Phase 4 - Evaluation, Review and Renegotiation
The following is advice on:
- future-proofing CMRI in the face of potentially changing circumstances (for example, mitigating against effects of staff turnover or organisational restructuring)
- evaluating, reviewing and renegotiating agreements to meet the demands of changing relationships.
Some parties have included clauses in their CMRI to "future-proof" them. Such clauses ensure that staff from both parties who work on or through the CMRI are obliged to maintain an intimate knowledge of:
- the contents of the CMRI
- its purpose
- the people and organisations involved in the relationship the CMRI documents.
Robust processes to allow institutional knowledge to be passed on to new staff members are required for these clauses to have the desired effect.
Both parties should evaluate their existing CMRI regularly, regardless of whether a formal review process is built into the CMRI. Parties to existing CMRI have found it desirable to ensure that both parties evaluate the performance of their CMRI against:
- its purpose
- its objectives
- the outcomes it is to produce.
Experience has also shown it to be useful to consider whether the CMRI:
- continues to be mutually beneficial
- is achieving or has achieved what it was designed to achieve.
If either party thinks the CMRI or relationship is not working as intended, procedures for review should be followed. Some CMRI will contain provisions for regular review. Parties to these should evaluate their CMRI individually prior to the scheduled review. Where the CMRI is to be reviewed on an ad-hoc basis by mutual agreement, a review process should be instigated if or when either party considers that the CMRI is not performing to its expectations.
Reviewing CMRI can be:
- regular and part of a formal review process, or
- informal and subject to mutual agreement by the parties.
If either party considers that the CMRI is failing or has failed to achieve its purpose, consideration should be given to how these outcomes could be better achieved or whether a CMRI continues to be necessary.
Reviewing a CMRI requires both parties to consider:
- processes to be used for the review
- resources required.
For CMRI that contain provisions for regular review, details of the processes and resources for review should have been factored into the preparation of, and be included in, the CMRI. For those CMRI that do not contain provisions for regular review and in which review would only take place according to agreement between the parties, consideration should be given to the processes and resources for review, should it be required.
If during the course of a review the parties propose to make substantial changes or additions to the CMRI, the Agency should submit the revised agreement to the Officials' group for advice regarding its compliance with the policy framework.
If reviewing a CMRI that predated the development of the policy framework, the Agency should apply the framework and follow the approvals process detailed in Phase 3.
If the review process shows the CMRI to be failing to achieve its purpose, but parties still think it necessary or desirable, the negotiation process should be re-instigated.
If the parties decide to renegotiate their CMRI, consideration must be given to the processes that were observed during the original negotiation phase. It is possible that it was the negotiation process itself that led to the CMRI being ineffective. If either party considers that the negotiation process adversely affected the ability of the CMRI to produce the desired outcomes, an alternative process should be proposed for mutual agreement by the parties.
If, after review, both parties consider the CMRI to be effective they may still wish to renegotiate some aspect of the relationship or the CMRI. If so, agreement of both parties should be sought to undertake this renegotiation.
