Contract Insights

Paralegals are key resources for lawyers, law offices, corporations, government agencies, and many other organizations.  As a paralegal, you may typically be tasked with storing the documents related to corporate matters, tracking key dates, reaching out to business owners for next steps, and more.  Managing those responsibilities is crucial to both your personal, and your organization’s, success.  Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software is a tool that can be used by paralegals to make your job easier, you more efficient, and you more effective.

The Physician Payments Sunshine Act was passed by the United States in 2010 in an effort to increase the transparency of the fiscal relationships of drug manufacturers, medical device producers, and biological and medical supplies companies with health care providers.  The institution of the Sunshine Act demanded pharmaceutical organizations with relationships to Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to collect and track data relating to their agreements with entities such as physicians and teaching hospitals. 

Procurement processes are crucial to the overall success of an organization. Sourcing goods and services effectively can have a noticeable positive impact on a company’s bottom line. Contract management software can enhance an organization’s procedures by allowing for internal contract visibility, managing rules-based contract requests and requisitions, and ensuring the tracking of vendor performance ratings.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is great if you don’t work in government and believe that, as a citizen, you should be entitled to knowledge of your government’s actions.  On the other hand, if you are a government contract administrator, complying with FOIA can be a time consuming process.  Especially if you are responsible for tracking the seemingly never ending supply of public records or determining if a contract record is, or is not, exempt to FOIA.