‌A contract is an agreement, but an agreement is not always a contract. An agreement can be informal or it may be written; a contract may be verbal or written, but a contract will always be enforceable if it contains certain requirements.
At its most basic, an MSA is a contract between two or more parties that establishes what terms and conditions will govern all current and future activities and responsibilities. MSAs are useful because they allow the parties to plan for the future while also speeding the ratification of future agreements.
What are contracts and memoranda of agreement? The greatest difference between a contract and a memorandum of agreement is that a contract is a legal document and is enforceable in court, whereas a memorandum of agreement is neither.
Contracts address the specific details of a particular project, transaction, or engagement. Think of the master agreement as the foundation or umbrella under which contracts operate. It sets the general terms, while contracts focus on the specific details and scope of each individual project.
A master service agreement, sometimes known as a framework agreement, is a contract reached between parties, in which the parties agree to most of the terms that will govern future transactions or future agreements.