Pre-start: confirm the accepted commitments
- Compare the final bid, accepted clarifications and partner letters with the contract and check document precedence.
- Confirm the procurement regime, social value policy and publication duties. Check framework call-off arrangements where relevant.
- Record each original commitment, contractual reference, target, unit, cohort, geography and deadline.
- Preserve the original version and resolve ambiguities with the authorised buyer.
Days 1–30: agree a funded delivery plan
- Name the supplier owner, deputy, partner contact, buyer reviewer and escalation lead.
- Confirm budget, staff capacity, participant support and partner responsibilities. Include wages, supervision, accessibility and evidence collection.
- Set dated milestones, dependencies and risk mitigations, including triggers for escalation.
- Agree evidence sources, collectors, quality checks, access and retention before activity starts. Confirm proportionate, lawful data sharing.
Days 31–60: test evidence and reporting
- Agree counting rules, applicable Standard Reporting Metrics and any custom indicators. Keep people, hours and sessions distinct.
- Set reporting frequency, cut-off, submission, review and publication responsibilities. Distinguish supplier updates, public performance notices and departmental returns.
- Agree performance thresholds and how to handle missing evidence and double counting.
- Test a sample record and the partner's secure data-sharing process. Check that totals reconcile to supporting records.
Days 61–90: review actual delivery
- Reconcile planned, started and completed activity with the milestones. Report this-period and cumulative totals separately.
- Validate evidence and explain gaps, variances and risks. Distinguish missing data from confirmed zero delivery.
- Agree corrective actions with owners and dates. Use authorised contractual change control where needed and preserve the original record.
- Review the first report with the buyer and confirm the next reporting date.
Commitment record: copy for each promise
Use one record per commitment. Keep the original target visible beside any authorised revision. Print this section to fill in the lines by hand, or copy the prompts into your own document or spreadsheet.
- Commitment reference, original wording and source version
- Record the accepted promise and contract schedule.
- Supplier owner, deputy, partner contact and buyer reviewer
- Name the delivery and checking responsibilities.
- Target, unit, cohort, geography, deadline and baseline
- Define what counts and what this contract adds.
- Budget, staff capacity, participant support and partner role
- Confirm resources and who controls them.
- Milestones, due dates and dependencies
- Identify the next step and what it depends on.
- Evidence source, collector, quality check and storage
- Record access, retention and proportionate data sharing.
- Reporting frequency, cut-off, reviewer and next report date
- Separate contractual and authority reporting responsibilities.
- Risks, mitigation, owner and escalation trigger
- Specify when and to whom an issue must be raised.
- Actual progress, evidence status and corrective action
- Include the action owner and due date.
- Change reference, approval and effective date
- Keep the original wording and complete audit trail.
First performance-report structure
- Contract reference, reporting period, cut-off, preparer and reviewer.
- Original commitment, baseline, target and authorised variations.
- Milestone due, actual progress and planned, started and completed status.
- Evidence references, validation status, gaps and allocation to other contracts.
- Variance, explanation and rating using the agreed method.
- Risks, corrective actions, owners, deadlines and escalation decisions.
- Upcoming milestones, decisions required and next review/report date.
Fictional worked example
Illustrative only: an £8 million including VAT central government IT services contract, with a tender notice after 1 January 2027 and PPN 026 applied, accepts year-one targets of six completed paid placements, 120 person-hours of technical training for an agreed future-workforce cohort and 24 mentoring sessions.
At day 90, a fictional report records zero placement completions and three starts, 30 person-hours of evidenced training and six completed mentoring sessions. Assess progress against the agreed interim milestones. Use the contract's delivery timetable to establish when each year-one activity is due.
Training can map to Annex B metric 2av where its definition and selected criterion fit. The placement completion and mentoring session counts are custom indicators here. Do not relabel ordinary placements as T-Level placements, or mentoring sessions as workforce career-support hours.