What this is
What is a supplier sourcing request?
What is a supplier sourcing request?
It is the record that opens a search for a new supplier: what is needed, why current suppliers cannot provide it, and the criteria the eventual choice will be judged against. It is raised before any supplier is contacted, so the criteria exist independently of whoever ends up winning.
What counts as a genuine reason existing suppliers cannot supply?
A testable constraint — capacity, technical specification, lead time or commercial terms the current supplier has actually been asked about and failed to meet. A preference for someone new, or dissatisfaction that was never raised with the incumbent, is not the same thing and should not be recorded as though it were.
Why does the form ask about single sourcing before anyone is approached?
Because the decision to accept one supplier for a critical input is easier to make honestly before a relationship exists than to unwind once the business depends on it. Flagging Single Source Expected at the outset forces the risk and switching-cost questions to be answered while there is still a choice.
Scope
When is a supplier sourcing request required?
This record is one step in a larger programme. Using it for work that belongs to a neighbouring template produces records that are hard to report on later.
Use this template when
- A genuine need has arisen that the current supplier base cannot meet, and nobody has approached a candidate yet
- The workspace is being set up and the sourcing history for an existing supplier relationship needs to be captured retrospectively
- You are running the Supplier Onboarding and Lifecycle programme and this is its first step
- A linked record needs this one to exist first: Due Diligence and Supplier Approval both expect a sourcing request reference
- An incumbent is being re-tendered and the same discipline — criteria before quotes — is being applied deliberately
Do not use it for
- Supplier Onboarding Checklist, which takes a supplier already selected through banking, insurance, terms and system setup — sourcing has already ended by that point.
- Supplier Due Diligence and Screening, which screens a shortlisted candidate's financial standing, ownership and integrity once sourcing has narrowed the field.
- Supplier Bank Detail Verification, which verifies payment details once a supplier is already approved, not while it is still being chosen.
- Supplier Approval Record, which formalises the decision to trade with a supplier — a downstream step, not the search itself.
- Anything outside KnowLogistics, which belongs in the workspace that owns that process.
Compliance mapping
Which ISO 9001 cl.8.4 requirements does this satisfy?
ISO 9001 cl.8.4 requires control over externally provided processes, products and services proportionate to their effect on conformity — which starts with how the supplier was found and judged, not just how they are later monitored.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 9001 cl.8.4.1 | Determine the controls to apply to an external provider based on the effect on the organisation's ability to meet requirements. | Before approaching anybody |
| ISO 9001 cl.8.4.1 | Establish criteria for the evaluation and selection of external providers before selection takes place. | Before approaching anybody |
| ISO 9001 cl.8.4.1 | Give existing, capable providers a genuine opportunity to be re-evaluated rather than excluding them by default. | Before approaching anybody |
| ISO 9001 cl.6.1 | Determine risks associated with dependence on a single external provider and plan action to address them. | Risk considerations |
| ISO 9001 cl.6.1 | Consider risks arising from geographic concentration, ethical exposure and environmental impact of the supply base. | Risk considerations |
| ISO 9001 cl.5.3 | Assign and record the authority responsible for approving the sourcing decision and its budget. | Governance |
| ISO 9001 cl.7.5 | Retain documented information showing the basis on which the selected supplier was chosen. | Outcome |
What it does not cover
- Selection Criteria Agreed First, which answered No shows the criteria were written to match a supplier already seen rather than set before anyone was approached.
- No Supplier Pre-Selected, which answered No confirms the exercise was staged around a decision already taken, whatever the scorecard says afterwards.
- Single Source Risk Assessed, which left blank or N/A when Single Source Expected is Yes means a dependency was created without anyone weighing it first.
- Approval Authority Identified, which is missing means nobody can say who was entitled to commit the spend before requests went out.
- Minimum Number Of Suppliers Approached, which answered No against Selected Against The Stated Criteria = Yes shows a scored competition that only ever had one credible bidder.
Global
Supplier Sourcing Request requirements by country
The sourcing decision is where dependency and exposure get created, so the record needs to hold up against the instruments that later ask why a particular supplier or country was chosen.
Modern Slavery Act 2015, s.54
Requires an annual statement on steps taken to prevent modern slavery in the supply chain.
A sourcing decision that never asked about labour risk before approaching a candidate leaves the statement with nothing genuine to report against for that supplier.
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
Creates a rebuttable presumption that goods linked to certain regions or entities are made with forced labour and bars their import.
Geographic Concentration Considered and Ethical And Labour Risk Considered need to be answered honestly at sourcing, not discovered when a shipment is detained at the border.
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
Obliges in-scope companies to identify and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts across their supply chain.
Environmental Impact Considered and the ethical risk questions in this record are the earliest point at which that obligation can be met cheaply, before a contract exists.
How to complete it
How to complete a supplier sourcing request, step by step
Four judgement calls decide whether a completed sourcing request actually protects the eventual choice, rather than just documenting it.
