How to choose suppliers you can trust: a checklist for owners, managers and brokers

You do not have to be an expert to choose well. A supplier you can trust will be happy to answer these questions. One who is not is telling you something. Use the checklist before you appoint a supplier, and once a year afterwards. Share it with your captain.

The ten questions

#	Ask	A good answer	A warning sign
1	Do you pay anyone a commission, fee or benefit on my orders?	"No." Or: "Only the broker's commission written into the contract, which you have seen."	Hesitation. "It's normal." "Only to our agents."
2	Have you made the Vendor Promise? Are you listed?	Yes, with a link to the listing. Or a written equivalent.	"We don't do that sort of thing."
3	May I see your written anti-bribery policy?	A real document, current, with a named owner.	None, or one that is a page of slogans.
4	Do your staff receive training on it?	Yes. When, and who.	"They know."
5	Will you sign a supplier declaration?	Yes, immediately.	Delay, negotiation, or refusal.
6	How do you handle requests for commission from our crew or brokers?	A clear, firm process: refuse, record, report.	"We handle each case on its merits."
7	Where do your discounts go?	On my invoice, visible.	Into a "relationship account".
8	How do you pay agents and introducers?	Contract, due diligence, invoice, company account.	Cash. Personal accounts. "No paperwork."
9	Will you give me an itemised invoice and let my auditor see the records?	Yes.	"Commercially confidential."
10	What would you do if a member of my crew asked you for a favour?	Decline, tell me.	"We'd look after them."

How to ask without offending

The questions are routine. You can say:

"We ask every supplier the same questions. It's our policy, and it protects you as well as us."

Send them in writing, with the supplier declaration attached, before the season, not in the middle of a charter.

What to do with the answers

• All green: appoint them, and note the date. Ask again each year.
• Some amber: ask for the policy and the declaration. Make appointment conditional on both.
• Any red: do not appoint them, or stop using them. You do not have to explain.

For management companies and brokerages

Add these questions to your approved supplier process. Record the answers. Review them yearly. A supplier who has made the Vendor Promise has done some of the work, but the promise is a public commitment, not an audit: ask for the documents too.

What the supplier gets from you

A clear signal that you care, and a written standard to meet. Suppliers who refuse to pay for orders lose business to those who do. When owners, managers and brokers ask these questions, that stops being true.

General information, not legal advice.