The Certified Master Contract Administrator

By Zulk Shamsuddin

The Certified Master Contract Administrator (CMCA) credential is a professional world-class certification that demonstrates the attainment of a defined level of skills and experience in contract administration, professional practice, and ethical behavior. It forms the basis of the assessment that applicants must pass to gain the Certified Master Contract Administrator status and inclusion in the Register of The GAFM Academy of Finance and Management® Certified / Chartered Professional.
This certification focuses at skills and competencies including contract life cycle management, risks in the project life cycle, developing a contract management plan, evaluation process for suppliers, execution of the contract, administration, and closure.
Individuals with several years of experience in contract management are encouraged to acquire this certification.
This book shall guide you to prepare for the CMCA examination that can be taken online via GAFM Academy.
Stand tall above the crowd with the Certified Master Contract Administrator certification and get noticed by top recruiters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781678127688

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 Zulk Shamsuddin, PhD / GAFM ACADEMY

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6781-2768-8

INTRODUCTION

The Certified Master Contract Administrator (CMCA) credential is a professional world-class certification that demonstrates the attainment of a defined level of skills and experience in contract administration, professional practice, and ethical behavior. It forms the basis of the assessment that applicants must pass to gain the Certified Master Contract Administrator status and inclusion in the Register of The GAFM Academy of Finance and Management® Certified / Chartered Professional.

This certification focuses at skills and competencies including contract life cycle management, risks in the project life cycle, developing a contract management plan, evaluation process for suppliers, execution of the contract, administration, and closure.

Individuals with several years of experience in contract management are encouraged to acquire this certification. This book shall guide you to prepare for the CMCA examination that can be taken online via GAFM Academy.

Stand tall above the crowd with the Certified Master Contract Administrator certification and get noticed by top recruiters.

Benefits of becoming a Certified Master Contract Administrator

Personal recognition from your peers in contract management 

Enhanced CV to stand out in the job market and get noticed by top recruiters.

A framework for the development of your career.

International recognition.

Assurance for clients of high standards and ethical practice.

Use of the post nominal CMCA or Certified Master Contract Administrator ™

Increased understanding, helping you to work more effectively.

Introduce yourself with this exclusive membership card during networking, business events, conference, anywhere. Membership has its privileges.

Who should take this Certification?

All those involved in any aspect of preparing, implementing, managing or administering contracts and who are committed to prove their dedication to their professional growth.

Importance of Certification

Certificates and certifications, the names for these credentials sound confusingly similar. But there are important differences. Here’s what you need to know about these resume-enhancing options and how they might advance your career.

What Is a Certificate?

Earning a certificate is about education. Certificates are academic credentials awarded by colleges, universities, or other educational institutions. Students in certificate programs learn new knowledge in a specific subject or discipline and earn a certificate by successfully completing the coursework. An ideal student for a certificate program is someone who is willing to go through the experience of growing their own skillset, being real about what they want to learn, and working with others, says Jennifer Diamond, an instructor for the UW Certificate in Project Management. Many certificate programs have few, if any, admission requirements, making them an excellent option if you want to move forward in your career. The programs are usually noncredit and take less time to complete than a degree. Certificates are commonly listed on resumes as education, and some meet education requirements for first-time or renewed certifications.

The Value of Certification

Certification helps in learning new technologies, skills, and abilities for a specific promotion.

Earning a new certification or an advanced certification in a particular area of expertise can help in advancing your career.

Professional certification shows consumers and potential employers that you are committed to your profession and are well-trained. It gives them confidence in your abilities and knowledge.

Certification makes you more valuable to employers, so you can expect to earn more than someone without certification.

Certifications can give you the chance to learn needed skills and be a quick way to show employers you have those skills.

Get your name registered for everyone else to see particularly for future employers to verify the authenticity of your credential.

Application for Certification:

https://gafm.com.my/application-for-certification/

The overall aim of this course is to provide participants with the knowledge, skills and tools required to manage contracts from inception to closure. Participants in this interactive course will learn about the activities conducted in each phase of the life cycle of a contract, methodologies used to manage each one of these activities and the best practices used in contract management. The course will cover critical areas such as contract preparation, contract award, and contract administration.

