Technology Contracts: KNOW THY VENDOR!

A cardinal rule of any contract for services or products is to "know your vendor." Granted, the requisite knowledge will vary with the risk profile of the service or product, but information technology and business process outsourcing contracts invariably require close vendor scrutiny.

Examples for energy utilities include contracts involving automated meter reading and advanced metering infrastructure (AMR/AMI), meter data management systems (MDMS), customer information systems (CIS), and billing systems, to name a few. For such contracts, the risk profile is affected by whether the deal is an outsourcing or a system acquisition, but either way, "knowledge" of the vendor is fundamental to a successful relationship for the utility. Moreover, knowledge acquisition does not end when the contract is signed, and contractual protection is needed to assure that reality does not diverge from what the