Checklist · Technology, Media & Telecommunications / IT Contracts
Checklist: reviewing a vendor SaaS or technology contract (customer side, including AI terms)
Customer-side review checklist for vendor MSAs, SaaS terms and click-wrap: documents and precedence, service levels, fees and variation, data and AI training rights, security and incidents, IP, liability, exit and regulatory overlays.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- Australia
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 17 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked against the cited sources on 17 October 2026.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when reviewing a supplier's standard terms or mark-up for a client buying technology, to produce an issues list. Pair with the client's playbook where it has one. It is a review aid, not a negotiating position; priorities depend on the deal's value and risk.
How AI may be used
AI may run a first-pass comparison of the vendor contract against this checklist and the client's playbook, producing a clause-referenced issues list. A lawyer checks each issue against the contract text and sets priorities.
AI may
- Produce a clause-level issues list against each heading of this checklist, quoting the clause numbers.
- Extract service levels, credits, renewal and notice dates into a table.
- Identify every document incorporated by reference or URL, for the lawyer to obtain and review.
AI must not
- Must not mark an item as "acceptable" without the lawyer's judgement about the client's risk appetite.
- Must not upload a contract marked confidential to a tool whose terms allow training on inputs.
- Must not rely on online terms captured by the tool without saving a dated copy.
The lawyer checks
- Every issue is checked against the actual clause wording, including documents incorporated by URL.
- Unfair contract terms and consumer guarantee points are assessed if the client is a small business or consumer.
- The final issues list reflects the client's commercial priorities.
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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