When procuring services from a service provider it is a great idea to make sure that both parties are on the same page. A Master Services Agreement documents and outlines the services to be provides, fees, time line for delivery, and overall project scope. How is the Master Services Agreement beneficial to both parties involved?

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Getting The Most From Your Service Providers?

Wade Anderson is a CPA and operates DigitalWorkTools.com, the premier internet site for Legal Forms and Business Documents. Find more information on using this document, contracts, forms, and spreadsheets by visiting http://www.DigitalWorkTools.com

Every master services agreement will necessarily have terms and conditions which need to be understood and defined, in detail. These terms and conditions, once signed and dated will govern the execution of the agreement and so, need to be looked into in greater detail. The agreement is entered into between a corporation and the Customer or Customers, referred to as the “Party” or “Parties”, as the case may be. Such an agreement will be recognized by the courts as a legal document and, in case of disputes, serves as the primary document that is referred to for settlement by the laws of the state.

There are numerous terms that are used in the master service agreement, which need to be defined. Some of these terms are:

• Affiliate, which means the company controlling or is controlled by or which is under common control of the Party
• Billing Month refers to a one-month period in which the company has provided service
• Billing Year means a one-year period in which the company has provided service
• Confidential information which means all data and information in whatever medium that has meaning and value to the disclosing Party.
• Contractor is any third party from whom the company has acquired services or used facilities to provide Service but does not include such services or facilities of a competitive company
• Dispute refers to any conflict between the Party and the company regarding questions of fact, practices, standards or procedures relevant to the agreement

There are many other terms that can be used and defined and each is case-specific and can be added or deleted as required by the terms and conditions of the agreement. In addition, the term of the agreement commences at a date that is earlier than the date of signing the agreement or the first effective Service Effective Date of a Service and will continue till such time as the Customer no longer receives any Service according to the Agreement.

There may also be a minimum commitment for each Service that has been subscribed by the Customer and this shall have been specified in the Commercial Summary. Suffice to say that each and every detail that is included in the terms and conditions of the master services agreement will have to be defined in the agreement and due to the great volume of terms and conditions held within such agreement, the master service agreement is a lengthy document that contains a lot of specific terminology.

There is really no need to reinvent the wheel when considering to use a master services agreement and the best option available is to purchase, for low cost, an existing master service agreement form that has all the relevant information contained within and which can be tailored to meet individual needs. Vendors selling such documents abound and the quality and quantity of such agreements are enough to meet with the most demanding requirements and with the savings effected in buying these low cost forms, there is certainly a strong case for availing of these services and getting a head start by simply filling out the basic information pertaining to the different parties to the agreement, signing the document and furthering the business goals of either party by such a purchase.

Service Availability: Most of the services reviewed by "Aus Business Review" are provided by Australian based companies and organisations and available in different Australian states and territories. These include New South Wales (Sydney, Newcastle), Queensland (Brisbane, Gold Coast), South Australia (Adelaide), Victoria (Melbourne, Ballarat), Western Australia (Perth, Albany, Mandurah, Bunbury, Port Hedland, Kalgoorlie), Northern Territory (Darwin, Alice Springs), Australian Capital Territory (Canberra) and Tasmania (Hobart).

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The review "DigitalWorkTools.com – Getting The Most From Your Service Providers?" was last updated on 09/11/09.