandum of agreement.

The content of the supplier agreement should specify the arrangement for selecting supplier processes and work products to be monitored, analyzed, and evaluated, if the arrangement is appropriate to the acquisition or product being acquired. The supplier agreement should also specify the reviews, monitoring, evaluations, and acceptance testing to be performed.

Supplier processes that are critical to the success of the work (e.g., due to complexity, due to importance) should be monitored.

An acquired service can be delivered directly to the service provider’s customer or end user. The content of the supplier agreement for such an acquired service should also specify whether the acceptance process will be performed before, during, or after supplier delivery. If the supplier will continuously or repeatedly deliver the service to the customer, the content should also specify when or how often the acceptance process will be performed (e.g., every time the service is delivered, at specified or random times on a subset of the service deliveries).

Supplier agreements between independent legal entities are typically reviewed by legal or contract advisors prior to approval.

Supplier agreements should address the expected end of service, early end of service, and transition of service as appropriate.

Example Work Products



  1. Statements of work
  2. Contracts
  3. Memoranda of agreement
  4. Licensing agreement


Subpractices



1. Revise the requirements (e.g., product requirements, service level requirements) to be fulfilled by the supplier to reflect negotiations with the supplier when necessary.

 

SSD Addition
Refer to the Service System Development process area for more information about developing and analyzing stakeholder requirements.


Refer to the Requirements Management (REQM) (CMMI-SVC) process area for more information about managing requirements of the project’s products and product components and to ensure alignment between those requirements and the project’s plans and work products.



2. Document what the work group will provide to the supplier.

 

Include the following:
  • Work group furnished facilities
  • Documentation
  • Services



3. Document the supplier agreement.

The supplier agreement should include a statement of work, a specification, terms and conditions, a list of deliverables, a schedule, a budget, and a defined acceptance process.

 

This subpractice typically includes the following tasks:
  • Identifying specific requirements, scope, level of service, and communication processes to be provided by the suppliers
  • Aligning subcontract service level agreements with contractor’s service level agreements
  • Ensuring risk handling responsibilities are flowed down to suppliers as appropriate
  • Reviewing the legal aspects of the supplier agreement if necessary to ensure compliance and enforceability
  • Identifying the type and depth of oversight of the supplier, including selection of processes to be monitored and work products to be evaluated (and the corresponding procedures and evaluation criteria to be used)
  • Establishing the statement of work, specification, terms and conditions, list of deliverables, schedule, budget, and acceptance process
  • Identifying who from the work group and supplier are responsible and authorized to make changes to the supplier agreement
  • Identifying how requirements changes and changes to the supplier agreement are to be determined, communicated, and addressed
  • Identifying standards and procedures that will be followed
  • Identifying critical dependencies between the work and the supplier
  • Identifying the types of reviews that will be conducted with the supplier
  • Identifying the supplier’s responsibilities for ongoing maintenance and support of the acquired products
  • Identifying warranty, ownership, and rights of use for the acquired products
  • NIdentifying acceptance criteria


 

In some cases, selection of modified COTS products can require a supplier agreement in addition to the agreements in the product’s license. Examples of what could be covered in an agreement with a COTS supplier include the following:
  • Discounts for large quantity purchases
  • Coverage of relevant stakeholders under the licensing agreement, including suppliers, team members, and the customer
  • Plans for future enhancements
  • On-site support, such as responses to queries and problem reports
  • Additional capabilities that are not in the product
  • Maintenance support, including support after the product is withdrawn from general availability



4. Periodically review the supplier agreement to ensure it accurately reflects the work group’s relationship with the supplier and current risks and market conditions.

5. Ensure that all parties to the supplier agreement understand and agree to all requirements before implementing the agreement or any changes.

6. Revise the supplier agreement as necessary to reflect changes to the supplier’s processes or work products.

7. Revise the work plans and commitments, including changes to the work group’s processes or work products, as necessary to reflect the supplier agreement.

Refer to the Work Monitoring and Control (WMC) (CMMI-SVC) process area for more information about monitoring commitments.