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Drafting Specifications and Scopes of Supply: Strong Legal Foundations Lead to Commercial Success Training Course

Interactive specification drafting workshop: practical exercises, real-life case studies and expert guidance to eliminate ambiguity, manage risks proactively, achieve optimal value and optimise contracting relationships.

17 March 2026
+ 17 September 2026 »

from £499

Need help?  Enrol/reserve

Course overview

Mastering the drafting of specifications and scopes of supply is a crucial skill in today’s high-stakes commercial landscape. These are far more than just technical documents – they are a critical legal and strategic tool. Poorly written specifications can result in delays, disputes and project failures. Well-crafted ones build clarity, manage risk and enable project completion - on time, meeting quality standards required and on budget.

This must-attend one-day course has been expertly designed to equip commercial and contract professionals with the knowledge and practical skills to engage with and support technical and operational colleagues in the drafting, evaluation and management of specifications.

Whether you’re developing a scope of supply to incorporate into a RFQ, or responding to a buyer’s request, you’ll gain confidence in your ability to ensure aspirations are converted into legal obligations, ambiguity into clarity and alignment of terminology, obligations and liabilities amongst all legal documents making up the entire agreement. This will protect your organisation and enhance harmonious relationships between contracting parties by providing a consensus of understanding and certainty.

You’ll explore:

  • The legal foundations from the starting point of statute
  • How to use express terms in your specifications to override implied terms to give project specific clarity
  •  The strategic and practical role of the specification in managing performance, obligations and outcomes
  • The legal implications between a performance specification versus a conformance specification
  • How to extract essential details from technical teams and translate them into enforceable language
  • The interdependency of the contracting relationship and framing your scope to enable project continuity when challenges/ risks arise
  • Replacing litigation and solely monetary compensation with practical remedies and avoiding the need to terminate
  • How to create a teamwork approach to identifying and realising opportunities for innovation and efficiencies

Led by an expert in commercial contracts, this course provides practical tools, proven techniques, and real-world examples. You’ll learn how to ask the right questions, communicate and work effectively in a cross-functional team, and ensure your contracts support - not undermine - your project delivery.

This course is part of our Commercial Management training courses series which aims to help individuals gain confidence in a range of areas surrounding contract law, and broader business management knowledge.

Benefits of attending

By attending this course, you will:

  • Get to grips with the link between the specification and all the other contracting documents – Appreciate the importance of cross-checking for contradictions/ inconsistencies
  • Recognise the power of express terms - Learn how explicit contractual language can protect your organisation and reduce reliance on uncertain implied obligations
  • Distinguish between levels of commitment - Gain confidence in interpreting and applying standards like best endeavours vs reasonable endeavours to reflect realistic expectations
  • Promote good governance in supply chain relationships - Understand how well-drafted specifications support transparency, accountability and performance across supplier networks
  • Strengthen your risk management skills - Learn how effective specifications help identify, allocate and mitigate risks before they escalate into disputes or project delays
  • Achieve better value for money - Discover how precise drafting leads to cost efficiency, reduced contingency pricing and improved commercial outcomes.

Who should attend?

This course has been specifically designed for:

  • Contract and commercial managers and engineers
  • Contract administrators, officers and specialists
  • Specification engineers
  • Supply chain engineers
  • Quality assurance engineers
  • Project and procurement managers
  • Operations managers
  • Business development managers

 

Enrol/reserve

This course will cover:

Components of a contract and benefits of express terms

  • Implied terms (statute) v Express terms (negotiated)
  • Benefits of express terms:
    • Clarity
    • Governance / Supply Chain Management (SCM)
    • Proactive risk management
  • Exercise – Silence exercise on Sale of Goods Act

Drafting a specification: Clarity of obligations and liabilities

  • Capture ALL contractual promises and ownership of them
    • Use of exclusions, disclaimers, assumptions and caveats
  • Clarify extent of promise:
    • ‘Best endeavours v reasonable endeavours’.
    • Ownership of ‘fitness for purpose’ obligation, Conformance v Performance specifications
  • Define the measurement criteria ‘satisfactory quality’/'fit for purpose' (Sale of Goods Act)
    • Quantitative not qualitative measurement mechanisms, SMART measures
    • Using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 
  • Appreciate significance of terminology used: ‘shall/will’ v ‘could/may/ recommend’ 
  • Understanding when and why an indemnity may be requested
  • Understanding intent behind buyer's involvement: visibility or liability?
  • Exercise – Methodology to review real-life scopes of supply - Project Plan Proforma identifying: promises/ obligations and their ownership. Consequences/ liability and ownership (disclaimer, exclusion, assumptions, caveats and indemnity express term clauses)
  • Exercise – Drafting output KPIs for a performance specification

 

