Common use of Dispute Escalation Process Clause in Contracts

Dispute Escalation Process. The parties will attempt in good faith to promptly resolve any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement by negotiations between executives of the parties. If a controversy or claim should arise, the Chief Information Officers, or their superiors, will meet in person or phone, as they decide, at least once and will attempt to resolve the matter. Either Chief Information Officer may require the other to meet within five (5) days at a mutually agreed upon time. If the matter has not been resolved within seven (7) days of their first meeting, or a request for such meeting if no meeting occurs, the Chief Information Officers shall refer the matter to senior executives, who shall have authority to settle the dispute (the "Senior Executives"). The Senior Executive for GDSC shall be its chief executive officer or his designee and the Senior Executive of MON shall be its chief executive officer, or his/her designee. Thereupon, the Chief Information Officers shall promptly prepare and exchange memoranda stating the issues in dispute, and their positions, summarizing the negotiations which have taken place, and attaching relevant documents. The Senior Executives will meet in person or by telephone within five (5) days of the end of the seven (7) day period referred to above, at a mutually agreed upon time and, if an in-person meeting is mutually agreed upon, a mutually agreed upon location. If the meeting is in person, the first meeting shall be held at the offices of the Chief Information Officer receiving the request to meet. If more than one in-person meeting is held, the in-person meetings shall be held in rotation at the offices of GDSC and MON. If the matter has not been resolved within ten (10) days of the first meeting of the Senior Executives (which period may be extended by mutual agreement), the parties may thereafter resort to litigation. During the course of negotiations between the representatives, all reasonable requests made by one party to the other for nonprivileged information will be honored in order that each of the parties may be fully informed of the circumstances relevant to the dispute.