Measuring maturity level of contract management for EPC contractors of Iranian petroleum industry (Case study: Sepanir Oil and Gas Company (SOGC))

Because of the everyday growth of out-sourcing in project management, contract management process has gained considerable importance. This is very important especially in the large oil project that most part of activities is done as out-sourcing. Weak management of out-sourcing process conclude problems such as long negotiation periods, unsuitable contract approval process, low clearity, limited control, and inability of suppliers to warrant contract conditions.Since maturity models are suitable tools to measure and improve key processes in an organization, in this research, contract management maturity of SOGC was measured by a recently developed contranct management maturity models (CMMM) in order to recognize and evaluate strengths and weaknesses of contract management process in EPC contractors. The results showed that contract management process in SOGC stands in the third level, namely structured level, among the five levels of maturity. The recognition of strengths and weaknesses of this company in each step of contract management process helped it acheiving a thorough understanding of contract management process and follow a plan to remove its weaknesses in contract management process. At the end, some suggestions for the improvement and development of this model in future were offered considering the experiences gained by application of CMMM in Sepanir Company.