Drafting a specification: Good governance and supply chain management

  • Proactive inclusion of express terms for transparency and control:
    • Change control, waiver / concessions, notices, authorised representative
    • Subcontracting
    • Progress reports, meetings, reviews etc.
      • Rights of transparency and associated cost
      • Incentivise or punish - carrot v stick
      • Relationship objectives
      • Realising opportunities / efficiencies/ value engineering/ innovation
  • Exercise – drafting KPIs – carrots v sticks

Drafting a specification: Proactive risk management

  • Solutions not money/ litigation. Practical solutions / remedies / Plan Bs / contingency plans -moving the project forward/ optimum outcome
  • Proactive risk management solutions embedded into legally binding contract from the outset, promoting harmonious relations and avoiding unnecessary delays/ disputes
  • Exercise – identifying practical solutions

Drafting a specification: Cross checking

  • Cross checking the specification with all other documents which make up the complete/ entire agreement for consistency
  • Order of precedence 

Drafting a specification: Achieve best value for money

  • Exercise – Price v Scope or Risk

Final questions

Enrol/reserve

Catherine Hurst
Hurst Consulting and Training Limited

Catherine Hurst BSc(Hons), CIMDip, PgDL, is an independent consultant in the contract and commercial fields. She was formerly a Commercial Manager at BAe Systems, following previous contract/commercial roles with GEC and Siemens. She has extensive practical experience of bid management, contract drafting and negotiation, contract and subcontract management as well as commercial risk management, both with UK and overseas customers and suppliers, in the private and public sectors.

She is a highly experienced trainer, having a style which brings a subject to life, creating interest and stimulating the enthusiasm of delegates. She combines academic best practice with real world experience.

She lecturers Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) diploma, levels 4, 5 & 6 at Chichester college. As well as being a member of CIPS, Catherine has a degree in Management Studies, a Chartered Institute of Marketing diploma and more recently achieved a distinction in her Common Professional Examination (CPE)/Post-grad diploma in law, winning the prize for the highest achieving student in the contract law module.

Catherine has successfully provided training to organisations across a wide variety of industries, including:

Transport / utilities / energy / construction / engineering / IT / telecons: Network Rail, ScotRail, Balfour Beatty, London Underground, Westinghouse Springfields Fuels, General Dynamics, Siemens, Metronet, Thales, ABB, Hitachi, Jungheinrich, Honeywell, PALL Europe, Senior Aerospace BWT, RES (Renewable Energy Systems), AGI, Silvertown, QinetiQ, Clyde Pumps / Weir Pumps, Scottish Power, NCOC (North Caspian Operating Company), Computacentre, CISCO, BT, United Utilities

Health / pharmaceutical / education: Nuffield Health, Surrey PCT, Bristol Myers-Squibb, Newcastle University, Exeter University

Public: Forensic Science Services, Office for National Statistics, DARA (Defence Aviation Repair Agency), Metropolitan Police

Charity: Phoenix Futures, Homegroup

Retail: Co-op

More details

NEW higher discounts for multiple bookings - bring your colleagues to make your training budget go further:

  • 30% off the 2nd delegate*
  • 40% off the 3rd delegate*
  • 50% off the 4th delegate*

Please contact us for pricing if you are interested in booking 5 or more delegates

17 March 2026

Live online

09:30-17:00 UK (London) (UTC+00)
10:30-18:00 Paris (UTC+01)
05:30-13:00 New York (UTC-04)
Course code 16040

  • GBP 499 599
  • EUR 699 839
  • USD 803 959

Until 10 Feb

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Not ready to book yet?

for 7 days, no obligation

17 September 2026

Live online

09:30-17:00 UK (London) (UTC+01)
10:30-18:00 Paris (UTC+02)
04:30-12:00 New York (UTC-04)
Course code 16298

  • GBP 499 599
  • EUR 699 839
  • USD 803 959

Until 13 Aug

View basket 

 
Not ready to book yet?

for 7 days, no obligation

* Early booking discounts may not be combined with other discounts or offers. As such, the discounts for 2nd/3rd/4th delegates are based on the full price; and apply only when booking multiple delegates on the same date.

United Kingdom

  • Scottish Power c/o Hemsley Fraser
  • Scottish Power UK plc

Enrol/reserve

Run Drafting Specifications and Scopes of Supply: Strong Legal Foundations Lead to Commercial Success Live online for your team

1 day

Typical duration

Pricing from:

  • GBP 450
  • Per attendee, based on 10 attendees
  • Course tailored to your requirements
  • At your choice of location, or online

 

We can customise this course to your requirements and deliver it on an in-house basis for any number of your staff or colleagues.

Contact our in-house training experts Aleksandra Beer and Yesim Nurko to discuss your requirements:

Multiple colleagues? See above for details of our discounts for 2, 3, or 4 delegates. For more, talk to one of our training experts to discuss how to:

Run this course conveniently and cost-effectively in-house for your staff and colleagues

Aleksandra Beer

Aleksandra BEER
Training expert

Yesim Nurko

Yesim NURKO
Training expert

+44 (0)20 7749 4749

inhouse@ipiacademy.com