For many corporations the traditional staffing model for procurement contract drafting, review and negotiation is based on a method that is both labor-intensive and cost-prohibitive through reliance on expensive in-house legal resources. Many of these resources are over-priced for the task of reviewing and negotiating a company’s repetitive, lower-complexity contracts. Given the unrelenting need for these services, however, in-house lawyers and contract specialists are finding themselves overwhelmed with unrealistic demands on their time. The time investment required to negotiate high-volume, routine contracts can adversely impact the ability to review and manage more important, higher-risk contracts. The potential consequences to the business as a whole are clear: either incur increased risk resulting from the business avoiding the legal department in order to expedite purchasing, or suffer delays in the procurement of goods and services.

As far as workflow is concerned, often there are no formalized processes, standard templates, accepted language, back-up provisions or guidelines for turnaround times. Over-burdened in-house lawyers are unable to meet the tight timelines demanded, creating a conflict between the business client and the legal department. Often, the legal department will engage external law firms to help on an hourly rate basis—leading to an unpredictable and potentially inefficient use of internal legal resources, and an overpriced dependency on outside counsel.

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