Sentence:  Careful to protect the goodwill it is developing with these providers, the life sciences company decides to use <WSD>restrictive covenants</WSD> — i.e., noncompetes, in the popular vernacular — to ensure the sales reps cannot compete for a period of time after changing jobs and potentially transfer the value of burgeoning customer relationships to some new employer. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A noncompete agreement