b'Finally, how many KPIs are too many? TheIt includes market and commercial Procurement Act provides that contracts overawareness, risk management, relationship 5m should have "at least" three; somemanagement, project management and crisis contracts have as many as 20. In this regard,management. In addition to KPIs, a broader the roundtable generally agreed that less isplan for managing a contract also needs to more. As one delegate noted: I think forbe established at the beginning of the people who aren\'t confident, it seems a goodtendering process. starting point to just start with three. Take itAs noted earlier, post-award contract from there. Grow your confidence. Get bettermanagement has not been prioritised in with it over time.many authorities and as a result, the skills Beyond KPIs. required to effectively manage contracts can One of the dangers of too many KPIs is thatbe in short supply.contractors becoming too fixated on meetingAs well as specific instruction on how to best KPIs to the detriment ofstructure KPIs, areas the holistic delivery ofwhere further skills the contract. From theOnly 13% of contactingtraining may be needed contract managers side,were identified as too many KPIs run theauthorities have a formalperformance indicators, risk ofprocedure to review thecreating an audit trail of micromanagement. performance evidence successes or failures ofand, more generally, We don\'t want KPIs toprevious contracts. what constitutes a good become an industrysupplier and manager within itself, because ifrelationship in practice.you have too many or they\'re wrong, or bidders don\'t like them, orThe same can be said about systems and they want to vary them, it starts becomingstaff available to contract managers. The about the KPIs themselves, rather than usingsurvey found [chart 2] that 70% of authorities them as tools to encourage effective serviceseldom or never keep an auditable delivery, says Rebecca Rees. evidence file on KPI performance (just 11% The roundtable discussion agreed thatof those who took part always do), which effective contract management goes wellsome at the roundtable session put down to beyond the drafting and monitoring of KPIs.the general lack of investment into contract management and the diffusion of 10'