← Stage-Gate NPD Suite Vendor Statement of Work · Gate-Authorized

Vendor SOW — Cordelane Systems

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Program timeline · status 16 Oct 2026Read the full story →
Harborline
Aug 2025
Cancelled
Gate 0
Feb 2026
Go
Stage 1
Business case
Gate 1
Apr 2026
Recycled
Gate 1
Jun 2026
Go w/ conditions
Stage 2
Development
You are here
Gate 2
Apr 2027
Gate 3
Oct 2027
Gate 4
Feb 2028
Launch
Mar 2028
Gate 5
Sep 2028

Lighthouse Financial Services Company and Cordelane Systems, the incumbent annuity administration platform provider. Total scoped value $2,850,000, of which $1,680,000 is authorized at the 16 October 2026 status date and $1,170,000 is not. Extension of the existing platform rather than replacement is Decision D-07.

$2,850,000
Total scoped
$1,680,000
Authorized today
$1,170,000
Awaiting Gates 2 and 3
3
Work packages

59% of the scoped value is under authorized release notice. The remainder is scoped, priced and unfunded.

Contents
  1. The Contracting Problem This SOW Solves
  2. Work Package Structure
  3. Work Package Detail
  4. Release Notice Mechanism
  5. Termination for Convenience & Wind-Down
  6. Scope Changes Already Applied
  7. Dependencies and Constraints
  8. Acceptance and Payment
  9. What This SOW Does Not Cover
  10. Document Control

1. The Contracting Problem This SOW Solves

A vendor statement of work normally commits both parties to a defined scope for a defined price. This program cannot do that, and the reason is structural rather than commercial.

At signature, only Stage 2 is funded. Stages 3 and 4 — $11,780,000 of program funding — depend on gate decisions that have not been taken and may go against the program. Committing Cordelane to the full scope would mean either committing money the Board has not released, which the Chair has no authority to do, or quietly assuming the gates are a formality — which is precisely the pathology stage-gate exists to prevent.

So the SOW is itself gated. Three work packages, each priced and scoped in full at signature so the vendor can plan and resource, but each authorized separately by a release notice that issues only on a gate outcome. Cordelane knows the whole shape of the engagement and is paid only for what has been released.

What the vendor gets in exchange for the uncertainty. Pricing for all three packages is fixed at signature and does not re-open if a later gate delays a release; the carrier absorbs the schedule risk of its own governance. Cordelane also receives a defined wind-down entitlement (§5) rather than a bare cancellation right, and a commitment that no work package will be re-tendered to a third party during the program's life. A gated SOW that gave the vendor only downside would not be signable, and a vendor who priced the uncertainty into every package would cost the carrier more than the option is worth.

2. Work Package Structure

WPScopeStageValueAuthorizing gateStatus
WP-1configuration & buildStage 2$1,680,000Gate 1 — 11 Jun 2026Authorized
WP-2test support & defect remediationStage 3$760,000Gate 2 — 01 Apr 2027Not authorized
WP-3cutover, hypercare & handoverStage 4$410,000Gate 3 — 28 Oct 2027Not authorized
Total scoped value$2,850,000

The total ties exactly to the annuity platform configuration and licensing line in the Program Budget §4. It is one number in two documents by construction, not by transcription.

3. Work Package Detail

WP-1 — Stage 2 Authorized

Value
$1,680,000
Authorizing gate
Gate 1
Release notice
Issued 11 Jun 2026

Configuration of the annuity administration platform for the three launch crediting strategies, contract-form data model, issue and servicing transaction sets.

WP-2 — Stage 3 Not authorized

Value
$760,000
Authorizing gate
Gate 2
Release notice
Not issued

Test support, defect remediation and regression across the validation cycle, including support for illustration-to-admin reconciliation.

WP-3 — Stage 4 Not authorized

Value
$410,000
Authorizing gate
Gate 3
Release notice
Not issued

Production cutover, hypercare through the launch window, and handover to the carrier's annuity operations function.

4. Release Notice Mechanism

A work package becomes contractually live only on issue of a release notice. The mechanism is deliberately thin, because a mechanism the program cannot execute quickly at a gate is a mechanism that will be bypassed.

