by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
In business, most things don’t get done without a contract. In the case of municipal governments and independent authorities like utilities, that’s particularly true because public money is involved. Everybody from vendors to stakeholders needs a way to be on the same page and make sure terms and conditions are met.
As you might expect, the computer has entered the contract management arena.
After a career in management with Coopers & Lybrand and A.T. Kearney that began straight out of college 25 years ago, Chris Martoglio decided to strike out on his own six years ago and start his own management consulting firm. Today, he’s the founder and managing director of The Contract Management Company — a Jacksonville-based firm that provides software systems that help government, utilities and other entities better manage contracts, procurement and compliance.
“I saw a need for more effective contract management in the companies I did work for,” he said. “So I hired my first employee, a software designer.”
Martoglio said it’s not always easy to explain exactly what the business is all about.
“The question I enjoy answering least is ‘What do you do?’” he said.
Martoglio explained a big part of the business is providing systems for procurement and contracting large, high risk purchases. Another aspect of the company’s products addresses issues involved in contract and supplier management.
“We have developed software that is basically a set of scorecards,” he said. “It’s a Web-based application that can be made available to all project managers to consolidate information and access to information. Our software can set off alarms to notify the human component when something needs to be looked at closely.
“In most organizations, there is a tremendous amount of infrastructure in place to evaluate employees and their performance, but most of just about any company’s expenditures go to suppliers. Few organizations have infrastructure in place to evaluate that aspect of their business.”
The City of Jacksonville uses one of The Contract Management Company’s software packages — “Supplier Pro” — to oversee a myriad of contracts between the City and its suppliers.
“It’s a performance maintenance system. We use it to rate the performance of vendors on all City contracts as well as monitor compliance complaints from City departments and vendors,” said City Ombudsman Dinah Mason.
“The system takes away the personal aspect,” she added. “Vendors sometimes feel they are treated unfairly and it often comes down to one person’s word versus another’s. The software actually helps the vendors because we can resolve issues as soon as possible. That helps the City better manage its contracts and avoid problems at the end of an agreement — which saves money.”
The company also develops what Martoglio calls “mission-critical back-office applications” for school systems, food distributors and insurance companies.
“The skill of our software developers and my understanding of how business works allows me to sit down with the end-users, assess their needs and then communicate those needs to our developers,” he said.
Martoglio said no matter how well or custom-designed a software package is, he doesn’t think technology will ever replace people in the business equation.
“Software is a tool used to achieve objectives, but ultimately the objectives are achieved by humans. You can’t automate human interaction in an effective way,” he said.
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