Business Contracts Best Practices

Business & Revenue Contracts

Submitting Consultant Agreements: Best Practices Checklist

Consultants generally provide advice to a campus department to address an administrative or management issue, or to evaluate a specific issue that requires external review. Business & Revenue Contracts reviews each request identified as a Consultant Agreement; if the request is not determined to be a Consultant Agreement, the Procurement & Contracting Services team will process it.

If the submission is determined to be a consultant request, the Business & Revenue Contracts team will process the request and draft a Consultant’s Agreement.

To ensure that a Consultant Agreement is processed as expeditiously as possible, please review the following information and recommended best practices, and refer to the UC Davis Policy and Procedure Manual Consultant Agreements policy 380-70 for additional guidance.

 

  • Contact several potential consultants with expertise in the particular area you require before agreeing to accept a proposal for work. Search the internet, and/or network with other UC departments or other business contacts for referrals.
  • Obtain three quotes for any work exceeding $15,000. You need not use the lowest bidder.
  • Complete an Independent Contractor (Pre-Hire) Information Worksheet which includes IRS classifications to determine if the work is that of an employee or a contractor, and requires a Conflict of Interest form be attached if the proposed consultant is a current or former employee. The pre-hire information worksheet is required if the proposed contractor is an individual or a company owner operated by an individual.
  • If the proposed consultant is not in the Kuali Financial System (KFS) vendor database, complete the Vendor document in KFS. Consultants not previously in KFS will also need to supply a copy of their W-9 on the UC Davis Vendors W-9 website; the W-9 information will remain confidential and can only be viewed by authorized users.
  • Complete a Purchase Agreement document, citing Agreement Type of Blanket Agreement, in KFS, using commodity code 80101500. The document must include all costs (including all estimated fees and travel) as well as a complete Scope of Work (SOW). A detailed proposal from the consultant generally will contain all information needed for the scope of work, and in that case, a separate SOW does not need to be included.
  • Once the KFS Purchase Agreement routes to Business & Revenue Contracts, the assigned analyst will contact the Departmental Business Contact indicated on the KFS Purchase Agreement with any questions and requests for additional details that may be needed for contract completion.