StepWhoWhen
Gate decision recorded (GO or GO WITH CONDITIONS)Gate Review BoardAt the gate
Release notice issued against the corresponding work packageChair, on the Board's recorded decisionWithin five business days
Vendor mobilizes against the released packageCordelanePer the mobilization window in the master agreement
No release notice issuedThe package does not commence and no fee accrues
The Chair issues the notice but does not decide it. The release notice is an administrative act executing a Board decision, not an authorization in its own right. The Chair holds no vote at the gate (Decision D-11) and correspondingly holds no discretion to release a package the Board has not authorized, or to withhold one it has.

5. Termination for Convenience & Wind-Down

The carrier may terminate this SOW for convenience at any stage boundary on thirty days' written notice. That right exists because the program itself can be cancelled at any gate, and a vendor contract that could not follow the program's own governance would become the reason not to cancel — which would let a procurement decision override a Board decision.

On termination for convenienceEntitlement
Work completed and acceptedPaid in full
Work in progress within a released packagePaid on a percentage-of-completion basis against the accepted deliverable schedule
Packages not yet releasedNo entitlement. This is the point of the structure.
Demobilization and knowledge transferA defined wind-down window, chargeable at agreed rates, capped
Configuration artifacts and documentation produced to dateDelivered to the carrier in usable form as a condition of final payment
The predecessor concept is why this clause is written the way it is. A prior product concept was cancelled at its own Gate 1, and the unspent portion of its released tranche was returned to capital. That outcome is only achievable if vendor commitments stop where the funding stops. The wind-down entitlement is what makes the right usable in practice rather than nominally.

6. Scope Changes Already Applied

The scope in §2 is not the scope originally contemplated. Two changes were applied before WP-1 was released.

ChangeOriginEffect on this SOW
Reduction from five crediting strategies to threeGate Condition GC-01, Decision D-03Configuration scope in WP-1 reduced accordingly. The participation-rate strategy the platform could not support without custom development (risk R-04) is out of scope, not deferred.
New York excluded from launchDecision D-02 under GC-02State configuration set reduced; no New York contract-form data model in scope.
R-04 left the risk register by being deleted, not mitigated. The platform limitation that risk described is still true — Cordelane still cannot support that strategy without custom development. What changed is that the program no longer needs it. That is the cheapest way a vendor risk ever closes, and it is worth distinguishing from a risk that was engineered away.

7. Dependencies and Constraints

IDConstraintConsequence
DEP-03Cordelane operates quarterly configuration windows across its client baseWork cannot be scheduled continuously. A missed window costs a quarter, not a sprint — which is why the compression of Stage 2 from 46 weeks to 40 matters more here than elsewhere.
I-04The configuration environment is shared with an in-flight servicing releaseTest-window contention; being scheduled around in Stage 3 planning.
A-04The existing platform is extended, not replacedIf this assumption failed, the SOW would not be varied — it would be replaced, and the program would return to a gate.

8. Acceptance and Payment

PrincipleApplication
Acceptance is against the deliverable schedule, not against elapsed effortConfiguration is accepted on demonstrated transaction behavior, not on hours consumed
Payment follows acceptance within a released packageNo payment accrues against an unreleased package under any circumstance
Defect remediation inside a package is not a variationRemediation of defects in delivered configuration is inside the fixed price
Scope variation requires a program decision, not a contract amendment aloneMaterial variation is a gate matter — this suite carries no change-control log because change is a gate re-submission

9. What This SOW Does Not Cover

10. Document Control

VersionDateChange
1.011 Jun 2026Executed at the Gate 1 second convening. WP-1 released; WP-2 and WP-3 scoped, priced and unreleased.
1.116 Oct 2026Scope changes under GC-01 and GC-02 recorded at §6. No change to work package values or the release mechanism.

Administered by C. Tyrrell, NPD Program Manager and Chair of the Gate Review Board, with V. Sandoval, Platform Delivery Lead. Related: Program Budget §4 · Gate Conditions Register (GC-01, GC-02) · RAIDD Log (R-04, I-04, DEP-03, D-07) · Prior Concept Cancellation Record.