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What Is a Service Level Agreement in Public Contracts (SLA)?
A service level agreement (SLA) is the part of a contract that defines the agreed quality of a service — such as availability, response times and resolution times — and what happens if those levels are not met.
What does an SLA contain?
The agreed service levels, such as availability, response and resolution times, how they are measured, and the consequences of missing them: service credits, penalties or termination rights.
Where does it appear in a tender?
In the contract terms, often as an annex. Bidders are usually required to accept it, and sometimes to propose their own levels as part of the quality evaluation.
What should a bidder check?
Whether the levels are achievable with the proposed solution, how they are measured, and the size of the penalties relative to the contract value.
