Supplier Risk Management – Interconnected Processes

I recently read a book review in the Times Literary Supplement (TLS) by Archie Brown, entitled “One into fifteen”, where he reviewed the book “The Last Empire” by author Serhii Plokhy. Plokhy’s book is about the dissolution and final days of the Soviet Union. One of the more interesting precepts from the book is end of the Soviet Union as announced on Christmas Day, 1991, by then Communist Party Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. Brown wrote, “All too often the dissolution of the Soviet Union is conflated with the end of Communism and with the end of the Cold War. But the book points out that the Politiburo had ceased to be the ruling body of the USSR in March of 1990 and thus it was “entirely fallacious to speak of either Communism or the Cold War as having ended in December 1991. The transformation of the system was a precondition for the demise of the state, with the latter being an unintended consequence of the former. But these were distinctive, albeit interconnected processes.””

I considered ‘interconnected processes’ when I saw the Compliance Insider, Illustrative Case Study Series, entitled “Supplier Risk Management”, in which The Red Flag Group laid out in a visual format how a company can effectively identify and manage risks in its supply chain. The process is dubbed ‘Report, Review and Improve’ and consists of six steps.

Step 1 – Collect information on the suppliers. This step begins with a review and assessment of your own Vendor Master files to make an initial determination if a new or indeed other supplier is needed. If there is a business justification for bringing the supplier into a commercial relationship with your company, then you should gather performance data on the proposed vendor. The article suggests that a technological solution can help to provide risk-rated questionnaires to facilitate the process by building workflows and approvals directly into your questionnaires.

Step 2 – Validate the collected information. This is the investigative step. You should take the information provided to you by the proposed supplier and test it. You can check on references. You should also engage the supplier directly by interviewing the internal staff of the proposed supplier and review documents and records as appropriate. When necessary, you may also wish to consider the use of outside experts or internal consultants for recommendations or validations. This step should end with the creation of a risk score of the data you have gathered. Here a technological solution can assist by automating your analysis of completed questionnaire with a risk-based scoring of the answers to facilitate the validation process.

Step 3 – Rate the risk of the supplier. This is the analysis step where you should “compare the risks against your complete knowledge of the proposed supplier.” You should also compare your assessed risks against industry data and the risk-rank the proposed supplier or suppliers. A technological solution can also help to crunch large amounts of numbers or other data to give a first pass on your risk-ranking which can be further refined if required.

Step 4 – Implement risk management controls. The article posits that this step should include the conducting of background due diligence and integrity analysis by screening against known watch lists, sanctions lists and those of politically-exposed-persons (PEPs). A technological solution can help this step by managing the request and delivery of due diligence reports, aid in the reviewing, approving and tracking of completed reports and ensure ongoing compliance with automated daily reviews of such lists. Another suggested component of this step is to meet with your internal and external stakeholders to convey expectations. From this point you should be ready to enter the contracting phase, with appropriate compliance terms and conditions. To the extent required, you should also create and manage your compliance policy for the supplier at this stage as well.

Step 5 – Assess and monitor the supplier. In any relationship with a third party in the compliance world, this step is where the rubber hits the road and you have to manage the relationship. The article discusses custom eLearning that can allow you to quickly and efficiently create training programs for your suppliers based upon your compliance regime and not hypothetical training based on legal standards. A technological solution can also assist you in obtaining online certifications to certify that your supplier is in compliance with your company’s business requirements and internal controls. Finally such a solution can help to automate the process going forward to ensure that certification updates are provided, executed and tracked. But more than the ongoing certifications and training, you will need to monitor the transactions you engage in with a supplier. This may entail reviewing a large amount of data through transaction monitoring but it may also entail going to visit a supplier and going through the deep dive of an audit.

Step 6 – Continuous reporting, review and monitoring. All of this information you obtained must be fully documented. Of course, it must be documented to produce to a regulator if the government comes calling. However, this information can also be used to improve the supplier relationship and perhaps even your vendor system. One of the most interesting suggestions was to create a ‘Virtual Data Room’ dedicated to your suppliers. Not only would the creation of such a stored environment enable you to call up information requested by a regulator on short notice, you would also have it in an accessible format for supply chain process improvements. The article suggests trying such techniques as implementing performance incentive programs which can push compliance culture and behavior changes based upon the data you collect. Interesting the clothing company Levi Strauss instituted just such a policy for suppliers in the area of corporate social responsibility, it announcing it earlier this week.

