CIPS Updated L4M3 Exam Questions and Answers by sulayman

Hank’s pre-contractual assurances may amount to misrepresentation. Remedies for misrepresentation could be rescission of contract or damages. Rescission will be impossible in the following instance:

- Where the innocent party has affirmed the contract; that is, acted in a way confirming that they wish it to continue

- Where the claim has not been brought within a reasonable time (this is a point of general law)

- Where restitution (returning to the pre-contractual position) is impossible (e.g. because the goods have been consumed or have deteriorated)

- Where there has been intervention of innocent third-party (e.g., if the goods have been sold on)

In this case, the subject of contract is designing, building and managing the new CRM system which is impossible to be restituted. Therefore, the contract cannot be rescinded.

A service-level agreement (SLA) defines the level of service you expect from a vendor, laying out the metrics by which service is measured, as well as remedies or penalties should agreed-on service levels not be achieved.

According to CIPS L4M3 study guide, SLA should cover the following:

- KPIs

- How the measurements convert into scores

- Any other service level standards

- Minimum acceptable standards or scores in each case

- Range of scores both above and below the minimum acceptable

- Any mitigating factors which might apply in the event of poor performance

- Any time period permitted in which to remedy a situation of poor performance

- Remedies available

- Dispute settlement

- How to deal with inconsistencies or conflicts between KPIs and any other documents.

In IT service (such as in the scenario), the SLA often covers:

- Uptime

- Call metrics

- Customer satisfaction

- Turn around time

- Quality

- Mean time to recovery

- Mean time between failure

- Backlog

- Business results

You can read the details of above indicators here.

The “battle of the forms” arises when each party seeks to have its own terms and conditions govern the contract.

Under common law, the terms last sent and accepted (expressly or by conduct) usually apply.

To write a strong, realistic specification for a renewal cleaning contract, good data sources include:

Incumbent supplier (1): They can provide information on what has actually been delivered, issues experienced, and practical requirements.

Alternative suppliers (3): Market engagement with other providers helps identify innovation, better methods, and realistic performance standards.

Management information (4): Internal data (volumes, complaints, quality reports, site usage) shows what the organisation truly needs.

“Maintenance services” (2) are not inherently a good source for defining cleaning services requirements, so the best combination is 1, 3 and 4 only.