Project Contract
Overview
Project Contract is a mutual agreement between buyer and service provider on scope, deliverables, payment and schedule of a project. This offers an increased transparency, mutual trust, and sustained monitoring of the project at every stage. Project Contract allows you to determine in advance how the project will progress from stage to stage or milestone to milestone.
Each project has a Project Contract as accepted by both the parties to the project.
About Project Contract
Project Contract may consist of Milestones, Work Hours, Tasks, Project Duration and Bid Amount, depending upon the type of the project - Hourly, Pay Per Task or Fixed Price. You should make sure that the Project Contract clearly defines your understanding of the deliverables, hours available and the payment terms. The milestones section is applicable for Fixed Price projects only. It outlines when and how much the provider will be paid after the completion of each milestone.
A Statement of Work (SOW) may be uploaded to the Project Contract attachment section. In this document, the buyer can specify system requirements, additional services or materials not included in the original quote, how changes to scope will be handled, and any further information that will impact the project.
About Milestones
Milestones are important points in the lifecycle of the project. Project Contract allows buyers to create separate milestones that specify what will be delivered, when, and how much the provider will be paid after the successful completion of each milestone. Buyers can specify as many milestones as needed.
Milestones are typically used for larger projects as well as projects that require constant monitoring and supervision at every step. Milestones outline a delivery schedule and corresponding payments for progressive stages of the project. This is a great way for both the buyer and the service provider to ensure that the project is on track and proceeding as scheduled.
Project Contract for Buyer
Once you receive a bid, you can view the Project Contract sent to you by the Service Provider. You can agree to the Project Contract or make revisions to it or create a new Project Contract and send it to the provider.
Multiple future project contracts
You can create multiple future project contracts for different billing cycles of “Pay Per Task” and “Hourly” projects. This means that different terms and conditions can govern the different billing cycles of these projects. Each billing cycle is of one week and starts every Monday and ends the following Sunday. Fixed Price projects currently do not support multiple future project contracts.
To create a new project contract or edit it, please click the Edit or Create New link, fill the rate, estimated workload, duration and the start date and submit it for provider's acceptance. If provider agrees to your project contract, it will become effective from the date you specified in the contract.
Please note: start date for new project contracts will be Monday only.
Creating a new Project Contract
For 'Fixed Price' projects, you may create a new project contract by adding milestones and attachments.
Project Contract is a mutual agreement between buyer and service provider on scope, deliverables, payment and schedule of a project. This offers an increased transparency, mutual trust, and sustained monitoring of the project at every stage. Project Contract allows you to determine in advance how the project will progress from stage to stage or milestone to milestone.
Each project has a Project Contract as accepted by both the parties to the project.
About Project Contract
Project Contract may consist of Milestones, Work Hours, Tasks, Project Duration and Bid Amount, depending upon the type of the project - Hourly, Pay Per Task or Fixed Price. You should make sure that the Project Contract clearly defines your understanding of the deliverables, hours available and the payment terms. The milestones section is applicable for Fixed Price projects only. It outlines when and how much the provider will be paid after the completion of each milestone.
A Statement of Work (SOW) may be uploaded to the Project Contract attachment section. In this document, the buyer can specify system requirements, additional services or materials not included in the original quote, how changes to scope will be handled, and any further information that will impact the project.
About Milestones
Milestones are important points in the lifecycle of the project. Project Contract allows buyers to create separate milestones that specify what will be delivered, when, and how much the provider will be paid after the successful completion of each milestone. Buyers can specify as many milestones as needed.
Milestones are typically used for larger projects as well as projects that require constant monitoring and supervision at every step. Milestones outline a delivery schedule and corresponding payments for progressive stages of the project. This is a great way for both the buyer and the service provider to ensure that the project is on track and proceeding as scheduled.
Project Contract for Buyer
Once you receive a bid, you can view the Project Contract sent to you by the Service Provider. You can agree to the Project Contract or make revisions to it or create a new Project Contract and send it to the provider.
Multiple future project contracts
You can create multiple future project contracts for different billing cycles of “Pay Per Task” and “Hourly” projects. This means that different terms and conditions can govern the different billing cycles of these projects. Each billing cycle is of one week and starts every Monday and ends the following Sunday. Fixed Price projects currently do not support multiple future project contracts.