If you do not subscribe to The Red Flag Group’s Compliance Insider publication, I suggest that you do so. It is one of the very best periodicals around on the building blocks of compliance. The six steps it has laid out for process of identifying and managing your supplier compliance risks under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) or UK Bribery Act demonstrates the thesis of Plokhy’s book reviewed in the TLS; that it is interconnected processes which usually mark change and management. In the case of the former Soviet Union, it may be been drawn by more human factors but there are now a variety of technological tools available to assist your facilitation of this process under any anti-bribery or anti-corruption compliance regime.

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified legal advisor. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The Author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

© Thomas R. Fox, 2014

What Can You Do When Risk Changes in a Third Party Relationship?

The GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) corruption matter in China continues to reverberate throughout the international business community, inside and outside China. The more I think about the related trial of Peter Humphrey and his wife, Yu Yingzeng for violating China’s privacy laws regarding their investigation of who filmed the head of GSK’s China unit head in flagrante delicto with his Chinese girlfriend, the more I ponder the issue of risk in the management of third parties under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In an article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), entitled “Chinese Case Lays Business Tripwires”, reporters James T. Areddy and Laurie Burkitt explored some of the problems brought about by the investigators convictions.

They quoted Manuel Maisog, chief China representative for the law firm Hunton & Williams LLP, who summed up the problem regarding background due diligence investigations as “How can I do that in China?” Maisog went on to say, “The verdict created new uncertainties for doing business in China since the case hinged on the couple’s admissions that they purchased personal information about Chinese citizens on behalf of clients. Companies in China may need to adjust how they assess future merger partners, supplier proposals or whether employees are involved in bribery.”

I had pondered what that meant for a company that wanted to do business in China, through some type of third party relationship, from a sales representative to distributor to a joint venture (JV). What if you cannot get such information? How can you still have a best practices compliance program around third parties representatives if you cannot get information such as ultimate beneficial ownership? At a recent SCCE event, I put that question to a Department of Justice (DOJ) representative. Paraphrasing his response, he said that companies still need to ask the question in a due diligence questionnaire or other format. What if a third party refuses to answer, citing some national law against disclosure? His response was that a company needs to very closely weigh the risk of doing business with a party that refuses to identify its ownership.

The more that I thought about that answer the more I became convinced that it was not only the right answer under any type of FCPA compliance program but also the right response from a business perspective. A company must know who it is doing business with, for a wide variety of reasons. The current situation in China and even the convictions of Humphrey and Yu do not change this basic premise. You can ask the question. If a party does not want to disclose its ownership, you should consider this in any business relationship going forward.

The Humphrey and Yu conviction do not prevent you from asking the question about ownership. Their convictions mean that you may not be able to verify that information through what many people thought was publicly available information, at least publicly available in the west. I was struck by one line in the Areddy and Burkitt article, “It’s not just that the tactical business practices need to change; it’s the mind set” quoting again from Maisog.

I breakdown the management of third parties under the FCPA into five steps, which are:

1. Business Justification and Business Sponsor;
2. Questionnaire to Third Party;
3. Due Diligence on Third Party;
4. Compliance Terms and Conditions, including payment terms; and
5. Management and Oversight of Third Parties After Contract Signing.

The due diligence step is but one of these five. Further due diligence is performed in large part to verify the information that you receive back from a proposed third party. So what if you can longer use avenues previously open to you in markets such as China? Perhaps there are other ways to manage this issue. Areddy and Burkitt also interviewed Jerry Ling, a partner at Jones Day, for the following “companies will need to analyze Chinese accounting documents themselves and conduct more in-person interviews with anyone they want to know more about in China.”

Ling’s point dovetails directly into what I heard from the DOJ representative. There is nothing about the Chinese law, or any other country’s law, which prevents you from asking some basic questions that are found in the Step 2 Questionnaire cited above. You can always ask who the owners of a company are, whether they are direct or beneficial. You can always ask if a company, its owners or its senior management have been involved in any incidents involving bribery and corruption and you can always ask if the company has a Code of Conduct and/or compliance program and whether its owners or senior management are aware of the FCPA and have had training on it.