Why Existing Suppliers Cannot Supply is free text, and its credibility depends on naming a specific, testable constraint — capacity, specification, lead time, price — that the incumbent was actually asked about. A vague preference for change should not pass as a reason.
Minimum Number Of Suppliers Approached is a Yes/No against a threshold procurement sets locally. Two quotes gathered after a favourite was already contacted informally is not the same population as three considered in parallel before criteria were finalised.
Incumbent Given A Fair Opportunity should be judged by whether the incumbent saw the same specification and deadline as challengers, not by whether they were copied on an email once the outcome was already decided.
Single Source Risk Assessed and Switching Cost Understood only defend the eventual decision if the trade-off between a cheaper single source and a harder-to-reverse dependency was written down before the award, not reconstructed after the supplier later fails to deliver.
What auditors find
Most common supplier sourcing request findings
The most common findings against this template share one root cause: something that should have happened before contact was made gets recorded, or discovered, afterwards.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Selection criteria written or weighted only after quotes were already in hand. | ISO 9001 cl.8.4.1 | Require Criteria Weighted Before Quotes Received to show Yes, dated before the earliest quote logged against the request. |
| Incumbent supplier not approached in parallel with new candidates. | ISO 9001 cl.8.4.1 | Gate the request so it cannot leave Before approaching anybody until Incumbent Given A Fair Opportunity is answered. |
| Single Source Risk Assessed marked N/A despite Single Source Expected being Yes. | ISO 9001 cl.6.1 | Add a conditional rule forcing Single Source Risk Assessed out of N/A whenever Single Source Expected is Yes. |
| Requests sent before an approval authority was identified for the spend. | ISO 9001 cl.5.3 | Move Approval Authority Identified ahead of Requested By in the workflow so no request issues without it. |
| Conflict Of Interest Declared answered Yes with no Conflict Declaration ID attached. | ISO 9001 cl.7.5 | Make Conflict Declaration ID mandatory whenever Conflict Of Interest Declared is Yes, cross-checked against CMP-041. |
| Ethical And Labour Risk Considered and Environmental Impact Considered answered Yes with no supporting note for a new sourcing country. | ISO 9001 cl.6.1 | Require a short evidence note whenever either field is answered Yes for a country not already represented in the supplier base. |
Case in point
Case in point: the single quote sourcing exercise
A site had already agreed terms in principle with a packaging supplier recommended by an engineer, then raised the sourcing request afterwards to satisfy the audit trail. Selection Criteria Agreed First was answered Yes, but the criteria matched that supplier's exact specification, and No Supplier Pre-Selected was answered Yes despite the earlier conversation.
The gap surfaced only when a second site tried to reuse the same criteria against a genuinely different shortlist and found they excluded every other viable candidate by design. The fix was procedural, not disciplinary: criteria now have to be logged before the first supplier contact, with the date checked against any recorded conversations.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
5 sections
- Reference
- LOG-041
- Archetype
- Record
- Record ID
- SRC-2026-000
- Scoring
- Sourced against stated criteria
- Direction
- High is good
- Singleton
- Yes
- Basis
- ISO 9001 cl.8.4
- Links
- Feeds Due Diligence and Supplier Approval
- Tags
- Supplier, Sourcing, Procurement
- Sections
- 5
- Fields
- 53
- Follow up fields
- 3
- Repeating sections
- 0
- Links out
- 4
Header
16 fieldsRequest ID*
Auto sequence. Format SRC-2026-000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Completed By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
What Is Being Sourced*
Category*
Estimated Annual Value
Requested By*
Procurement Owner*
Needed By*
Existing Supplier Considered*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Why Existing Suppliers Cannot Supply
Single Source Expected*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Sourcing That Starts With A Supplier Already Chosen
Where somebody has already decided who they want, prequalification becomes a formality that documents the decision rather than testing it. Writing the criteria first is what prevents that.
Before approaching anybody
6 fieldsRequirement Specified In Writing*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Selection Criteria Agreed First*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Criteria Weighted Before Quotes Received*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Minimum Number Of Suppliers Approached*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Incumbent Given A Fair Opportunity*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
No Supplier Pre-Selected*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Risk considerations
6 fieldsSingle Source Risk Assessed*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Geographic Concentration Considered*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Business Continuity Impact Assessed*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Switching Cost Understood*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Ethical And Labour Risk Considered*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Environmental Impact Considered*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Governance
6 fieldsBudget Confirmed*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Approval Authority Identified*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Conflict Of Interest Declared*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Technical Input Obtained*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Quality Input Obtained*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Decision Basis Documented*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Outcome
19 fieldsSuppliers Approached
Quotes Received
Selected Against The Stated Criteria*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Selected Supplier
Due Diligence ID
Links to LOG-042 Assessment ID
Conflict Declaration ID
Links to CMP-041 Declaration ID
Items Assessed*
Excludes anything marked N/A.
