Find the actual renewal and notice requirements
Collect the signed agreement, schedules and amendments. Search for term, renewal, extension, notice and termination. Read the surrounding clauses together. Record the document version and clause reference beside each date or requirement you find.
Check whether the agreement renews automatically, needs a new signature or sets out another arrangement. Look for the current term end date, any notice period, the permitted delivery method and the recipient. Identify any linked licence commitments or charges you need to clarify. Mark an unclear item as unresolved rather than filling it with a guessed answer.
Ask the provider for missing documents and a written explanation of its interpretation. If the clauses conflict, the date is disputed or you are unsure about the consequences, get advice from your own legal adviser. This checklist helps you organise evidence and questions; it does not determine your legal rights.
A request you can adapt
Build your review schedule backwards from the confirmed deadline
Use the renewal deadline worksheet to record what you have found. It is a blank planning aid, with no assumed notice period or automatic date calculation. Record the source for the deadline and who checked it before using it to plan your review.
| Planning step | What to record | How to place it |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm the requirements | Agreement version, clauses, term date, notice method and recipient; unresolved questions | First. Seek clarification promptly if the date is close or uncertain |
| Set an internal decision date | Decision owner, approvers and the time they need | Before the confirmed deadline, allowing time to complete the required process |
| Collect and review evidence | Requested documents, responses, gaps and responsible people | Before the internal decision date, allowing time to resolve questions |
| Discuss proposed changes | Specific changes, the provider's response and anything still unagreed | Early enough for the decision owner to consider the response |
| Complete the agreed next step | Decision, necessary approvals, any required notice or new agreement, and delivery records | According to the requirements you confirmed; retain the records |
If you discover the issue after a possible deadline, collect the records and ask for advice on your actual options. Do not assume that a conversation changed a deadline, that a missed date has a particular legal effect, or that sending a late notice fixes it.
Check how the notice itself must be sent and proved
Confirming a date is only half the task. Write down, from the agreement's own wording, what a valid notice would have to look like: the permitted delivery methods, the named recipient or role, any required address or copy-to party, whether the period is counted in days or months, and whether it runs to the notice being sent or being received. Record the clause reference beside each answer, and mark anything the wording does not settle as unresolved.
Treat the provider's reply as its stated position, not as a change to the agreement. If the reply and the clause you read point to different methods, recipients or counting rules, that difference identifies a question, not its cause: the wording may be ambiguous, an amendment or updated contact detail may exist that you have not seen, or the reply may simply be wrong. Which of these applies stays unresolved until the documents are compared, so name the specific clause and the specific point of difference in your follow-up.
If you do send notice, keep evidence of the sending itself: the dated copy that was sent, the method used, the recipient it went to, and any delivery or read confirmation, acknowledgement or courier receipt you obtain. Record separately what you sent, what you can prove about its delivery, and what the provider has acknowledged in writing. Whether a notice given this way is effective under your agreement is a question for your legal adviser.
Compare agreed services with evidence of delivery
Choose the period you want to review and put the contracted service schedule beside invoices, reports and tickets from that period. Use the agreement's wording to describe each service. The aim is to establish what is supported, what remains reported but unverified, and what needs clarification.
- Record the service, scope, frequency and any exclusions stated in the agreement.
- Link the available evidence to that service: a dated report, ticket, test result or other relevant record.
- Check billed users, devices, licences and agreed charges against the records available for the same period. Ask about discrepancies without assuming their cause.
- Record what the evidence establishes and what it does not. Keep missing records, unclear scope and a verified delivery issue as separate findings.
- Assign each unresolved question an owner and a follow-up date that fits your decision schedule.
For a broader review of the current arrangement, use how to evaluate your IT provider. If you are considering alternatives, compare proposal scope and assumptions against the needs you have identified.
List what changed in the business since signing
Before deciding whether the contracted scope still fits, write a dated list of what has changed in the business since the agreement was signed: headcount and joiner or leaver volumes, sites and remote working patterns, applications and devices added or retired, data now held or processed differently, and any new customer, insurer or regulatory requirements you have been asked to meet. Give each item the month it changed and the person who can confirm it. This list is a planning record you compile, not an assessment of the provider.
Then ask the provider to map each listed change to the current agreement: which schedule line covers it, whether it is included, chargeable or excluded, and which change requests or approvals were recorded at the time. Ask for the response to follow your list item by item, so that anything uncovered is visible rather than absorbed into a general assurance.
If the provider's answer differs from your record of what was agreed, that difference on its own does not identify a cause. It is consistent with several ordinary explanations, including an informal request that was never recorded, a change handled under a different schedule, or a genuine disagreement about wording. The cause remains unresolved until you compare the written records, so the useful next step is a follow-up question naming the specific item and date rather than a conclusion about the provider.
Finally, mark each listed change as covered, chargeable, excluded or unresolved, and carry the unresolved items into your decision record with an owner and a date. That marking records what the documents and answers show; whether the contracted scope should change, and on what terms, is a commercial decision for you and your advisers.
If the provider proposes a price increase
Put the current charges and proposed charges side by side using the same period, currency and tax treatment. Ask the provider to identify changes in scope, quantities, rates, supplier costs or any other reason it gives for the increase. Keep a reported explanation separate from the records that support it.
A fee-change request you can adapt
- Compare billed quantities with your own records for the same period. Ask about differences without assuming their cause.
- Record a changed unit rate separately from a changed quantity. Keep one-off charges separate from recurring fees.
- If a supplier-cost change is given as the reason, ask which products, quantities and dates it affects and what supports the explanation.
- Mark unanswered amounts or terms as unresolved. Do not enter zero or invent a market benchmark to complete the comparison.
A higher proposed fee alone does not establish poor delivery. A written explanation alone does not establish that the charge is required by your agreement. Keep fee questions within the review schedule built from your confirmed deadline. Record what is proposed, what is accepted and what still needs clarification before deciding on the next term.
Bring specific questions to the renewal discussion
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security's managed-services guidance includes provider assessment, access control, recovery and exit considerations. Its IT recovery guidance recommends planning for disruption and testing recovery. Use those operational topics to frame questions about your arrangement, not to infer a contract notice period or a guaranteed recovery result.
| Question | Ask to review | Keep the limit visible |
|---|---|---|
| Which services are included, and what costs extra? | The current schedule, exclusions and proposed changes | Clarify ambiguous wording before treating it as an agreed obligation |
| What recovery objectives have we agreed for important systems? | The objectives, covered systems, responsibilities and relevant test results | An objective and a test result describe different things; neither should be presented as a universal guarantee |
| Which actions remain open? | The action list, current status, owner and supporting records | Separate an open issue from an agreed exclusion or a changed requirement |
| What access and information would we need during a transition? | Access responsibilities, documentation, data return arrangements and related costs | Check both technical feasibility and the terms of the agreement |
| What commercial interests should we understand? | Any additional charges or commercial relationships relevant to a recommendation | A commercial interest alone is not evidence that the recommendation is unsuitable |
Record a decision supported by the evidence
Write down the decision, the reasons and what remains unresolved. You may want to keep the arrangement, agree specific changes, or investigate another provider. Do not assume that renewal or replacement is automatically the better outcome. If you are considering a change, use what to check before switching IT providers to examine whether it would address the problem.
For any proposed changes, record what each party has accepted and what is still under discussion. Keep your decision record with the agreement and any relevant communications. Use the provider question checklist if you want a shorter starting point for the conversation.
actually. offers an independent review of evidence about your existing IT provider. The review is a paid service. If you want that perspective, discuss an independent review, including the scope and whether its timing fits your decision. Contract interpretation and legal advice belong with your legal adviser.
