Question $1[35$ Marks$]$

Determine and evaluate the hospital's main contract$-$related and management$-$related issues.

Upon examining the primary concerns that a hospital encountered about contracts and their administration, a number of important issues usually surface. The hospital's entire service delivery, operational efficiency, financial stability, and legal status may all be significantly impacted by these issues.

$1\mathrm{.}1$ Ineffective Management of the Contract Lifecycle

It was determined that the hospital's lack of well$-$written and understandable agreements and contracts contributed to their increased contentiousness. For instance, there were disagreements with contractors who wanted to produce subpar work but were turned down by the project managers due to poorly drafted terms and conditions in the maintenance contracts.

The hospital struggle with managing contracts from initiation to renewal or termination. This includes issues like failing to track key milestones, such as renewal dates, which can lead to contracts expiring unintentionally or being auto renewed on unfavorable terms.

Poor lifecycle management can result in financial losses, legal complications, and disruptions in service continuity.

$1\mathrm{.}2$ No Documentation and Necessary Signatures

A ward maintenance contract is one example of how important paperwork were missing signatures. Failing in this area led to project delays and increased expenses, which in turn undermined the hospital's legal foundation.

Without a signature, an agreement is vague, open$-$ended, and very difficult to enforce. The agreement is anchored to a binding, enforceable, and actionable reality by the signature.

$1\mathrm{.}3$ Insufficient Contract Evaluation and Compliance Tracking

Contract performance was lacking among hospital staff and the project managers in charge of this undertaking. Due to this shortcoming, several projects were poorly managed. For example, the contractor's work on a kitchen renovation project where cash was given to them without sufficient.

Contracts may not be thoroughly reviewed before signing, leading to unfavorable terms or clauses being overlooked. Additionally, ongoing compliance with contract terms is often poorly monitored.

This resulted in the hospital breaking agreements, paying fines, or not getting all the benefits agreed upon. For example, if compliance is not monitored, it may indicate that a service provider is not meeting established criteria, which could impact the quality of patient care.

$1\mathrm{.}4$ Ineffective Coordination and Communication

The disagreement between the hospital and the contractor highlights a typical communication problem in project management. Throughout the project's lifecycle, effective communication is essential to managing changes, setting expectations, and making sure all stakeholders are informed and involved.

This instance emphasizes how crucial it is to build up clear lines of communication and procedures right away to avoid misunderstandings and promote a cooperative environment that is necessary for a project's successful completion.

Legal, procurement, finance, and clinical operations are just a few of the departments that are frequently involved in contract administration. Ineffective communication between these divisions may result in miscommunication or failure to fulfill obligations.

Ineffective coordination may cause contracts to be executed slowly, contain grammatical problems, or fail to match the hospital's strategic goals.

$1\mathrm{.}5$ Inadequate Technology and Data Management

The contractor indicated that he performed tasked based on the scope of work. When the scope of work was revisited, it turned out that it was not even signed at the time, and the contract did not have all the required signatures, some were missing.

The absence of contracts or files from the hospital is a sign of inadequate data management. The hospital needs a reliable repository system to store all its files, either on a shared drive or another reliable system that the IT staff updates and monitors daily. Data can be stored via this system and retrieved later.

For contract administration, the hospitals still use antiquated technologies or even manual procedures. This resulted in issues with data accuracy, contract information retrieval difficulties, and contract performance tracking difficulties.

$1\mathrm{.}6$ Regulatory and Legal Risks

Due to miscommunications and misunderstandings of roles, the hospital and contractors had numerous disagreements. These disputes added to the hospital's burden by delaying projects and increasing the possibility of lawsuits.

Prior to Dr$.$ Masondo's arrival, hospitals functioned in a highly controlled setting, and contracts had to go by several laws and rules, including those pertaining to patient privacy.

Serious fines, legal issues, and reputational harm to the hospital may arise from breaking legal and regulatory obligations. Contracts that disregard these regulations may also be void or result in serious liabilities.

$1\mathrm{.}7$ Mismanagement of finances

A number of contracts were signed with different companies, which resulted in money being wasted on projects without any matching construction or improvement. Because not enough money was allocated for the project and several jobs were abandoned midway through, the kitchen renovation project almost became a white elephant due to this inefficiency.

Large sums of money are frequently involved in contracts, and mismanaged finances can result in overspending or inefficient resource allocation. Contracts could, for instance, have unfavorable terms for payments or hidden expenses that were not fully estimated.

The hospital's budget was stressed by financial mismanagement, which also resulted in inefficiencies and decreased the amount of money available for vital services like staff pay and patient care.

$1\mathrm{.}8$ Problems with Dispute Resolution

As a result, assessments of the contractors' performance are typically subjective and not heavily influenced by industry standards or benchmarks. It also became a problem to support contractors' lack of accountability and to pay them regardless of the work completed or the amount of progress made.

In contract management, disagreements are unavoidable; nevertheless, in the absence of well$-$defined procedures for resolving them, these disputes may intensify or go unresolved for protracted periods of time.

Unresolved conflicts may cause business problems, harm relationships with contractors, and even result in legal action. If disagreements are made public, this may also be detrimental to one's reputation.

$1\mathrm{.}9$ Limitations on Human Resources $/$ Unskilled Project Manager

Personnel with the necessary skills to comprehend both the legal and practical aspects of contracts are needed for effective contract management. However, prior to Dr$.$ Masondo joining the hospital, hospitals lacked properly qualified staff.

Due to a lack of experience, contracts were inadequately negotiated, dangers were not recognized, and conditions of the contracts could not be successfully enforced. This could negatively impact hospital operations in a few ways.

$1\mathrm{.}10$ Lack of accountability

The managers were blaming the previous administration for all the current problems. Dr Masondo could not obtain anything that he was looking for from that meeting.

The PM also blamed the contractor for not doing their jobs $,$ while maintenance department highlighted that the equipment used in the project Based on the challenges identified in Question $1,$ discuss, with suitable justifications, the kind of contracts that would be suitable for such maintenance project