FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
Rekha Thawrani OBE, Global Director at NEC Contracts, examines the benefits of true digital contract drafting solutions for long-term service agreements, including helping facilities management teams to reduce risk, improve quality of delivery and ensure a robust approach to compliance.
Our 2025 report Transforming Construction: Smarter, greener, together showed that 76 per cent of surveyed construction professionals felt the industry is making good progress in its digital transformation, with 70 per cent of respondents agreeing that the built environment sector is becoming a leader in digital innovation. Key factors driving the adoption of digital technologies were efficiency improvements (61 per cent), quality control (53 per cent) and improved project control (49 per cent).
Contract drafting and management is a process that still largely relies on paper and manual processes at every level of the construction process, however, digital solutions are now available that offer clear and tangible benefits.
The challenge
A key challenge for anyone involved in drafting and agreeing FM contracts is the complexity of long-term service agreements. Often covering multiple years and involving a wide range of collaborators and stakeholders, these documents must accommodate an inevitable degree of change and flexibility in concrete and unambiguous terms.
Traditional contracts are often unsuited to the degree of evolution required in the FM sector because their format doesn’t lend itself to easy amending. Although PDF versions of print contracts can be shared via email and amendments proposed via third-party software, these limited semi-digital contracts don’t offer the true flexibility required to keep up with the changing needs of stakeholders in a long-term service agreement.
Truly digital solutions
By providing a single, structured environment for contracts to be collectively developed and reviewed, truly digital contract drafting solutions help to transform contractual behaviours. For example, with NEC Digital’s drafting software, all service providers can propose changes to the scope, which reduces or increases the price of the service. The client can then accept, refuse or ask for a quote—all on the same platform.
What’s more, because the language and formatting of digital contracts, such as those from NEC Contracts, is more intuitive and easier to understand, earlier and more meaningful input from operational and technical teams can be incorporated into the drafting process, without their insight being filtered through legal teams and specialists. This approach fosters collective responsibility and a sense of shared ownership vital to making constructive long-term service agreements work effectively.
Key features of digital contracts
In addition to providing a better platform for collaboration when creating and maintaining long-term service agreements, digital contracts can include options that help promote compliance and incentivise service providers. This element of customisation, without needing to rely on the expertise of a legal team, is what makes a well-designed digital contract such a powerful tool.
Early warnings are one such contractual component that can enhance the performance of a long-term service agreement and reduce risk. By encouraging service providers to raise potential problems early, before they become serious issues, a collaborative approach of mutual trust can be fostered that prioritises finding solutions over apportioning blame. Formal channels for raising issues can be agreed upon when the contract is being drafted, making reporting potential issues more straightforward and less intimidating for the project manager.
Utilising digital contracts that contain performance tables is another effective method for getting the most out of a digital contract and long-term service agreement. By incentivising service providers to over-deliver throughout the service period, a proactive approach is fostered that clearly establishes performance targets and how the provider might realistically meet, exceed or fail to meet them. When performance requirements, reporting processes and escalation mechanisms are clearly visible, logically connected and easy to understand, it becomes much simpler for each party to deliver what is expected and helps avoid potential conflict.
Contracts that reflect reality
The move towards digital contracting represents a vital step in a gradual change of perception about the way contracts are perceived in the built environment sector. Rather than being static documents that are filed away after signing and dusted off only when a dispute arises, digital contracts facilitate a collaborative framework that already exists in practice in the FM sector. By providing a platform that can easily accommodate the changes that occur in all professional relationships, truly digital contracts provide the opportunity for more collaborative and less adversarial relationships.
Fundamental shifts, like the adoption of digital contracting, don’t happen overnight. Education plays a vital role in bringing all stakeholders onboard and fostering the sense of shared responsibility that makes collaborative contracting a success. To support this transition, NEC Training is launching a new FM-specific accreditation course designed to equip facilities management professionals with the skills and knowledge to leverage digital contracting solutions effectively. The course will help participants understand how to improve efficiency, increase control and enhance overall quality through collaborative digital approaches.
