Ascendant is DLA Piper’s proprietary digital platform designed to transform how complex sourcing and outsourcing transactions are run. It embeds DLA Piper's methodology for managing and tracking the progress of these types of transactions and is used by our lawyers to support client project delivery, particularly during competitive procurement and bid processes.

Ascendant brings together a suite of tools that help streamline delivery, improve visibility of progress and generate clearer insight across complex sourcing and outsourcing deals.

These tools enable our lawyers to manage significant volumes of information, maintain consistent risk assessments, and provide clients with clearer, more timely insights throughout the lifecycle of a sourcing project.

How Ascendant supports client outcomes

Ascendant is designed to improve how large-scale procurement and outsourcing projects are run, with a particular focus on the bid and negotiation phases. It aims to replace fragmented, document-heavy processes with a structured approach that enables faster, more informed decision-making across multi-bidder transactions.

By using Ascendant, DLA Piper lawyers are able to:

• Manage and analyse large volumes of bid and contract information more efficiently.
• Maintain a consistent, structured view of risk, progress and key commercial issues.
• Easily compare supplier and bidder positions side by side, facilitating structured parallel negotiations.
• Reduce duplication, rework and delay during negotiations.
• Provide clearer reporting and more informed, data‑driven advice.

This approach supports faster procurement timelines, better-informed decision‑making and greater visibility of progress, trade-offs and risks, helping clients navigate complex sourcing and contracting processes with greater confidence and control.

The Contract Dashboard is an interactive contract assessment and reporting tool that helps answer the question: “How good is this contract?” It is used by DLA Piper lawyers to evaluate and demonstrate how well a contract aligns with a client’s requirements and risk profile.

It enables our teams to:

• Assess contracts against defined client priorities.
• Benchmark contractual positions against our view of industry standards.
• Evaluate supplier responses during competitive procurements.
• Support clear, evidence‑based recommendations on whether a contract position is acceptable.

Using a visual, slider‑based approach, different elements of a contract can be weighted to reflect what matters most to the client. This creates a clear, structured assessment of strengths, weaknesses and trade‑offs within the contract that can be used by the client for internal stakeholder briefings and risk assessment.

The Status Snapshot provides a concise, point-in-time summary of progress on a sourcing or outsourcing engagement that is invaluable to support effective project governance.

It is used by DLA Piper lawyers to:

• Capture a clear, visual summary of what has been agreed and what issues remain open.
• Identify and highlight key risks, dependencies and decision points.
• Support clear governance updates and stakeholder reporting.

The Status Snapshot enables focused updates for senior stakeholders on project status and any issues needing their input without requiring them to work through detailed contractual documentation.

The Requirements Builder is used by DLA Piper lawyers to define, structure and refine client requirements at the outset of a technology sourcing or outsourcing project.

It supports:

• Development of clear, consistent requirements aligned to business objectives.
• Structured input into procurement and bid documentation.
• Early validation of scope, service expectations and delivery models.
• Greater alignment between stakeholders before engaging with the market.

By creating a standardised and well defined set of requirements, the tool helps reduce ambiguity during the procurement process and improves the quality and comparability of supplier responses. This leads to more efficient sourcing processes and supports stronger contractual outcomes.

Who Ascendant supports

Ascendant adds value where organisations are:

• Engaging in large-scale or high-value procurement or outsourcing projects.
• Running competitive sourcing and bid exercises.
• Managing complex or multi-supplier arrangements.
• Delivering cross border sourcing projects.
• Supporting digital transformation initiatives.

It supports collaboration across legal, procurement and commercial workstreams, while keeping client objectives and risk appetite central.

Working with DLA Piper

Ascendant is embedded within DLA Piper's sourcing and outsourcing services. Our lawyers tailor how the platform and tools are applied to reflect each client's deal structure, commercial priorities and risk profile.

By combining our deep market experience with Ascendant's digital delivery tools, we help clients achieve consistent outcomes across negotiations, gain clearer insights into market positions and navigate their complex sourcing and outsourcing projects more effectively and efficiently.

Speak to your DLA Piper relationship partner or a member of our sourcing and outsourcing global team to find out how Ascendant can support your next project.