Contract Negotiation and Claims Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Contract Managers, Project Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CM-091

Before you join: Participants should have experience working with contracts, purchase orders, project scopes, supplier agreements or commercial correspondence.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Poorly negotiated terms and weak contract administration turn manageable project events into margin erosion, delayed completion, payment disputes and damaged supplier relationships. Contract managers, project leaders and commercial teams need to recognise contractual risk before commitment, preserve entitlement through timely notices and records, and negotiate settlements that protect delivery objectives. This is especially important where scope changes, access restrictions, design information delays, inflation, disrupted supply or interface failures affect time and cost.

This course develops practical capability in contract negotiation and claims management from pre-award planning through closeout. Participants examine risk allocation, document hierarchy, key commercial clauses, negotiation mandates, concession strategies and settlement terms. They learn to administer notices, changes, payment records and schedules, then build defensible claims for extensions of time, disruption, acceleration, variations and prolongation costs. Delay analysis methods, claim substantiation, dispute escalation routes and settlement evaluation are addressed using realistic project and operational scenarios.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with document-based case work, negotiation simulations, group analysis and individual application planning. Participants work with contract extracts, correspondence, change records, schedules and claim evidence similar to those used in construction, infrastructure, energy, procurement and major service contracts. They leave with a reusable negotiation and claims-management toolkit, including planning canvases, registers, claim structures and closeout controls. The five-day instructor-led course is available in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online, runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, and includes a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Analyse contract documents to identify obligations, risk allocation, notice requirements and document precedence
  • Prepare negotiation mandates using BATNA, reservation value, ZOPA and concession planning
  • Negotiate commercial terms through interest-based bargaining, objective criteria and conditional trades
  • Administer notices, changes, payment evidence and contemporaneous records through a contract administration plan
  • Assess claim entitlement, causation, delay impact and quantum using contract clauses and project evidence
  • Construct extension-of-time and cost claim submissions supported by chronologies, schedules and calculations
  • Evaluate dispute-resolution and settlement options using recovery probability, cost, timing and relationship factors
  • Apply a practical claims-control improvement plan to current contracts and projects

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Prepare negotiation positions with defined authority, targets, concessions and walk-away points
  • Recognise notice deadlines and evidence gaps before contractual rights are lost
  • Build clearer claim narratives linking events, clauses, project impacts and financial recovery
  • Challenge weak delay and quantum assertions using structured analysis methods
  • Conduct settlement discussions with stronger control of risk, wording and documentation

For your organisation

  • Fewer missed notices, unsupported changes and unmanaged contractual obligations
  • Improved recovery of legitimate time and cost entitlements
  • Better control of supplier claims through timely records and consistent correspondence
  • Reduced dispute costs through earlier escalation and informed settlement decisions
  • Stronger commercial governance across contract award, delivery and closeout

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can map contractual obligations, risk ownership and governance controls across the contract lifecycle.

  • Contract lifecycle map from tender issue through closeout and records
  • Distinguishing contractual obligations, operational commitments, assumptions and informal correspondence
  • Risk allocation matrices linking events, owners, controls and notice duties
  • Document hierarchy analysis for conflicting specifications, schedules and purchase orders
  • Authority limits, delegated powers and binding communication protocols
  • Commercial governance using RACI, approval gates and escalation thresholds
  • Early-warning indicators drawn from progress, cost, quality and correspondence data

Participants can prepare a structured negotiation mandate supported by alternatives, priorities and concessions.

  • BATNA, reservation value and ZOPA calculations for negotiated settlements
  • Interest-based negotiation separating positions, interests, options and objective criteria
  • Negotiation mandate defining authority, walk-away points and concession boundaries
  • Preparing issue logs with priorities, evidence, owners and target outcomes
  • Anchoring, framing and calibrated questions without creating unintended commitments
  • Concession planning through conditional trades and reciprocity records
  • Closing agreements with clear language, owners, dates and dependencies

Participants can assess key commercial clauses and identify their operational and claims implications.

  • Scope definition techniques that convert requirements into measurable acceptance criteria
  • Payment clauses addressing milestones, valuation, retention, tax and currency
  • Change-control clauses covering instruction authority, pricing basis and time effects
  • Delay provisions for extensions, liquidated damages, concurrency and mitigation
  • Indemnity, liability caps and insurance alignment with allocated risks
  • Force majeure and hardship wording under selected governing law
  • Dispute escalation ladders from project negotiation to adjudication or arbitration

Participants can design negotiation strategies that trade across commercial variables without weakening essential protections.

  • Negotiation planning canvas linking objectives, stakeholders, information and tactics
  • Power analysis based on alternatives, dependency, legitimacy and timing
  • Stakeholder mapping for technical, commercial, legal and executive decision makers
  • Package proposals combining price, time, scope, risk and payment terms
  • Objective criteria using market benchmarks, indices, rates and precedents
  • Agenda design sequencing low-conflict items before high-value disputed issues
  • Minutes and term sheets that preserve agreed negotiating positions

Participants can conduct difficult commercial negotiations and document settlements that avoid future ambiguity.

  • Opening statements that set agenda, authority, intent and working rules
  • Active listening, summarising and probing to test stated positions
  • Managing difficult tactics: bluffing, deadlines, threats, silence and bad faith
  • Reframing impasse around interests, criteria and contingent alternatives
  • Caucus use, adjournments and escalation without surrendering bargaining control
  • Settlement wording checked against scope, releases, payment and future claims
  • Post-negotiation confirmation through action logs, approvals and contract amendments

Participants can establish administration controls that preserve contractual rights and create reliable claim evidence.

