Home / Services / Engagement Tiers & Fees
Services S.04Engagement Tiers & Fees, de-risked.
Four tiers. Flat fees. Each one scoped before you commit, and gated by whether the prior tier proved its value. No contingency pricing. No obligation to proceed. The structure is designed so the first engagement can stand entirely on its own.
Flat fees only · No contingency · No referral fees · No vendor compensation · Grant-fundable
Discover → Evaluate → Decide → Manage. One tier at a time.
Institutions commit to one tier at a time. Each tier is gated: before NxtChapter recommends proceeding to the next, the prior tier must have demonstrated financial value. You don't commit to a four-tier engagement — you commit to one, see what it finds, and decide from there.
Contract Audit
Health Score, Scenario Engine, benchmarking brief, risk register, five-year model, negotiating brief. Full analytical foundation. Stands on its own.
S.01 — Contract Audit →Renegotiation Advisory
RFP development, vendor vetting, transition roadmap, negotiation support. Built on Tier 1 findings. 50% T1 credit applies.
S.02 — Renegotiation Advisory →Transition Management
Vendor exit, asset transfer, independence launch, Open-to-Buy calendar, first-semester review. Dedicated consultant throughout.
S.03 — Independent Pathway →Ongoing Advisory
Monthly KPI review, buying advisory, contract monitoring, annual Health Score update. Available standalone or as T1–T3 continuation.
Fixed contract — custom scopeFlat fees. Defined scope. Known before you sign.
Every tier is priced against a clear ROI test before you commit. If the engagement is unlikely to produce findings that justify the fee, NxtChapter says so in the Discovery Conversation and declines the engagement.
Contract Audit
Flat fee · Two installments · 30-day interpretation windowWhat It Does
Produces the complete analytical foundation: Health Score, peer benchmarking, five-year financial model, and negotiating brief.
- Cost/Risk, Brand Value, Financial GM graded and documented
- GM Business Macro Scenario Engine across all four store markets
- Commission rate benchmarked vs. peer institutions — IPEDS, NACS, state procurement
- Minimum Annual Guarantee independently calculated — not the operator's formula
- Contract risk register — every clause rated by impact and negotiating priority
- Five-year financial model: outsource vs. hybrid vs. independence
- Negotiating brief — specific, benchmarked target for every key term
- IA/EA program fee flow analysis and transparency recommendation
- 30-day interpretation window after deliverable acceptance
- If findings don't support renegotiation, documented in writing — no further fee
Invoiced: 50% at engagement letter execution · 50% at deliverable acceptance. If the analysis does not support renegotiation, that finding is documented and no further engagement is recommended.
Renegotiation Advisory
Flat fee · Three installments · 50% Tier 1 credit appliesAt a $2M store moving from 10% to 14.2% commission, year-one recovery is $84,000. Five-year value: $437,000.
What's Included
- RFP development — scope, minimum financial requirements, scoring rubric
- Vendor response analysis — substance vs. presentation quality
- Vendor due diligence — reference checks with comparable institutions
- Independence transition roadmap — staffing, vendors, POS, academic calendar
- Hybrid model specification — what the institution controls, what contract must say
- Negotiation advisory — in the room or preparing your team
- Draft contract language review before signing
- 50% Tier 1 credit applied automatically within 12 months
RFP development adds $8K–$12K vs. direct renegotiation. Multi-campus adds $6K–$10K per campus. Invoiced: 33% at execution · 33% at RFP/roadmap delivery · 34% at negotiation close.
Transition Management
Flat fee · Monthly billing · Dedicated consultant throughoutWhat It Does
Hands-on transition management from signed engagement to first-semester operational review. Vendor exit, asset transfer, POS implementation, Open-to-Buy calendar, staff onboarding, and hot market planning. One NxtChapter consultant owns the transition from start to finish.
Full independence on a $2M store. $94K total engagement. Year 2+ retains $200K–$280K/yr net of operating costs.