Assuming the company will answer your questionnaire, the difficulty you may find yourself in now is verifying the information that you receive. In Ronald Reagan parlance, you may trust but you may not be able to verify it. Ling said in the WSJ article that “The challenge now for clients is that it’s hard to get good information.”

However, due diligence is but one step in the management of any third party in a FCPA compliance program. Just as when risk goes up and you increase your management around that risk, the situation is similar in here. Putting it another way, if you cannot obtain private information such as personal identification numbers during the due diligence process, you can put greater management around the other steps that you can take. Further, there has been nothing reported which would suggest that publicly filed corporate licenses or other information that might show ownership can no longer be accessed. Court records and public media searches also seem to still be available.

But what if you simply cannot determine if the information you are provided regarding ownership is accurate or even truthful? You can still work to manage the relationship through your commercial terms by setting your commission or other pay rates at a reasonable amount of scale. If you are dealing with a commissioned sales representative, you can probably manage this area of the relationship by setting the commission in the range of 5%. You can also manage the relationship by reviewing invoices to make sure there is an adequate description of the services provided so that they justify whatever compensation the third party is entitled to receive under the contract. You may also want to schedule such a third party for an audit ahead of other parties to help ensure adherence to your compliance terms and conditions.

There may be times when you cannot verify the true or ultimate beneficial owner of a third party. That does not have to be the end of the analysis. If that situation arises, you may want to see if there are other risk mitigation tools at your disposal. Put another way, if such a red flag arises, can it be cleared? Can it be managed? If your company is looking a major deal for multi-millions and your agent will receive a six or seven figure commission, the risk of not knowing with certainty may be too great because in such a case, an unknown owner could be a government official who has awarded the contract. But if your agent receives a considerably smaller commission and hence there is a considerably small amount of money to constitute a bribe, you may be able to manage that risk through a close and effective relationship management process.

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified legal advisor. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The Author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

© Thomas R. Fox, 2014

Where to Now St. Peter? – Due Diligence Going Forward in China

Whatever you might think of where his career went, Elton John had some great early stuff. I still rank Tumbleweed Connection right up there as one of my favorite albums of all-time. And while it was packed with some great tracks, one of my most favorite was Where to Now St. Peter? It was the opening track on Side 2 and dealt with whether a dying soldier would end up in heaven or hell. While perhaps having quite the spiritual overtones, I did think about this song when I read about the convictions on Saturday of Peter William Humphrey, a 58-year-old British national, and his wife, Yu Yingzeng, a 61-year-old naturalized American, on charges of illegally purchasing personal information about Chinese nationals.

In a one day trial the couple was convicted of illegally purchasing information on Chinese citizens. In an article in the Financial Times (FT), entitled “China court hands GSK investigator jail term and orders deportation”, Gabriel Wildau and Andrew Ward reported that husband Humphreys received a two and a half year jail term which was “just short of the three-year maximum”. In an article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), entitled “China Convicts Two Corporate Investigators”, James T. Areddy and Laurie Burkitt reported that he was also ordered to pay a fine of approximately $32,500 and will be deported from the country when his jail term is completed. Wife Yingzeng received a two year jail term and was ordered to pay a fine of approximately $23,000 but will be allowed to remain in the country after her sentence is completed.

In a New York Times (NYT) article, entitled “In China, British Investigator Hired by Glaxo, and Wife, Sentenced to Prison”, David Barboza reported that the couple “acknowledged that from 2009 to 2013, they obtained about 250 pieces of private information about individuals, including government-issued identity documents, entry and exit travel records and mobile phone records, all apparently in violation of China’s privacy laws.” According to the NYT article, wife Yu claimed that she did not know her actions where illegal and was quoted as saying, “We did not know obtaining these pieces of information was illegal in China. If I had known I would have destroyed the evidence.” According to the WSJ, the privacy law which was the basis of the conviction, was enacted in 2009 “to make it illegal to handle certain personal medical records and telephone records” but that the law itself “remains vague” on what precisely might constitute violation.

From the court statements, however, it did appear that the couple had trafficked in personal information. As reported by the WSJ, “In separate responses over more than 10 hours, My Humphreys and Ms. Yu denied that their firm trafficked in personal information, saying they had hired others to obtain personal data when clients requested it.” From the documents presented by the prosecution, it would seem clear that the couple had obtained my items which were more personal in nature. They were alleged by prosecutors to have “used hidden cameras to gather information as well as government records on identification numbers, family members, real-estate holdings, vehicle owner, telephone logs and travel records.”

