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ARTICLE · 15 APRIL 2020

IT Contracting In A Crisis Environment: The Basic Questions You Should Not Skip

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With that adage in mind, we outline below certain key legal issues with IT contracts that should be addressed even where there is a pressing need to move forward, and provide advice for each issue.

CanadaCoronavirus (COVID-19)
Jean-Philippe Mikus
Jean-Philippe Mikus
Michael Shortt
Michael Shortt
Bruce Tattrie
Bruce Tattrie
Andrew Alleyne
Andrew Alleyne
Andrew S. Nunes
Andrew S. Nunes
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With that adage in mind, we outline below certain key legal issues with IT contracts that should be addressed even where there is a pressing need to move forward, and provide advice for each issue. This builds on the points raised in COVID-19 & Accelerated Digitization: Advice on Acquiring Emerging Technologies regarding accelerated digitization for emerging technologies, and applies a contract and procurement lens to similar issues arising even with well-known technologies.

Scalability

The pandemic has affected the scale of the demand placed on many IT systems. Pre-pandemic teleworking systems might have accommodated 10% of an organization's workforce. Now, for many organizations, that number will need to be closer to 100%. New IT systems must be able to scale up in response to sudden changes in demand. But equally important is the ability to scale down after the crisis passes. It would make little sense to lock in fees for pandemic-level capacity over a five-year

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