How to save money and time on contractor and subcontractor assessment and compliance

Outsourcing can go spectacularly wrong if your assessment and compliance systems are weak, or you don’t have good visibility of your contractors and their sub contractors, says Gary Plant, Managing Director of Altius.

Say no to spreadsheets

You don’t need superpowers to cure supply chain blind spots and reduce risk, but you do need modern software systems. Spreadsheets and questionnaires are the ‘kryptonite’ that weakens effective outsourcing and supplier management. These manual processes are slow, cumbersome,  time consuming, and inflexible.

By making use of specialist software, building managers can simplify the task and minimise the cost of compliance management. This will mean that you can focus on delivering value, rather than supervising and ‘policing’ the contract.

Modern software systems, such as Altius’ Exigo software, can keep pace with rapid change and contract growth, and can  be used collaboratively. The flexible software package also integrates with other back office systems to retrieve audit evidence and generate quick management reports.

Three steps to compliance

Construction Managers can follow  a three-step compliance process, which is underpinned by Altius’ Exigo software solution.

1.  Assess capability 

a.  Contractor information  is needed to establish capability to carry out the job. But there’s little point in gathering the same information for each contractor or sub contractor. It must be pertinent to the service or trade they are delivering. 

b.  Verify the contractor information – don’t take the claims of a contractor at face value, always verify that their credentials are valid.  Checks that are carried out on contractor and sub contractor information should always be evidence based and may involve verification with certification bodies or insurance companies. This evidence shouldn’t just be checked once a year, it should always be live, up to date and instantly retrievable.

c.  Authorise the information – once a contractor or sub contractor is thoroughly checked and approved, ensure that only approved suppliers are used by all departments and divisions.

2.  Actively manage contracts

a. Set clear policies and rules – for clear mutual understanding of expectations. Share with the contractor, sub contractor and their employees exactly the kind of work that they have been verified to carry out – in granular detail. Don’t permit them to do work outside of the scope you’ve checked them for.

b.  Contracts and specification – formalise your requirements so that nothing is left to chance.

c.  Controls and restraints – ensure that  contractors and sub contractors understand any control processes that need to be followed, e.g. site access control on construction sites, exposure to heat, radiation, etc.

3.  Monitor carefully

a.  Behaviour – don’t let the robustness of your monitoring lull your contractors or sub contractors into complacency and remove their sense of responsibility for their own compliance and performance. It’s important to be clear about where accountability lies, particularly where sub contractors are involved.

b.  Audit – while physical audits have their place, technology can be used at lower cost to provide an audit trail This can replace sprawling spreadsheets – minimising timescales and maximising efficiency.

c.  Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – it’s often said that what doesn’t get measured doesn’t get done. It’s important to  gather, measure and analyse statistics that illustrate whether the desired outcomes and objectives were achieved.

How Exigo software helps

The Exigo software can be configured to assess performance and compliance for many business areas, such as health and safety,  financial and commercial health, bribery and corruption policies, CSR, quality, environmental and employment law, and information and data security compliance 

It  is cloud-based, so requires no hardware or software installation, and  integrates with existing enterprise systems. It provides automated report generation and data exportation compatible with other business formats, such as Excel.

Control and transparency

Unlike spreadsheets and questionnaires, Exigo allows you to formulate your company’s requirements and convey these quickly and easily to your contractors and sub contractors. Changes can be factored in quickly and easily and you and your suppliers can work collaboratively..

Visibility

Exigo provides a real-time view of compliance, enabling you to check the current and past status of any contractor or sub contractor at any time. It instantly highlights your weak points and potential issues, allowing you to resolve them before they become a risk.

Protection

When things go wrong you need to be in a position to identify how and why. Exigo tracks everything automatically. Its built-in audit trail enables you to retrieve the exact status of a contractor or sub contractor from any previous point in time, along with the evidence and rationale for the decisions made.

Take a look at the Exigo video and request a demo of the software

Contact:

Phone: 01332 960320
Email: enquiries@altiusva.com

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