Recognizing the verdicts under Chinese laws are usually predetermined and the entire trials are scripted affairs, there is, nonetheless, important information communicated to the outside world by this trial. First and foremost is, as reported in the NYT article is a “chilling effect on companies that engage in due diligence work for global companies, many of whom believe the couple may have been unfairly targeted.” The WSJ article went further quoting Geoffrey Sant for the following, “It impacts all attempts to do business between the U.S. and China because it will be very challenging to verify the accuracy of company or personal financial information.” In other words, things just got a lot tougher to perform, what most companies would expect to be a minimum level of due diligence.

Second is the time frame noted in the court statements as to the time of the violations, from 2009 to 2013. Many had assumed that Humphreys and Yingzeng’s arrests related to their investigation work on behalf of the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) which was trying to determine who had filmed a sex tape of the company’s head of Chinese operations, which was then provided to the company via an anonymous whistleblower. This would seem to beg the question of whether the couple would have been prosecuted if they not engaged in or accepted the GSK assignment.

But as Elton John asked, “Where to now St. Peter?” You should always remember that performing due diligence is but one of five steps in the management of the third party life cycle. If you cannot perform due diligence at a level that you do in other countries or that you could even have done in China before the Humphreys and Yu trial, you can beef up the other steps to help proactively manage your third parties. I often say that your real work with third parties begins when the contract is executed because then you have to manage the relationship going forward. So, if you cannot perform the level of due diligence you might like, you can put more resources into monitoring the relationship, particularly in the area of invoice review and payments going forward.

In a timely article found in this month’s issue of the SCCE magazine, Compliance and Ethics Professional, Dennis Haist and Caroline Lee published an article, entitled “China clamps down on bribery and corruption: Why third-party due diligence is a necessity” where they discussed a more robust response to the issue as well. They note that the retention of third party’s to do business in China is an established mechanism through which to conduct business. They advise “For multinationals with a Chinese presence, or plans to enter the market in the near future, now is the time to pay close attention to the changing nature of the business landscape as it relates to bribery and corruption.” Further, they suggest that “In order to ensure compliance with ABAC [anti-bribery/anti-corruption] regulatory scrutiny, multinationals must demonstrate a consistent, intentional and systematic approach to third-party compliance.” But in addition to the traditional background due diligence, they believe that companies should consider an approach that moves to proactively managing and monitoring third parties for compliance. Lastly, at the end of the day if a regulator comes knocking from the Department of Justice (DOJ) or Serious Fraud Office (SFO), you will need to demonstrate the steps you have put in place and your active management of the process.

In the FT, WSJ and NYT articles it was clearly pointed out that the invisible elephant in the room was GSK. Also it is not clear what the personal tragedy that Humphreys and Yu have endured will mean for GSK or the individuals caught up in that bribery scandal going forward. Humphreys had previously said that he would not have taken on the GSK sex tape assignment if it had been disclosed to him that the company had sustained allegations of corruption by an internal whistleblower. Perhaps one lesson may be that in the future companies will have to disclosure more to those they approach to perform such investigative services.

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified legal advisor. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The Author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

© Thomas R. Fox, 2014

Lessons Learned from the Beautiful Game: Compliance, FIFA and the World Cup

The 2014 World Cup is over and in the books. It was a great tournament for probably everyone across the globe but the host nation of Brazil. While there are many lessons to be learned from this event, the lead up to and events of this year’s World Cup provide some interesting insights for the compliance practitioner. I have collected some of my writings on FIFA, the World Cup and the world of the ‘Beautiful Game’ in one volume, entitled, “Lessons Learned from the Beautiful Game: Compliance, FIFA and the World Cup”. It is now out and available from amazon.com in Kindle e-reader format.

In this short volume I take a look at some for the following topics.

• FIFA and its selection process for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
• Performing due diligence and World Cup bids.
• Referee Professionalism as an anti-corruption tool
• What are some of the consequences for failure to set a proper tone-at-the-top.
• Leadership lessons from managers of some of the world’s top soccer clubs.
• Lessons learned from both compliance successes and failures.