A Certified Master Contract Administrator ™ CMCA is an experienced Contract Manager who has earned the accredited gold-standard Certified Master Contract Administrator credential from The American Academy of Project Management ®. This credential is offered to the individual with several years of experience specifically in contract management. This book is intended to cover all those activities associated with contract management from the establishment of the business case and the confirmation of need, through contract administration and relationship management to the review of contract performance. The activities themselves are divided into two distinct but interdependent phases, upstream and downstream of the award of the contract. The content is generic in that its principles are intended to be applicable to all contracts from a simple order, through framework contracts to complex construction or service contracts, and it should be seen as equally applicable to contracts in the private as well as the public sector.

Skills and Qualifications

Contract Manager should be self-motivated, extremely organized, and have strong communication and project management aptitude. Additional contract management skills are required for specialized areas of knowledge that exceed the competencies in pre-award, acquisition planning and strategy, and post-award.

Communication Skills

Strong communication skills are required to be successful in this profession.

Contract Awareness

You need to understand the contract. That might sound obvious, but it’s amazing how difficult some contracts are to read and understand. You’ll have to explain parts of the contract to people who have no idea what any of the legal speak means.  If you think this is something you will have to do a lot, it would be worth preparing a short, easy to understand executive summary of the contract to use. You’re trying to highlight the key provisions, and what each party has signed up to.

Negotiation

You would expect this as well, and there is normally a fair amount of negotiation to do in all areas on projects. This is a huge part of the day-to-day work of a full-time contract manager because they will be talking to suppliers all the time. Negotiation with third parties involves preparation work, and looking for points of mutual interest from which to craft solutions that work for everyone. You’re trying to be proactive but get the best outcome for your own side of the discussions. It’s also important to be fair and respectful, because that’s the tone you want to set for your relationship.

Risk Management

Another key project management area that is useful in the contracting environment. A contract manager should be looking for the risks in the relationships. These could be:

New vendors whom you haven’t worked with before there’s a risk, they won’t be very good

Vendors who are struggling financially there’s a risk they might tip over into insolvency or financial difficulties

Risks related to specific areas of the contract, such as contract terms about liability or indemnity

Risks related to specific deliverables from the contract, that you have asked the vendor to track and manage or mitigate on your behalf

The point is to make sure that contract and vendor risks are managed in the same way as your other areas of project risk.

Conflict Resolution

When negotiation and risk management don’t go to plan, you could find yourself in a conflict situation. Being able to successful deal with that is another important skill for contract managers. You’re looking for an outcome that supports the relationship, assuming that it is worth saving. Conflict resolution includes a range of different options from sitting down and talking together through to the more formally defined options like alternative dispute resolution or ending up in court for litigation. Which, for the avoidance of doubt, I would suggest you strongly avoid! Ideally, you should be sorting out any conflicts in an agreeable and professional way. As well as being generally nicer to do it that way, you will save your company a lot of money in legal costs. Whether you have a contract manager doing the contract discussions for you, or you are being your own procurement expert, these are the skills that will help you get the best out of the contract.

Contract management or contract administration is the management of contracts made with customers, vendors, partners, or employees. The personnel involved in contract administration required to negotiate, support and manage effective contracts are often expensive to train and retain. Contract management includes negotiating the terms and conditions in contracts and ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions, as well as documenting and agreeing on any changes or amendments that may arise during its implementation or execution. It can be summarized as the process of systematically and efficiently managing contract creation, execution, and analysis for the purpose of maximizing financial and operational performance and minimizing risk.

Common commercial contracts include employment letters, sales invoices, purchase orders, and utility contracts. Complex contracts are often necessary for construction projects, goods or services that are highly regulated, goods or services with detailed technical specifications, intellectual property (IP) agreements, outsourcing and international trade. Most larger contracts require the effective use of contract management software to aid administration among multiple parties.

Contracts

A contract is a written or oral legally-binding agreement between the parties identified in the agreement to fulfil the terms and conditions outlined in the agreement. A prerequisite requirement for the enforcement of a contract, amongst other things, is the condition that the parties to the contract accept the terms of the claimed contract. Historically, this was most commonly achieved through signature or performance, but in many jurisdictions - especially with the advance of electronic commerce - the forms of acceptance have expanded to include various forms of electronic signature.

Contracts can be of many types, e.g., sales contracts (including leases), purchasing contracts, partnership agreements, trade agreements, and intellectual property agreements.

A sales contract is a contract between a company (the seller) and a customer where the company agrees to sell

Reviews for The Certified Master Contract Administrator

[Isabella Cruise · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book and the certification are excellent!. Many thanks to the author of this excellent book, and specifically to GAFM Academy for issuing the distinguished certification.