Independent Testing Owner shall furnish independent tests, inspections and reports required by law, the Contract Documents or deemed appropriate by the Owner, such as structural, mechanical, and chemical tests, tests for air and water pollution, and tests for hazardous materials to be conducted by consultants retained by the Owner.
Independent Review Contractor shall provide the Secretary of ADS/CIO an independent expert review of any Agency recommendation for any information technology activity when its total cost is $1,000,000.00 or greater or when CIO requires one. The State has identified two sub-categories for Independent Reviews, Standard and Complex. The State will identify in the SOW RFP the sub-category they are seeking. State shall not consider bids greater than the maximum value indicated below for this category. Standard Independent Review $25,000 Maximum Complex Independent Review $50,000 Maximum Per Vermont statute 3 V.S.A. 2222, The Secretary of Administration shall obtain independent expert review of any recommendation for any information technology initiated after July 1, 1996, as information technology activity is defined by subdivision (a) (10), when its total cost is $1,000,000 or greater or when required by the State Chief Information Officer. Documentation of this independent review shall be included when plans are submitted for review pursuant to subdivisions (a)(9) and (10) of this section. The independent review shall include: • An acquisition cost assessment • A technology architecture review • An implementation plan assessment • A cost analysis and model for benefit analysis • A procurement negotiation advisory services contract • An impact analysis on net operating costs for the agency carrying out the activity In addition, from time to time special reviews of the advisability and feasibility of certain types of IT strategies may be required. Following are Requirements and Capabilities for this Service: • Identify acquisition and lifecycle costs; • Assess wide area network (WAN) and/or local area network (LAN) impact; • Assess risks and/or review technical risk assessments of an IT project including security, data classification(s), subsystem designs, architectures, and computer systems in terms of their impact on costs, benefits, schedule and technical performance; • Assess, evaluate and critically review implementation plans, e.g.: • Adequacy of support for conversion and implementation activities • Adequacy of department and partner staff to provide Project Management • Adequacy of planned testing procedures • Acceptance/readiness of staff • Schedule soundness • Adequacy of training pre and post project • Assess proposed technical architecture to validate conformance to the State’s “strategic direction.” • Insure system use toolsets and strategies are consistent with State Chief Information Officer (CIO) policies, including security and digital records management; • Assess the architecture of the proposed hardware and software with regard to security and systems integration with other applications within the Department, and within the Agency, and existing or planned Enterprise Applications; • Perform cost and schedule risk assessments to support various alternatives to meet mission need, recommend alternative courses of action when one or more interdependent segment(s) or phase(s) experience a delay, and recommend opportunities for new technology insertions; • Assess the architecture of the proposed hardware and software with regard to the state of the art in this technology. • Assess a project’s backup/recovery strategy and the project’s disaster recovery plans for adequacy and conformance to State policy. • Evaluate the ability of a proposed solution to meet the needs for which the solution has been proposed, define the ability of the operational and user staff to integrate this solution into their work.
Independent Monitors 8.1 The BUYER has appointed Independent Monitors (hereinafter referred to as Monitors) for this Pact in consultation with the Central Vigilance to as Monitors) for this Pact in consultation with the Central Vigilance Commission (Names and Addresses of the Monitors to be given).
8.2 The task of the Monitors shall be to review independently and objectively, whether and to what extent the parties comply with the obligations under this Pact.
8.3 The Monitors shall not be subject to instructions by the representatives of the parties and perform their functions neutrally and independently.
8.4 Both the parties accept that the Monitors have the right to access all the documents relating to the project/procurement, including minutes of meetings.
8.5 As soon as the Monitor notices, or has reason to believe, a violation of this Pact, he will so inform the Authority designated by the BUYER.
8.6 The BIDDER(s) accepts that the Monitor has the right to access without restriction to all Project documentation of the BUYER including that provided by the BIDDER. The BIDDER will also grant the Monitor, upon his request and demonstration of a valid interest, unrestricted and unconditional access to his project documentation. The same is applicable to Subcontractors. The Monitor shall be under contractual obligation to treat the information and documents of the BIDDER/Subcontractor(s) with confidentiality.
8.7 The BUYER will provide to the Monitor sufficient information about all meetings among the parties related to the Project provided such meetings could have an impact on the contractual relations between the parties. The parties will offer to the Monitor the option to participate in such meetings.
8.8 The Monitor will submit a written report to the designated Authority of BUYER/Secretary in the Department/ within 8 to 10 weeks from the date of reference or intimation to him by the BUYER / BIDDER and, should the occasion arise, submit proposals for correcting problematic situations.
Independent Activities 14.1 Except as expressly provided herein, each party shall have the free and unrestricted right to independently engage in and receive the full benefit of any and all business endeavours of any sort whatsoever, whether or not competitive with the endeavours contemplated herein without consulting the other or inviting or allowing the other to participate therein. No party shall be under any fiduciary or other duty to the other which will prevent it from engaging in or enjoying the benefits of competing endeavours within the general scope of the endeavours contemplated herein. The legal doctrines of "corporate opportunity" sometimes applied to persons engaged in a joint venture or having fiduciary status shall not apply in the case of any party. In particular, without limiting the foregoing, no party shall have any obligation to any other party as to:
(a) any opportunity to acquire, explore and develop any mining property, interest or right presently owned by it or offered to it outside of the Property at any time; and
(b) the erection of any mining plant, mill, smelter or refinery, whether or not such mining plant, mill, smelter or refinery treats ores or concentrates from the Property.
Independent Consultant 13.1 In the performance of work or services hereunder, Consultant shall be deemed an independent contractor, and any of its agents, employees, officers, or volunteers performing work required hereunder shall be deemed solely as employees of contractor or, where permitted, of its subcontractors.
13.2 Consultant and its agents, employees, officers, or volunteers shall not, by performing work pursuant to this Agreement, be deemed to be employees, agents, or servants of County and shall not be entitled to any of the privileges or benefits of County employment.
