What is included in the assessment?

Environmental management is important for all organisations as it includes the efficient use of resources and the reduction and disposal of wastes. It is applicable to any organisation regardless of size, type and nature, and applies to the environmental impact of its activities, products and services. Environmental management does not stop with the actions of your organisation. Clients are increasingly looking at how their supply chain manages environmental risk.

As part of the annual assessment, our risk mitigation team confirms that contractors and suppliers have up-to-date insurances for the tasks that they are qualified to perform, thus mitigating risk to your organisaiton. If there is a risk that the insurance is coming to an end, this is flagged in the online portal.

Alcumus assess whether contractors and suppliers have an anti-bribery and corruption policy. It is illegal to offer, promise, give, request, agree, receive or accept bribes. An anti-bribery policy can help protect your business. You should have an anti-bribery policy if there is a risk that someone who works for you or on your behalf might be exposed to bribery. Your anti-bribery policy should be appropriate to the level of risk your business faces.

Our assessment qualifies if contractors and suppliers have a General Data protection Regulation (GDPR) / Data Protection policy. Data protection is about ensuring people can trust you to use their data fairly and responsibly. If you collect information about individuals for any reason other than your own personal, family or household purposes, you need to comply. Every organisation is different and there is no one size fits all answer.

Equality and diversity legislation exist to ensure that people in employment are treated fairly in the workplace and are not discriminated based on any of the protected characteristics. Under the Equality Act 2010 if a person is treated less favourably due to any of the nine protected characteristics this can be classed as direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment or victimisation in the field of employment. This section comprises of ten questions that confirm the current equality management arrangements of contractors and suppliers, and they will be required to provide evidence to support their answers.

We do not make this a mandatory requirement for contractors and suppliers, however as part of the assessment we will ask them if they can provide two references from recent projects.

Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) is a key indicator that your company can demonstrate high levels of health and safety management. As members of the SSIP Forum Alcumus SafeContractor is committed to reducing the bureaucracy and duplication of effort often associated with pre-qualification. Together with the other members of SSIP, we help both contractors and client organisations save millions of pounds each year.

Alcumus SafeContractor goes beyond the core SSIP criteria to assess not only what a contractor does, but also how they do it – allowing your organisation to make an informed decision about the level of risk. No other provider offers this.

The SafeContractor questionnaire is dynamic and risk-based, so contractors only answer questions that are relevant to them. Advice and templates are available to ensure RAMS and H&S polices meet the client expectations.

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the “Act”) and Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Transparency in Supply Chains) Regulations 2015 (the “Regulations”) came into effect in 2015. Under Section 54 (2) (b) of the Act and under the Regulations, companies who supply goods and services and who have a turnover of £36 million or more must publish an annual statement on the measures being taken to eliminate modern slavery in their organisation and their supply chains.

SafeContractor confirms the financial status of contractors and suppliers. This has been increasingly important as the pandemic has caused many smaller businesses to fold. Assessing financial status is important when understanding if a contractor is stable enough to undertake significant work for your business.

A Quality Management System (QMS) is the way in which an organisation manages the interrelated parts of its business in order to meet the needs and expectations of its customers. The implementation of a QMS that manages weaknesses, threats and defects, and maximises strengths and opportunities, leads to continuous improvement in an organisation’s ability to consistently meet or exceed the needs and expectations of its customers.