SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED (a) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, other than as set forth on the applicable Schedule and subject to Sections 2.4 and 2.10 hereof, (i) the Services to be provided by SVU as Service Provider hereunder shall be limited to (A) the Services with respect to which it is listed as the Service Provider on Schedule 2 hereto, (B) as to the NAI business which Albertson’s is acquiring, the Services which SVU and its Affiliates have historically provided to the NAI-acquired business, and (C) the Services performed by SVU and its Affiliates for Albertson’s as of immediately prior to the date of the SPA; provided that any change in Services after the date of the SPA but prior to the Effective Date shall be approved by the Steering Committee, (ii) the Services to be provided by Albertson’s as Service Provider hereunder shall be limited to the Services with respect to which it is listed as the Service Provider on Schedule 2 hereto, and (iii) in no event shall the Service Provider be required to provide any other services to the Receiving Party. The parties acknowledge and agree that they have sought to identify all Services to be provided by the Service Provider under this Services Agreement on the Schedules hereto, but that if the Schedules do not include the Services performed immediately prior to the date of the SPA by the Service Provider, the parties shall cooperate after the Closing Date to amend and/or supplement the Schedules hereto from time to time to more accurately reflect such past practice; provided, however, that (i) in no event will the Service Provider be obligated to provide any Service which (A) is listed on Schedule 2 as “deleted” or indicated in any way as no longer required or (B) is indicated to be provided only on a temporary basis and such time period has lapsed, subject to the possible extension of such Service in accordance with Section 3.3, and (ii) Schedule 1 hereto sets forth the agreement of the parties with respect to procurement of goods for the Receiving Party and shall control that Service notwithstanding the past practices of the parties with respect to procurement of goods.
(b) The Service Provider or its designees shall perform the Services only in a manner, scope, nature and quality (such manner, scope, nature and quality, the “Applicable Service Level”) that is, in the case of SVU as the Service Provider, the same in all material respects as the manner in which such Services were performed or to be performed by SVU and its Affiliates for Albertson’s as of immediately prior to the Date of the SPA, or, where a specific service level has been provided, as set forth in the Schedules hereto and, in the case of Albertson’s as Service Provider, in the manner described on Schedule 2. For the avoidance of doubt, any change in service levels provided by the Service Provider to itself and its Affiliates after the Date of the SPA shall not affect the Applicable Service Level to be provided to the Receiving Party pursuant to this Services Agreement. Unless otherwise set forth herein or on the applicable Schedule, the Services provided hereunder shall be used by the Receiving Party for substantially the same purposes and in substantially the same manner (including as to volume, amount, level or frequency, as applicable) as such Services were used by the Receiving Party as of immediately prior to the Date of the SPA. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the parties acknowledge and agree that (1) Albertson’s acquisition of the NAI business shall not be deemed an increase of volume, amount, level or frequency, that SVU shall provide the Services contemplated herein to the NAI business, and that SVU’s provision of services to the NAI business shall include the services historically provided by SVU or its Affiliates to NAI (or which NAI provided to itself), as well as the Services identified on Schedule 2, and (2) Albertson’s request for Services for New Stores as defined in Exhibit A shall not constitute an increase in volume, amount, level of frequency of Services. The Service Provider shall act under this Services Agreement solely as an independent contractor and not as an agent or employee of any other party or any of such party’s Affiliates. For the purposes of clarity, the parties acknowledge and agree that if and to the extent the Service Provider changes systems and processes used in the course of its business for its own account the Service Provider shall not permit such changes to degrade the Applicable Service Level.
(c) The provision of Services by the Service Provider shall be subject to Article V hereof.
(d) The parties have agreed to separate the Legal function of SVU and transition certain legal associates to Albertson’s over a period of up to ninety (90) days after the Effective Date (the “Legal Transition Period”). At the Effective Date, certain attorneys responsible for the provision of certain Services to Albertson’s (the “Transitioned Attorneys”) will transition to and become employed by Albertson’s at Albertson’s option. At some point during the Legal Transition Period, Albertson’s will have the option to make Qualifying Offers (as defined in the SPA) to some or all of an additional group of identified members of the SVU Legal function. During the Legal Transition Period, the parties will cooperate with respect to the transition of legal matters between them, and each of Albertson’s (but only with respect to the services provided by the Transitioned Attorneys and only to the extent historically provided to SVU) and SVU will provide legal services pursuant to Schedule 2 hereto, if needed, provided that (i) SVU may, in its discretion and at its expense, provide outside counsel (reasonably selected from a list of outside counsel used by Albertson’s prior to the Effective Date) in lieu of providing such legal services directly (it being understood that such outside counsel providing Services to Albertson’s hereunder will be acting on behalf of and as counsel for Albertson’s, and that (as between Albertson’s and SVU) Albertson’s will control the attorney-client relationship); (ii) neither party will in any case provide services with respect to commercial or other litigation that the other party has agreed to assume responsibility for, or to indemnify the other party or its Affiliates for, pursuant to the SPA (provided, however, that SVU will continue to cooperate in providing in-house litigation support (other than litigation management) to the extent historically provided by SVU to Albertson’s and Albertson’s acknowledges that during the Legal Transition Period in-house litigation support will continue to be provided to SVU by the remaining SVU legal function not hired by Albertson’s as of the Effective Date); (iii) SVU will not be responsible for providing legal services to Albertson’s in quantities that exceed the historical levels provided by SVU to Albertson’s; and (iv) each party will provide any reasonable and customary waiver of conflicts of interest or similar waiver reasonably requested by the other party or any substituted outside counsel in connection with the legal services provided pursuant to this Services Agreement, provided that no such waiver shall materially disadvantage the other party with respect to any matter handled by such counsel. Upon the elimination of legal services as Services under this Services Agreement, there will be a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the fees payable during the Initial Term equal to the salary and benefits of each employee that transfers employment to Albertson’s pursuant to a Qualifying Offer (as defined in the SPA) made in Albertson’s sole discretion, and, if necessary, the parties will execute a letter agreement confirming the reduction as soon as reasonably possible thereafter.
(e) Similar to the legal transition referenced in Section 2.1(d), the parties have agreed to the elimination of additional Services originally contemplated to be provided by SVU pursuant to this Services Agreement by the employees of SVU and its Subsidiaries identified on Exhibit G. Upon the elimination of such Services from this Services Agreement, Albertson’s will receive credits against the fees payable pursuant to this Services Agreement as such credits are set forth on Exhibit G, and, if necessary, the parties will execute a letter agreement confirming the reduction as soon as reasonably practicable thereafter.
(f) The parties agree to meet on or before September 20, 2013, to review the Services being provided and determine if there are any Services no longer required and which may be deleted from the Service schedules.
