Comment by traceroute66

2 hours ago

This blog post title would be better worded "small business owner is surprised by contract term he signed up for".

I mean, it does say it right there in black and white in the Supplier Contract that he signed up for ....

    Section 3 CCS - Supplier contract, Reporting Period: "The Supplier must complete an MI Report and return it to CCS by the fifth Working Day of every month during the Term and thereafter until all transactions relating to any Buyer Contract have permanently ceased. If at any point there is a period of a month where no reportable transactions occur, then the Supplier must make a declaration to CCS confirming no business has been conducted, in place of data submission."

I know, to quote the author, "It can be hard running a small business.". But surely at least make an effort to read contracts you sign up to ?

7 comments

traceroute66

Reply
simonw  1 hour ago

At no point did the author suggest that small businesses were surprised by this requirement - just that it's pointless bureaucracy, which it is.

And that's especially ironic since the whole point of the "Low Value Purchase System" is to make selling to government less time-consuming for small businesses!

  • traceroute66  1 hour ago

    > At no point did the author suggest that small businesses were surprised by this requirement - just that it's pointless bureaucracy, which it is.

    Well, they are complaining about having to login monthly to file a zero report.

    Yes, I agree its bureaucratic, but that's no excuse for not reading the damn contract !

    If they read the contract they signed up to, perhaps they would have decided "fuck that" and not bothered signing up in the first place.

    P.S. Reading contracts is a good thing, because I bet this guy also missed all the juicy indemnity and liability clauses, some of which are unlimited for "interesting" things such as unlimited indemnity for third-party Intellectual Property claims against the government related to what you supplied them:

         10.5 If any claim is made against CCS for actual or alleged infringement of a third party’s intellectual property arising out of, or in connection with, the supply or use of the Offered Deliverables (an "IPR Claim"), then the Supplier indemnifies CCS against all losses, damages, costs or expenses (including professional fees and fines) incurred as a result of the IPR Claim.

    • simonw  1 hour ago

      How do you know they didn't read the contract and know exactly what would be required of them?

      Just because it's in the contract doesn't mean you can't complain if it's a stupid waste of time.

      4 replies →