>Supplier Accreditation – Accreditation explained

To become an accredited supplier with Buying Force, companies must complete the rigorous requisite stages of either the ‘Approved Supplier’ or the ‘Validated Supplier’ process. These stages are set out below:
	1. Financial Analysis 2 a) Pre-qualification questionnaire: Business systems and processes 2 b) Pre-qualification questionnaire: Health and Safety 3. Reference Checks 4. Supplier Appraisal Visit

The ‘Approved Supplier’ Accreditation vetting process

Stage 1 - Financial Analysis
At this initial stage, the last three years of the company’s filed accounts are analysed. The analysis process is outsourced to Equifax and Buying Force adopts their recommendation of maximum contract value. To ensure a consistent approach, maximum contract values are rounded down and placed into bandings. These range from under £10,000 up to projects in excess of £1m.
If a supplier received any of the following then we are unable to progress their application further:
	> £0 value > Obtain performance/indemnity bonding > Less than 2 years filed accounts > Technically insolvent > Gross loss for the last 3 years > Has a net loss for the last 3 years unless it insignificant comparative to a positive P&L account brought forward balance > Trading for less than 2 ½ years
Accounts will be reviewed annually, once filed at Companies House, and maximum contract values will be updated in line with Equifax’s recommendation.
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Stage 2a) - Pre-qualification questionnaire: Business systems and processes
The business systems and processes PQQ is weighted and scored in an objective and transparent manner, on a sliding scale banding. Systems examined at this stage include those such as the company complaints handling or grievance procedure and quality and environmental management systems. The PQQ is assessed on the information provided within the online submission. Companies should therefore check their entries very carefully before submitting their answers. Buying Force reviews and assesses the company’s stage 2 PQQ and converts the percentage score into a banding. This banding score is displayed on the Accredited Supplier list. The bandings are as follows:
	Banding	% Score
	A	86 - 100
	B	75 - 85
	C	60 - 74
	D	45 - 59
	E	0 - 44
Suppliers are able to resubmit their PQQ each year to increase their banding score.
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Stage 2b) - Pre-qualification questionnaire: Health and Safety

Health and safety standards are of the utmost importance and are at the core of our vetting process. All the questions at this stage must be successfully answered to meet the exacting standards of the Buying Force accreditation process. This involves demonstrating all the company’s health and safety systems and procedures with supporting documentation in order to qualify for Approved or Validated Supplier status.

If the submission does not initially meet the required standard then further information is requested before progressing the application. If the business systems and procedures still do not meet the required standard after this second request for information, the application will be declined.

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Stage 3 - Reference Checks
To meet the reference requirement, 3 successful references are needed for the specialism in each region that the supplier wishes to operate in. The Buying Force process categorises suppliers across 6 regions: London (within the M25), South East, South West and South Wales, Midlands, North and Scotland. A referee is able to provide a reference for 1 or all 6 regions, dependent upon the geographical coverage of the organisation being vetted. Following successful completion of these three stages, companies achieve Approved Supplier status. This lasts 12 months. If at any stage during this year companies decide they wish to supplement their vetting status, they are able to request a site visit, in order to work towards Validated Supplier status.
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The ‘Validated Supplier’ Accreditation vetting process

To achieve Validated Supplier status, companies must meet all of the criteria for the Approved Supplier accreditation, in addition to an appraisal visit by a member of the Buying Force Supply Chain team. This may be a requirement in order to operate in certain sectors and marketplaces. Achieving this level of accreditation demonstrates the company’s commitment to transparency, though opening the business systems to external impartial and independent assessment.

Stage 4 - Supplier Appraisal Visit

To achieve this stage, a member of the Buying Force team will visit the supplier’s Head Office to undertake a comprehensive onsite audit of the business systems and processes of the company. This assesses the extent to which the written policies and procedures of the business are embedded throughout the company, and how hard copy documentation of the procedures in practice is managed and recorded.

Following the audit, Buying Force produces a Supplier Appraisal Report. This details the outcome of the audit, and identifies the business systems and processes which are strong, and those which could benefit from improvement. If improvement is required then further evidence may be required to demonstrate that the recommendations have been implemented before the enhanced Validated Supplier accreditation certificate is issued.

To find out more about achieving Buying Force Accreditation status for you or your supply chain partners, contact Darren Pettit, Supply Chain Manager, on 0207 392 7386 or darren.pettit@buying-force.com.

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