Establishing the contract

Collaborating with procurement and legal colleagues and preparing to manage change

Why this matters

Once you have set out the approach and selected your partner(s), you will need to establish the  formal-relational approach in your contract.

What can go wrong

Public services often rely on standard contract templates, which may need to be adapted to incorporate a more relational approach. A vision, ways of working and governance mechanisms should be co-developed, which can only be achieved if partners engage with the process.

Good practice and useful resources

The content in this section is all about advice and examples on how to go about drawing up this kind of contract, what it might include and how to set it up to manage change

• How to develop ways of working to inform a formal-relational contract
  • Creating a shared vision for the service
  • Setting your principles and ways of working
  • Managing risk
  • Designing your governance
• What a formal-relational contract might look like
• Setting yourselves up to manage change within the contract
• Establishing open book accounting practices