What's Included
- Incumbent vendor exit — asset transfer, data migration, contract close-out
- New vendor or independence onboarding from day one
- Independence launch — store setup, POS and inventory implementation
- Open-to-Buy planning and buying calendar before first semester opens
- Hot market and event calendar — 12 months forward
- Dedicated NxtChapter consultant — single point of accountability
- Vendor introductions — direct contacts at buying network suppliers
- First-semester operational review against benchmarked KPIs
Full independence launch adds $10K–$15K vs. new vendor transition. Rush week proximity at close adds a timeline compression premium. Invoiced: 20% at engagement start, remainder billed monthly through transition completion.
Ongoing Advisory
Monthly retainer · Custom scope · Annual renewal, 60-day noticeWhat It Does
Ongoing monthly advisory — performance monitoring, buying support, contract accountability.
- Monthly performance review — sell-through, GMROI, shrink, margin by department
- Ongoing buying advisory — Open-to-Buy guidance, vendor management
- Hot market preparation — each season, planned in advance
- Contract performance monitoring — holding operators to negotiated terms
- Annual Health Score update against current market benchmarks
- Strategic advisory — NIL, access program evolution, campus retail trends
- Available standalone or as T1–T3 NxtChapter continuation
- Net 30 monthly invoicing · 60-day written termination notice
Retainer pricing discussed at Tier 3 conclusion or separately for standalone engagements. Annual auto-renewal with 60-day written termination notice. Net 30 monthly invoicing.
Why flat fees. Why it matters for your procurement office.
Flat-fee consulting is not just a pricing preference — it is a structural commitment that affects every recommendation NxtChapter makes. Here is why the fee model is built this way and what it means in practice.
No contingency pricing
NxtChapter does not charge a percentage of recovered revenue. The fee is fixed regardless of outcome. This means the negotiating brief recommends what the data supports — not what maximizes NxtChapter's contingency payout. If the analysis shows the current terms are fine, the brief says so.
Known before the engagement begins
The fee range for each tier is set before NxtChapter sees your contract. The scope doesn't change based on what we find, and the fee doesn't change based on the finding's size. Your procurement office has a fixed, budgetable cost from day one — no surprise billing.
No vendor compensation — ever
NxtChapter receives no compensation from Follett, Barnes & Noble Education, any POS vendor, publisher, or operator. No referral fees. No introductory commissions. The recommendation is grounded in the benchmarked data — not in what any operator pays to be recommended.
Tier 1 credit applied automatically to Tier 2
Institutions that complete Tier 1 and proceed to Tier 2 within 12 months receive a 50% credit of the Tier 1 fee applied to the Tier 2 engagement. No request required. A $16,000 Tier 1 engagement produces an $8,000 Tier 2 credit — reducing the net Tier 2 cost to $12,000–$32,000 depending on scope. Credit applies to the same institution and engagement sequence only.
Title III, TRIO, and other institutional capacity grants can cover the fee.
Grant funding is a payment mechanism, not a basis for fee reduction — the fee structure stays the same either way. What NxtChapter provides at no additional cost:
What's included for grant-funded engagements
- A scope letter describing the engagement as institutional financial capacity building
- A budget justification document formatted for grant applications
- A statement connecting engagement outcomes to federal program eligibility criteria
- Full cooperation with grant reporting requirements throughout the engagement
Consortium and shared-procurement engagements.
Two or more institutions, one shared procurement process
Institutions engaging NxtChapter simultaneously through shared procurement receive a 15% discount on Tier 1 fees for each institution beyond the first. Tier 2 and Tier 3 are priced individually per institution, since scope doesn't meaningfully overlap between campuses.
Billing schedule by tier.
| Tier | Billing Schedule |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 — Discover | 50% at engagement letter execution · 50% at deliverable acceptance |
| Tier 2 — Evaluate | 33% at execution · 33% at RFP/roadmap delivery · 34% at negotiation close |
| Tier 3 — Execute | 20% at engagement start · remainder billed monthly through transition completion |
| Tier 4 — Manage | Net 30 monthly invoicing · auto-renewing with 60-day written termination notice |
Payment method: ACH, institutional check, or wire transfer. Late payment: 1.5% per month on balances over 45 days. Any material scope change requires a written amendment and updated fee.
Request the fee schedule, or start with Tier 1 directly.
No obligation. The Discovery Conversation includes an honest read on whether your institution's profile supports the engagement at all.