To create a new project contract or edit it, please click the Edit or Create New link, fill the rate, estimated workload, duration and the start date and submit it for provider's acceptance. If provider agrees to your project contract, it will become effective from the date you specified in the contract.
Please note: start date for new project contracts will be Monday only.
Creating a new Project Contract
For 'Fixed Price' projects, you may create a new project contract by adding milestones and attachments.
- Adding Milestones & Attachments
Click ‘Add Milestone’ button on the Project Contract page. In the pop up window, enter the details, including milestone name, description, payment amount, delivery time and deliverables. Click save, and then repeat the process for additional milestones.
Click ‘Add Attachment’ button on the Project Contract page. You can also provide description to the attachment in the box provided.
- Templates
- While creating a Project Contract,
buyers can attach documents that help to clarify the scope of the work
and other terms and conditions. Buyers can attach the following types
of documents with Project Contract:
- Statement of Work (SOW) – This document defines the exact scope of the work to be completed, often known as deliverables.
- Master Service Agreement (MSA) – This document contains the terms and conditions and modalities for the completion of a project.
- Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) – This is used to restrict providers from disclosing any confidential or business information obtained during the completion of a project.
- LimeExchange users can refer to
these documents, download them, and use them as needed.
- Sending a Project Contract
When you submit Project Contract, it is sent to the service provider. The Project Contract submitted by you will be labeled agreed or disagreed depending on the action by the service provider.
- If the project is in the bidding stage and you edit and resend a Project Contract received from the service provider, you automatically disagree with the previous Project Contract.
- If the project is in the bidding stage and you edit and resend a Project Contract received from the service provider, the previous Project Contract will be automatically withdrawn.
- If the project is in progress and you submit a new Project Contract, the existing Project Contract will continue to hold in principle till the new Project Contract is agreed by the service provider.
- Agree to Project Contract
If you are satisfied with the Project Contract received from a service provider, you can choose the Agree option and the Project Contract will be labeled accordingly.
You can agree to several Project Contracts at any point of time. However, when you finally select a bid, you have to deposit the escrow amount for the first milestone (or the entire project, if there is only one milestone).
- Disagree to Project Contract
If you are not satisfied with the Project Contract received from a service provider, you can click the Disagree option.
Once a Project Contract has been disagreed, it does not mean that negotiations have ended. You would simply make your own Project Contract and submit it to the service provider to continue negotiations.
Viewing the Status of your Project Milestones
The Payment Status column in the milestone details shows you the status for each milestone in the business agreement.
- Escrow Pending – This means that the buyer has not escrowed the payment. Work cannot be started on any milestone until the payment for that milestone has been placed in escrow.
- Escrow Deposited – This means that the buyer has escrowed the payment for a milestone.
- Escrow Released – This means that milestone deliverables have been accepted by the buyer and payment has been released to the service provider.
Award a Project
A project is awarded to a service provider when you select a bid and the service provider confirms availability to work on your project within 48 hours of your selecting the bid. To select any bid, the latest Project Contract for that bid must be in an ‘Agreed’ state. At time of selecting a bid, you will be prompted to escrow the payment.
Escrow Funding and Working on a Milestone
Once you select a bid and make escrow payment, the service provider will get 48 hours to confirm availability to work on your project. LimeExchange understands the criticality of your project requirements and this unique workflow is designed to safeguard your interests against non-delivery or provider’s inability to work for your project, minimizing the chances of any mediation. In the absence of any confirmation from the service provider within the 48 hours, you will get an option to select another service provider or call for full refund of the escrowed amount.
Updating Project Contract when a project is in progress
Users will work under the terms and conditions of the last mutually accepted version of the Project Contract. However, there are times when changes to the scope and the delivery schedule of the Project Contract are unavoidable. Either party may initiate changes to the Project Contract during the lifecycle of a project, but the other party will need to agree to the changes to make them binding.
Milestones which have been completed cannot be modified. Once payment has been escrowed for a milestone, only the delivery time can be extended. Milestones which have not been escrowed can be modified by making changes to delivery dates, milestone amount or attachment.
The updated Project Contract is viewable on the project details page.
