In organizations lacking a mature contract management framework, processes are often developed "ad hoc," meaning they are created as needed for specific situations rather than being planned proactively. This reactive approach, typically executed by different individuals or departments, naturally leads to processes and their documentation being "inconsistent" across the enterprise. This state represents a low level of process maturity, which formal contract management standards and methodologies aim to correct by establishing standardized, repeatable, and well-documented procedures.

A. Ad hoc and efficient: "Ad hoc" processes are inherently inefficient at an organizational level because they lack standardization, repeatability, and the benefits of lessons learned.

B. Hostile and managed: "Hostile" is an inappropriate descriptor for documentation. Furthermore, "managed" implies a level of control and organization that contradicts an ad hoc environment.

C. Ad hoc and hostile: The term "hostile" does not accurately describe a characteristic of process documentation in a business context.

1. National Contract Management Association (NCMA). Contract Management Body of Knowledge (CMBOK), 6th ed., 2019. In the discussion of contract management maturity, the initial or lowest level is characterized by processes that are reactive and undocumented. Section 1.3, "The Contract Management Standard™ (CMS™)," emphasizes that the standard provides a framework to ensure consistency, implying that its absence leads to inconsistency and ad hoc practices.

2. National Contract Management Association (NCMA). ANSI/NCMA ASD 1-2019 (R2023) Contract Management Standard™ (CMS™). The entire premise of the standard is to move organizations from undefined, ad hoc states to defined, managed, and optimized ones. The "Guiding Principles" (Section 1.4) implicitly address the problems of inconsistency by advocating for a common, enterprise-wide understanding and application of contract management principles.

3. Garrett, G. A. World Class Contracting, 4th ed., CCH Incorporated, 2007. Chapter 2, "Contracting Process Maturity," describes Level 1 maturity as "Ad Hoc," where processes are "unpredictable, poorly controlled, and reactive." This directly supports the conclusion that documentation in such an environment would be ad hoc and inconsistent.