Supplier Assessment Questionnaires

What is that all about?

You get to sell your goods or services to a company and the first thing they do is to send you a huge bundle of forms (sometimes in an email) with Supplier Assessment Questionnaire (sometimes called a Vendor Assessment Questionnaire) printed across the top.

These forms are usually generic and include questions that are probably not relevant to your company or what you do.
They also send out their purchase order to you. In some cases before they send the Questionnaire.
Now here is where things get complicated. If you haven’t filled out and return your Questionnaire to their satisfaction, it has been known for companies to withhold payment for goods.

Are you any the wiser as to what  a Supplier Assessment Questionnaire (Vendor Assessment Questionnaire) is, why you were sent one and more importantly should you be sending these forms?

If you should be sending out these forms, then where do you get them from and more importantly what do you do with them once they are filled out?

Are they really that important?

Yes, if your customer has sent you a questionnaire then they are trying to ensure they are buying the right thing from the right supplier.
This information has to be recorded, which is probably why these Questionnaires sprang up. As not everyone is sure what questions need to be asked and what information they need to be recording.

Once a company has sent you a Questionnaire, you will have to complete and return it.

So what should you be doing? Do you need to do the same thing?

Not really.

First of all Supplier Assessment Questionnaires should never be sent out to every one of your suppliers it is time consuming in both filling out the questionnaires but also collecting the information from completed ones.
Within your management system you need to have clear records of suppliers and what you purchase from them.
Evaluate your suppliers and know what information you need to have about your suppliers so that you only need to ask specific questions to each supplier instead of sending out a huge questionnaire.

How can CMS help?

We can help you as much or as little as you would like us to be involved.
We can help you by filling in any Supplier Assessment Questionnaires you have received.
Or we can fill in your Supplier Assessment Questionnaires and ensure you have all the information you need to have about your current suppliers.
Whatever level you wish us to help you with; we will get on with the task at hand while you can get on with your normal business activities.