I am sure that you will find this e-Book gives you some ideas for your anti-corruption compliance program, no matter which FIFA country you might practice compliance in. Finally, you cannot beat the price, as it is only $3.99. You can order a copy by going to amazon.com or by simply clicking here.

Friday Comings and Goings

I wish I could be there.

Next week, the FCPA Professor is leading his first FCPA Institute this summer over two days, July 16 and 17. The event will be held in Milwaukee and hosted by the law firm of Foley and Lardner.

The Professor’s stated goal in leading this first Institute is “to develop and enhance fundamental skills relevant to the FCPA and FCPA compliance in a stimulating and professional environment with a focus on learning. Information at the FCPA Institute is presented in an integrated and cohesive way by an expert instructor with FCPA practice and teaching experience.” Some of the topics, which will be covered, include the following:

• An informed understanding of why the FCPA became a law and what it seeks to accomplish;
• A comprehensive understanding of the FCPA’s anti-bribery and books and records and internal controls provisions and related enforcement theories;
• Various realties of the global marketplace which often give rise to FCPA scrutiny;
• The typical origins of FCPA enforcement actions including the prominence of corporate voluntary disclosures;
• The “three buckets” of FCPA financial exposure and how settlement amounts in an actual FCPA enforcement action are typically not the most expensive aspect of FCPA scrutiny and enforcement;
• Facts and figures relevant to corporate and individual FCPA enforcement actions including how corporate settlement amounts are calculated;
• How FCPA scrutiny and enforcement can result in related foreign law enforcement investigations as well as other negative business effects from market capitalization issues, to merger and acquisition activity, to FCPA related civil suits; and
• Practical and provocative reasons for the general increase in FCPA enforcement.

In other words, it is what you have come to expect from the FCPA Professor; well-thought out reasoned analysis, practical knowledge and learning, and provocative thinking and assessment. But more than all of the above I believe you will receive some great insight into and why the FCPA Professor continually challenges the status quo in many areas about the FCPA. He and I often look at the same thing and see different views but by seeing more than one view, I believe you will come away with a deeper overall understanding of the entire FCPA picture.

For complete information on the FCPA Institute, click here.

As Monty Python might say And Now For Something Completely Different. If you would like a much shorter view of some FCPA and anti-corruption related topics, check out some of my most recent podcasts, the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report. 

In Episode 74, I visit with Paul McNulty about his upcoming move to become the President of his alma mater, Grove City College.

In Episode 72, I visit with the GRC Pundit, Michael Rasmussen about why companies have such a disconnect when it comes to the theory and practice of their GRC practices.

In Episode 69, I visit with Joe Oringel about his company’s exciting new approach to transaction monitoring in the anti-corruption space.

In Episode 68, I interview Neil Swidey, author of Trapped Under the Sea about his experiences in researching and writing his book.

In Episode 66, the FCPA Professor shares his thoughts on the Esquenazi decision.

In Episode 63 and 64, I have a two-part discussion of the management of third parties under the FCPA.

For those few of you on the planet not aware of it, the World Cup final will be held this coming Sunday. Mike Brown and I have been discussing the World Cup, FIFA and anti-corruption in our World Cup Report series. You can check out Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, or Part V.

All of the episodes of the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report are available for download on iTunes at no cost so if you want to catch up on all things FCPA and compliance related on the drive to work, you can do so. A happy Friday and enjoyable weekend to all.

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified legal advisor. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The Author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

© Thomas R. Fox, 2014

Will TRACE Certify the World?

Aaron Hernandez, formerly of New England Patriots tight end, was indicted for murder this week, allegedly killing a man for spilling his drink at a bar. But fatal disputes originating in taverns are not anything new as on this day, 501 years ago, the English playwright Christopher Marlowe, 29, was killed in a brawl over a bar tab. Marlowe was two months older than William Shakespeare. A bright student, he won scholarships to prestigious schools and earned his BA from Cambridge in 1584. While still in school, Marlowe wrote his play Tamburlaine the Great, about a 14th century shepherd who became an emperor. The blank verse drama caught on with the public, and Marlowe wrote five more plays before his death in 1593, including The Jew of Malta, Dido, Queen of Carthage and Dr. Faustus. He also published a translation of Ovid’s Elegies.

