Because they are at the forefront of daily relationships with subcontractors, subcontracting managers are required to establish privileged relationships with their interlocutors.
While maintaining good relationships with subcontractors is an integral part of the job, the subcontractor manager should not lose in mind that he must act in the interests of his employer under all circumstances. Thus, the choice of subcontractor or the evaluation made of it should in principle never be influenced by the relationships that the manager may maintain with service providers.
However, the border between cordial relationships, gifts or invitations from subcontractors and corruption is sometimes narrow and difficult to perceive, especially for those involved who do not necessarily realize that they have crossed the white line.
Under these conditions, the establishment of internal control procedures and the monitoring of relationships between subcontractor managers and subcontractors are of fundamental importance.
Focus on the best practices to put in place.
1°/ Raise awareness and train employees
First of all, it is imperative to determine with maximum precision which practices are accepted within society and Raise awareness among subcontractor managers on this subject, both at the time of hiring and during periodic training. Annual interviews can also provide an opportunity to take stock of the management of relationships with subcontractors.
The acceptable threshold must be determined by the employer as precisely as possible so that the rules are framed and objectively controllable, for example as part of a charter of good practices.
In this respect, experience shows that while invitations to restaurants or to certain events (fairs, sporting or musical events, etc.) remain acceptable as long as they are reasonable, any more sumptuary gift tends to influence the judgment of managers. Above all, the presence of the subcontractor or supplier alongside the subcontractor manager at the time of the event or at the restaurant seems to be essential since it alone justifies the professional nature of the invitation.
Making it mandatory to declare gifts and invitations received from subcontractors can also be a good way to make employees aware of corruption issues and, where appropriate, to alert to suspicious cases.
2°/ Establish a procedure for choosing subcontractors and specifications
Second, The placing of several companies in competition through a call for tenders and the drafting of specifications is another imperative that it is not possible to avoid for services with a significant stake..
The criteria of the specifications (price, deadlines, quality standards, etc.) must be as precise as possible in order to allow an objective assessment of the various applications of subcontractors.
The call for applications must also be accompanied by a specific business consultation procedure requiring the manager to be in a position to justify:
- How he informed several companies about the market to invite them to apply. Systematic use of a mailing list of service providers registered with the company can thus be a means of encouraging the emergence of as many candidates as possible;
- The number of companies that applied for the subcontracting contract and all applications that were sent;
- Offers that seem to him the most suitable by justifying his recommendation.
In any case, the choice of the subcontractor must be made by the manager's hierarchy after checking the conditions under which the tender was made. In fact, only this double control makes it possible to separate the final decision maker in terms of choosing the service provider from the daily interlocutor of subcontractors.
3°/ Regularly audit the services of subcontractors
Finally, and when the size of the company allows it, an audit service for the services of subcontractors will make it possible to independently control some of the projects carried out or even in progress in order to ensure that the quality of the service provided corresponds to the commitment undertaken in the framework of the specifications.
This will make it possible to control the absence of abuses and fraud that are more discreet than those that may occur when the contract is obtained, for example with the use of lower-quality materials or even the use of practices likely to engage the responsibility of the contractor (hidden work, use of foreign labor without authorization, etc.).
At the time of the audit, an evaluation of the subcontractor may finally be carried out by the auditor in charge in order to adjust the mailing list of service providers invited to apply for the various tenders and, if necessary, to remove unreliable service providers from the list.
Tristan HUBERT is in a position to assist you in setting up control procedures, best practice charters or in the event of subcontracting disputes.
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