  • Contract administration plan assigning notices, records, approvals and reporting cycles
  • Notice registers tracking trigger dates, service methods and response deadlines
  • Contemporaneous records: daily logs, photographs, correspondence, minutes and cost codes
  • Baseline schedule control using critical path method and update narratives
  • Change registers linking instructions, quotations, approvals, implementation and valuation
  • Payment certification evidence for quantities, milestones, variations and deductions
  • Audit trails connecting source documents to entitlement and quantum

Participants can assess a claim's merits and select evidence, remedies and escalation routes.

  • Claim triage separating entitlement, causation, delay, disruption and quantum
  • Notice requirements tested against contractual time bars and service provisions
  • Cause-and-effect narratives linking employer acts to project consequences
  • Entitlement analysis using clause wording, facts, correspondence and governing law
  • Quantum build-ups for prolongation, disruption, acceleration and variation costs
  • Mitigation records demonstrating reasonable steps, alternatives and residual impacts
  • Claim strategy selecting negotiation, adjudication, mediation, arbitration or litigation

Participants can select and interpret delay-analysis methods for extension-of-time and disruption claims.

  • Critical path method identifies activities controlling contractual completion dates
  • Time impact analysis models prospective effects of instructed changes
  • Windows analysis compares planned and actual critical paths over periods
  • As-planned versus as-built analysis tests delay responsibility and concurrency
  • Concurrent delay assessment under contract wording and applicable legal principles
  • Acceleration claims distinguish instructed acceleration from mitigation-driven acceleration
  • Extension-of-time submissions align delay evidence, notices and revised completion dates

Participants can prepare structured claim submissions and organise records for formal dispute processes.

  • Claim dossier structure: executive summary, facts, entitlement, quantum and relief
  • Chronologies integrate events, notices, correspondence, schedules and cost records
  • Particularising claims with clause references, document citations and calculations
  • Without-prejudice settlement communications distinguished from open contractual correspondence
  • Expert evidence requirements for delay, quantum, technical defects and valuation
  • Dispute boards and adjudication procedures under FIDIC and NEC4 contracts
  • Settlement evaluation compares recovery probability, cost, time and relationship effects

Participants can select resolution options, close contracts properly and implement focused claims-control improvements.

  • Negotiated settlement frameworks allocating releases, payment, confidentiality and future performance
  • Mediation preparation identifies interests, authority, evidence and acceptable settlement ranges
  • Arbitration and litigation decision criteria: forum, enforceability, cost and confidentiality
  • Lessons-learned reviews convert recurring claims into clause and process changes
  • Contract closeout checklists address final accounts, warranties, records and releases
  • Personal application plan prioritises one negotiation and one claims-control improvement
  • Thirty-day implementation milestones assign actions, sponsors, measures and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Negotiation mandate and concession-planning template
  2. Contract risk allocation matrix
  3. Notice and change-control register
  4. Claims entitlement and quantum assessment model
  5. Extension-of-time submission checklist
  6. Contract closeout and lessons-learned checklist

Who should attend

  • Contract Managers — responsible for commercial terms, notices, changes and claim strategy
  • Project Managers — need to protect time, cost and delivery positions during project execution
  • Commercial Managers — require stronger settlement, valuation and contractual risk-control methods
  • Procurement Managers — negotiate supplier terms and manage post-award commercial performance
  • Quantity Surveyors and Cost Engineers — prepare valuation evidence, quantum calculations and final accounts
  • Legal and Compliance Professionals — support contract interpretation, dispute preparation and governance controls

Skills and tools covered

Contract risk analysisCommercial negotiationClaims substantiationDelay analysisContract administrationDispute resolution

Tools and standards

BATNA, ZOPA, Critical Path Method, FIDIC Conditions of Contract

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce contract, negotiation and claims methods, followed by case work using contract clauses, notices, schedules, correspondence and cost records. Group exercises examine risk allocation, claim entitlement and settlement choices. Negotiation simulations test mandate preparation, questioning, concessions, impasse handling and agreement wording. Participants analyse realistic delay and change scenarios, receive structured feedback, and complete an application plan for improving contract controls, negotiation preparation and claims handling in their own work.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working with contracts, purchase orders, project scopes, supplier agreements or commercial correspondence. They should be comfortable reading contractual clauses and discussing time, cost, scope and performance issues with internal or external stakeholders. Familiarity with project schedules, change orders or payment applications is useful but not essential. This course does not require a law degree, formal claims certification, advanced financial modelling skills or prior experience in arbitration. It focuses on practical commercial and administrative methods rather than jurisdiction-specific legal advice.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have practical exposure to contracts, projects, procurement or supplier management. No law degree, formal claims qualification or prior arbitration experience is required.

Bring examples of recurring contract or claims challenges, subject to confidentiality requirements. Participants may also bring a redacted contract clause, notice template or change-control process for personal reference.

It is designed for contract managers, project managers, commercial managers, procurement professionals, quantity surveyors and legal support staff. It is particularly useful for people managing complex supplier, construction, infrastructure, engineering or service contracts.

General contract management courses often focus on contract formation, governance and routine administration. This course gives greater attention to negotiation strategy, claim entitlement, delay analysis, quantum, dispute preparation and settlement decisions.

Participants can use the negotiation mandate, notice register, change-control register and claim assessment model on active contracts. The final application plan identifies specific improvements for current negotiations, claims or contract controls.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The course progresses from contract risk and negotiation preparation to administration, claims, delay analysis, dispute preparation and settlement.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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