How famous was Christopher Marlowe? Marlowe heavily influenced Shakespeare himself in his work, from his reworking of Marlovian themes in Antony and Cleopatra, The Merchant of Venice, Richard II and Macbeth. In Hamlet, after meeting with the travelling actors, Hamlet requests the Player perform a speech about the Trojan War, which has an echo of Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage. In Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare brings on a character “Marcade” (three syllables) in conscious acknowledgement of Marlowe’s character “Mercury” from the Massacre at Paris. The most famous tribute to Marlowe was paid by Shakespeare in As You Like It, where he not only quotes a line from Hero and Leander (“Dead Shepherd, now I find thy saw of might, ‘Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?’”) but also gives to the clown Touchstone the words “When a man’s verses cannot be understood, nor a man’s good wit seconded with the forward child, understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room.” This appears to be a reference to Marlowe’s murder, which involved a fight over the “Reckoning” (the bill), as well as to a line in Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta – “Infinite riches in a little room”.

I thought about Marlowe and his status as a playwright, even up to this day, when I considered something I heard Alexandra Wrage say at one of her recent talks here in Houston. She said, “TRACE wants to certify the world.” When I asked her what she meant by this she told me about the TRACE certification process. I had some familiarity with it, having seen reports from companies who had gone through the process and were presenting their certification when applying to do business as third party representatives for US or UK companies. The TRACE certification process is a detailed review, analysis and approval process that allows third parties to own and share their verified due diligence information. The TRACE certificationdue diligence reports contain a wealth of anti-bribery compliance information establishing that the candidate has been thoroughly vetted, trained and certified by TRACE. The report is packaged for the purpose of sharing verified due diligence information with an unlimited number of business partners. The TRACE certification is suitable for medium-to-higher risk relationships and involves an annual renewal requirement and a mandatory anti-bribery training course. Some of the key information contained in a report is as follows:

• Red flags identified;
• Comprehensive anti-bribery questionnaire;
• Company literature collected and reviewed;
• Business registrations;
• Names and CVs for owners, directors, and key employees;
• Contact information for three business references;
• Financial reference; and
• A signed Anti-Bribery Code of Conduct

One of the interesting things about the certification report is that TRACE calls them portable. By this, it means that once a company has gone through the TRACE certification process and receives its report, this report can be presented to other companies, which might desire to engage that third party. While there is no substitute for a company obtaining and evaluating the due diligence it receives based upon its own risk profile, the TRACE certification can be a powerful and persuasive tool to present to a company. In other words, the burden of performing due diligence is shifted away from the company to the foreign company seeking to show that they do business in compliance with anti-corruption laws, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) or UK Bribery Act.

All of this means that going through a TRACE certification process can have benefits for both parties in the lifecycle management of third parties for a company that wants to hire a foreign company as a third party representative. First, and foremost, is the cost as it is the foreign party who pays for the TRACE certification so this shifts the cost away from the US or UK Company because it is the foreign company who seeks the certification. But more than simply the cost can be the elimination of a large part of the expense and delay associated with the vetting process. Further, the TRACE certification offers ongoing monitoring of third party relationships with daily screening of names against international sanctions and enforcement lists and can aid to simplify third party recertification process for all companies in the process, both the companies seeking third party representatives and the foreign entities seeking to represent or do business with US or UK companies on a commercial basis.

For the entity outside the US or UK that wants to demonstrate its commit to doing business in compliance with anti-bribery legislation, the TRACE certification can provide appropriately qualified intermediaries with a valuable business credential, widely recognized in the compliance community, for successfully completing the due diligence gold standard. And again it allows foreign third parties to share their verified due diligence information with all of their business partners from a company known across the globe for its commitment to anti-bribery and anti-corruption – TRACE.

So while Marlowe may not receive all of the kudos that Shakespeare does; he is certainly well thought of. For a foreign company who wants to do business with a US or UK company, you might want to head over to the TRACE website and check out their certification process. It could provide to you a true market differentiator from others that might desire to represent US or UK companies.