Items Failed*
Score Percent*
Calculated on submission. High is good. N/A items leave the denominator.
Result Band*
- Pass3 pts
- Caution1 pt
- Fail0 pts
Completeness Percent*
How much of the template was actually answered. A high score on a half completed form is not a high score.
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Procurement*
Signature*
Requester*
Second Signature*
LOG-041 · record IDs look like SRC-2026-000 · Feeds Due Diligence and Supplier Approval
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The form is the easy part. Keeping the criteria genuinely fixed before contact, and chasing the approval and conflict checks that gate it, is the work that actually slips.
Holds the sourcing request against the supplier register, checks that criteria are dated before the first quote, and chains the record forward into due diligence and approval.
Tracks the ethical, labour and environmental risk answers against your obligations under modern slavery and forced-labour instruments, and flags sourcing into new higher-risk countries.
Cross-checks the incumbent and new candidates against the vendor and contractor register so a sourcing exercise never quietly excludes an eligible existing party.
Coordinates the crew across sourcing, due diligence and approval, rolls open exceptions into one view, and holds every write for your approval before it touches a record.
This template lives in KnowLogistics — supply chain execution. Inbound, outbound, inventory, yard, claims, supplier lifecycle and customs.
Glossary
Supplier Sourcing Request definitions and key terms
- Sourcing
- The process of identifying and evaluating potential suppliers against stated criteria before any commercial commitment is made.
- Single sourcing
- Deliberately using one supplier for a requirement where alternatives exist, accepted as a risk rather than defaulted into.
- Prequalification
- A screening exercise applied to a supplier already effectively chosen, documenting suitability rather than testing it against alternatives.
- Incumbent
- The supplier currently providing the requirement, whose right to re-compete on equal terms this record is designed to protect.
- Conflict of interest
- Any personal, financial or relationship connection between a person involved in the sourcing decision and a candidate supplier that could bias the outcome.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about supplier sourcing request
What is the supplier sourcing request template based on?+
ISO 9001 cl.8.4, which requires controls over externally provided products and services proportionate to their effect on conformity, starting with how a supplier is evaluated and selected.
What sections does the template contain?+
Five: Header, Before approaching anybody, Risk considerations, Governance, and Outcome. Together they hold 53 fields, 42 of which are required.
Why is this a singleton rather than one record per supplier?+
Each sourcing exercise gets its own record, but the template is installed once per workspace and reused for every new search, so history and reporting stay in one place rather than fragmenting across duplicated templates.
How does this record connect to due diligence and approval?+
Its Due Diligence ID and Conflict Declaration ID fields link forward to LOG-042 and CMP-041, so a reviewer can trace the whole chain from why a supplier was sought to why it was approved.
What happens if no existing supplier was considered at all?+
Existing Supplier Considered can be answered No, but Why Existing Suppliers Cannot Supply should still explain why the requirement is new rather than simply skipped as not applicable.
Can the scoring on this template be changed?+
Yes. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to Due Diligence and Conflict of Interest records travel with it if the template is copied.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Supplier Onboarding and Lifecycle
Conflict of Interest Declaration
Records a declared interest that could affect a business decision, and how it will be managed
Vendor and Contractor Register
Holds every supplier, contractor and service provider you work with, including their status and approval level
Supplier Onboarding Checklist
Takes a new supplier from selected to able to trade, covering banking, insurance, terms, technical approval and system setup
Supplier Due Diligence and Screening
Screens a prospective supplier for financial standing, ownership, sanctions exposure, litigation and adverse media before commercial discussions go far
Supplier Bank Detail Verification
Verifies a supplier's bank details through an independently obtained phone number before any payment is set up or changed
Supplier Master Data Setup
Creates the supplier record in the systems that will use it, covering codes, terms, tax status, addresses and approval scope
More in Supplier Lifecycle
Supplier Onboarding Checklist
Takes a new supplier from selected to able to trade, covering banking, insurance, terms, technical approval and system setup
Supplier Due Diligence and Screening
Screens a prospective supplier for financial standing, ownership, sanctions exposure, litigation and adverse media before commercial discussions go far
Supplier Bank Detail Verification
Verifies a supplier's bank details through an independently obtained phone number before any payment is set up or changed
Supplier Master Data Setup
Creates the supplier record in the systems that will use it, covering codes, terms, tax status, addresses and approval scope
Supplier First Delivery Review
Reviews the first delivery from a new supplier against everything that was promised during approval
Supplier Change Notification
Records a change a supplier has told you about, or one you have discovered, covering manufacturing site, formulation, ownership, subcontracting or certification
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- ISO 9001 cl.8.4 — Control of externally provided processes, products and services
- ISO 9001 cl.6.1 — Actions to address risks and opportunities
- UK Modern Slavery Act 2015, s.54 — Transparency in supply chains
- US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
- EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.