What Lease & Contracts Administrators Do
Although responsibilities of lease and contracts administrators can vary from job to job, most of them include reviewing leases and contracts to ensure that they adhere to company policies and standards, as well as common legal standards.
Depending on the company and job, some contracts administrators are also responsible for ensuring that each party in the company complies with all aspects of the contract and according to the deadlines or dates specified within them.
Opportunities for lease and contracts administrators are increasing, although no statistics are available. However, due to hydraulic fracturing in the United States and the dramatic growth of the industry in countries with emerging economies, the number of these jobs will steadily grow over the next five years.
Contract and lease administrators are very important in the oil and gas industry. By creating and ensuring that contracts and leases are adhered to and met, they go a long way to ensuring the smooth operations of extraction and production. In addition, there are the usual causes for attrition in the industry, such as retirements, that have led to an increased need for these employees.
Common responsibilities listed in job postings might include:
- Provide and demonstrate personal safety leadership and culture within the organization, vendors, service providers, and contractors.
- Administer all contracts and service agreements from award until completion.
- Ensure contract requirements are met for commitments, changes, and invoices.
- Ensure contracts are in accordance with the business unit’s policies and procedures.
- Manage all contract costs; verify and track costs according to the contract.
- Act as liaison with other departments.
- Receive, record, and file contract documents and correspondence related to the contract.
- Maintain and update company’s contracts database.
- Report and assist field team with progress claims, quantity surveying, and monitoring of deliverables.
- Review any proposed changes.
- Perform or review analysis of changes to determine their impacts on cost, schedule, and quality.
- Perform selective audits of invoices to ensure that contractual terms are being met.
- Addresses all aspects related to the contract with the client.
- Maximize project revenues, exploit opportunities, and mitigate negative consequences of particular contract conditions; reduce the risk of potential disputes.
- Transfer original contract documents.
- Ensure that all contract documents are made available and handed over to the proper departments.
- Ensure that the project team is using the most up to date contractual information.
- Ensure contract is filed with all documents.
- Receive, examine, revise and file all correspondence.
- Track correspondence.
- Examine instructions to bidders for purchase orders and texts of subcontracts before they are issued.
- Ensure appropriate risk transfer and compliance with the main contract.
- Advise the project director/manager on aspects of project execution that deviate from the requirements of the contract.
- Manage change orders.
- Prepare and coordinate claims against or from the client and subcontractors.
- Obtain technical, scheduling, and pricing information.
- Submit, answer, and negotiate change order requests and claims/counterclaims.
- Keep updates and record and file all change orders and claims.
These are just a few of the commonly seen responsibilities. Some lease and contracts administrators are responsible for handling several types of contracts, in addition to those related to the lease or sale of mineral or drilling rights, as you can see in the list of responsibilities. Some also are in charge of handling contracts with subcontractors or vendors. Other job titles associated with this job are contract engineer and contracts coordinator.