Vendor Accountability Scorecard

Your vendor has delivered this platform dozens of times. You are doing it once. That experience gap is where accountability breaks down. This assessment checks whether you have the structures to protect your interests.

20 questions 8 minutes Instant results
0 of 20 answered
1
Contractual Compliance
The contract defines what was promised. The question is whether anyone on your side is tracking whether those promises are being kept.
CC-01
You have an independent mechanism to verify whether vendor invoices align with contracted deliverables and agreed milestones, beyond the vendor's own reporting.
CC-02
You can confirm whether SLA commitments are being met using your own data, not just the vendor's self-reported metrics.
CC-03
You have verified that the vendor is meeting the data protection, security, and compliance obligations defined in the contract.
CC-04
The vendor provides reporting in a format and cadence that allows your team to make informed decisions, not just receive status updates.
2
Delivery Performance
The vendor committed to deliverables, timelines, resource levels, and quality standards. Are they delivering what was sold, or has the gap between promise and reality been quietly accepted?
DP-01
The vendor is delivering milestones on the schedule agreed in the contract, not a revised timeline that was negotiated after signing.
DP-02
Vendor deliverables consistently meet the acceptance criteria defined in the contract, without requiring significant rework from your team.
DP-03
The vendor deploys the named resources committed in the contract and does not substitute with less experienced practitioners without your approval.
DP-04
Defects are resolved within the timeframes agreed in the contract, and are not deferred to post-go-live without your explicit agreement.
3
Communication and Transparency
When problems arise, you need to know early. The question is whether the vendor surfaces issues proactively, or whether you only find out when it is too late to act.
CT-01
The vendor's status reporting gives you an accurate picture of programme health, not a managed narrative designed to maintain confidence.
CT-02
When you raise a concern or request information, the vendor responds within a timeframe that allows you to act on it.
CT-03
When problems arise, the vendor raises them proactively rather than waiting until the issue is unavoidable or has already caused damage.
CT-04
You trust that the vendor gives you the full picture on risks and challenges, including those that reflect poorly on the vendor's own performance.
4
Scope and Change Control
Scope creep is the primary driver of cost overrun and schedule delay. The question is whether you can evaluate whether a change request is genuinely required, or whether it serves the vendor's commercial interests.
CMD-01
When the vendor proposes a scope change, you have a clear process to assess whether it is genuinely required to deliver the business case or commercially motivated.
CMD-02
You understand the full cost, schedule, and business impact of each vendor change request before it is approved.
CMD-03
The vendor explains what will not be delivered if a scope change is rejected, not just what will be added if it is approved.
CMD-04
The scope baseline from the original contract is protected. Changes are tracked against it, not absorbed into a new baseline without formal approval.
5
Escalation and Resolution
Critical issues test whether accountability is real or performative. The question is whether the vendor takes ownership when things go wrong, or deflects responsibility to your team.
ER-01
When critical issues arise, the vendor takes ownership of resolution rather than deflecting responsibility to your team or other parties.
ER-02
You have access to senior vendor leadership when issues require executive intervention, and they respond with the urgency the situation demands.
ER-03
Escalated issues are resolved within agreed timeframes, not left to drift until the urgency dissipates or you accept the situation.
ER-04
After a significant incident, the vendor conducts a genuine review and implements changes, rather than producing a report and returning to business as usual.
All 20 questions must be completed.