Audits of your suppliers and contractors
We audit the companies you buy from against your requirements and give you a scored report you can act on.
- Audited against
- Your requirements, a standard or a scheme you name
- On site
- Process walk, record sampling and interviews
- Report
- Scored by section, findings in three parts
- Closure
- Each supplier response closed or rejected
- Coverage
- Riyadh and the Eastern Province, elsewhere on request
A second-party audit is an audit you commission of a supplier or contractor, against your own requirements or a standard you name. We plan it, carry it out on site, and write a scored report with findings the supplier must close.
A questionnaire is not an audit
Supplier approval often runs on a self-assessment questionnaire. The supplier ticks yes, attaches a certificate, and the form goes in a file.
A questionnaire tells you what the supplier says. An audit tells you what the supplier does. The difference shows up in the cold room log with days missing, the allergen changeover skipped on the night shift, and the lot that cannot be traced back to its raw material.
A certificate does not close that gap either. It says a system was assessed against a standard on certain dates. It does not say the supplier meets your specification, your labelling rules or your delivery conditions, which is why a second-party audit is written against your requirements and not only against the standard.
The last failure is closure. The report goes to the supplier, the supplier replies that everything is fixed, and nobody checks. A finding is closed when the evidence has been seen, and not before.
What we audit against
Criteria are agreed before the visit. An audit without agreed criteria is an opinion.
| Criteria | When it fits |
|---|---|
| Your own supplier requirements | You have a specification, a supplier manual or contract terms, and you want to know whether the supplier meets them. |
| A management system standard | You want the supplier's quality, environmental or safety system checked against ISO 9001, 14001 or 45001. |
| A food safety scheme | The supplier handles food or packaging, and you need HACCP, ISO 22000 or scheme requirements checked in the plant. |
| A checklist you provide | Your customer or head office has a set checklist, and we audit to it as written. |
| None yet | We build the criteria with you first, from your specifications and the risks in what you buy. |
The papers you get
The audit plan
Sent to the supplier before the visit with the date, the scope, the criteria and who will be interviewed.
The scored report
A score per section and overall, against the criteria agreed with you, with the evidence behind each score.
The finding list with deadlines
Each finding written in three parts, requirement, evidence and gap, with the date the supplier must respond by.
The corrective action review
Each supplier response checked against evidence and marked closed or rejected, with the reason for any rejection.
How the audit runs
- 01
Criteria
Agreed with you: what the supplier must meet, and how the score is weighted.
- 02
Plan
Sent to the supplier with the date and scope, so the right people and records are there on the day.
- 03
On site
Process walk, records sampled, interviews with the people doing the work, and at least one delivered lot traced back to its inputs.
- 04
Report
Scored, with findings written in three parts and a response deadline on each.
- 05
Corrective actions
The supplier's responses reviewed and closed or rejected. A rejected response goes back with the reason.
A new chilled supplier, approved on evidence
A food retailer is approving a new supplier of chilled products and wants more than a questionnaire before the first order.
We audit the supplier's plant against the retailer's own checklist and food safety requirements. The day covers cold chain records from intake to dispatch, allergen control and changeover, pest control, and traceability, tested by following one delivered lot back to its raw materials.
The report gives a score per section and overall. Each finding goes to the supplier in three parts with a deadline. The responses come back to us, and we check each one against the evidence it cites.
The retailer holds the scored report, the finding list and a record of each response accepted or rejected. The approval decision is the retailer's, taken once the findings are closed.
Four reasons buyers commission one
Before you approve
Before the first order, so the approval rests on what was seen at the site and not on what the supplier said about it.
- Criteria set from your specification
- A scored report to file with the approval
- Findings closed before the first order
When something went wrong
A complaint, a recall or a failed delivery. The audit looks at the process that produced the problem, not only at the batch.
- The failure traced back to its process
- The corrective action checked on site
When your standard asks for it
ISO 9001 and the food safety standards require you to evaluate and monitor external providers. For a critical supplier, an audit is the strongest evidence of that evaluation.
- Evaluation evidence for supplier control
- A re-audit schedule set by supplier risk
When you are audited yourself
A customer auditing you will often ask how you control your own supply chain. Supplier audit reports with closed findings are an answer they can read.
Questions about the supplier's side
Can you audit suppliers outside Riyadh and the Eastern Province?
Tell us where and we will say whether we can. The plan and the travel are agreed before anything is booked.
Do suppliers have to agree?
Yes. A second-party audit happens with the supplier's cooperation, usually as a condition of your contract or approval. We send the plan ahead so the supplier knows what will be looked at.
Is this the same as certification?
No. It is your audit of your supplier, against your requirements. It certifies nothing, and a supplier's certificate does not replace it.
Can our own staff come on the audit?
Yes, and it is a good way to build your own supplier audit capability. Your people observe on the first visits and can lead later ones with us alongside.
Can you audit contractors working on our site?
Yes. A contractor audit looks at the permits, competence records, method statements and supervision behind the work, as well as the work itself.
Who decides whether the supplier is approved?
You do. The report gives the score, the findings and the status of each response. The approval decision stays with the buyer.
Where supplier audits connect
Internal audit
The same three-part finding, pointed at your own system.
Read moreStandardHACCP
The food safety basis a chilled or packaged food supplier is audited against.
Read moreRegulatorySFDA food facility readiness
The licence chain a food supplier sits inside.
Read moreITF FMVendor management
One register for the contractors that maintain a site, run by ITF FM.
Read morePart of one system
Every division keeps records to the same standard, so the second one you need works the way the first one did.
Audit the supplier before the first order
Send us your supplier requirements or the checklist you use. We will come back with the criteria, the plan and a date.