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified legal advisor. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The Author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

© Thomas R. Fox, 2014

 

Life Cycle Management of Third Parties – Step 5 – Management of the Relationship

Today ends my review of what I believe to be the five steps in the management of a third party under an anti-bribery regime such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) or UK Bribery Act. On Monday, I reviewed Step 1 – the Business Justification, which should kick off your process with any third party relationship. On Tuesday, I looked at Step 2 – the questionnaire that you should send and third party and what information you should elicit. On Wednesday, I discussed Step 3 – the due diligence that you should perform based upon the information that you have received from and ascertained on the third party. On Thursday, I examined Step 4 – how you should use the information you obtain in the due diligence process and the compliance terms and conditions which you should place in any commercial agreement with a third party. Today, I will conclude this series by reviewing how you should manage the relationship after the contract is signed.

I often say that after you complete Steps 1-4 in the life cycle management of a third party, the real work begins and that work is found in Step 5– the Management of the Relationship. While the work done in Steps 1-4 are absolutely critical, if you do not manage the relationship it can all go down hill very quickly and you might find yourself with a potential FCPA or UK Bribery Act violation. There are several different ways that you should manage your post-contract relationship. This post will explore some of the tools which you can use to help make sure that all the work you have done in Steps 1-4 will not be for naught and that you will have a compliant anti-corruption relationship with your third party going forward.

Managing third party relationships is an area that continues to give companies trouble and heartburn. The “2013 Anti-Bribery and Corruption Benchmarking Report – A joint effort between Kroll and Compliance Week” found that many companies are still struggling with ongoing anti-corruption monitoring and training for their third parties. Regarding training, 47% of the respondents said that they conduct no anti-corruption training with their third parties at all. The efforts companies do take to educate and monitor third parties are somewhat pro forma. More than 70% require certification from their third parties that they have completed anti-corruption training; 43% require in-person training and another 40% require online training. Large companies require training considerably more often than smaller ones, although when looking at all the common training methods, 100% of respondents say their company uses at least one method, if not more.

While the FCPA Guidance itself only provides that “companies should undertake some form of ongoing monitoring of third-party relationships”. Diana Lutz, writing in the White Paper by The Steele Foundation entitled “Global anti-corruption and anti-bribery program best practices”, said, “As an additional means of prevention and detection of wrongdoing, an experienced compliance and audit team must be actively engaged in home office and field activities to ensure that financial controls and policy provisions are routinely complied with and that remedial measures for violations or gaps are tracked, implemented and rechecked.”

One noted commentator has discussed techniques to provide this management and oversight any third party relationship. Carol Switzer, President of the Open Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG), writing in the Compliance Week magazine set out a five-step process for managing corruption risks, which I have adapted for third parties.

1. Screen – Monitor third party records against trusted data sources for red flags.
2. Identify – Establish helplines and other open channels for reporting of issues and asking compliance related questions by third parties.
3. Investigate – Use appropriately qualified investigative teams to obtain and assess information about suspected violations.
4. Analyze – Evaluate data to determine “concerns and potential problems” by using data analytics, tools and reporting.
5. Audit – Finally, your company should have regular internal audit reviews and inspections of the third party’s anti-corruption program; including testing and assessment of internal controls to determine if enhancement or modification is necessary.

Based upon the foregoing and other commentators, I believe there are several different roles in a company that play a function in the ongoing monitoring of the third party. While there is overlap, I believe that each role fulfills a critical function in any best practices compliance program.

Relationship Manager

There should be a Relationship Manager for every third party which the company does business with through the sales chain. The Relationship Manager should be a business unit employee who is responsible for monitoring, maintaining and continuously evaluating the relationship between your company and the third party. Some of the duties of the Relationship Manager may include:

• Point of contact with the Third Party for all compliance issues;
• Maintaining periodic contact with the Third Party;
• Meeting annually with the Third Party to review its satisfaction of all company compliance obligations;
• Submitting annual reports to the company’s Oversight Committee summarizing services provided by the Third Party;
• Assisting the company’s Oversight Committee with any issues with respect to the Third Party.

Compliance Professional

Just as a company needs a subject matter expert (SME) in anti-bribery compliance to be able to work with the business folks and answer the usual questions that come up in the day-to-day routine of doing business internationally, third parties also need such access. A third party may not be large enough to have its own compliance staff so I advocate a company providing such a dedicated resource to third parties. I do not believe that this will create a conflict of interest or that there are other legal impediments to providing such services. They can also include anti-corruption training for the third party, either through onsite or remote mechanisms. The compliance practitioner should work closely with the relationship manager to provide advice, training and communications to the third party.

Oversight Committee

I advocate that a company should have an Oversight Committee review all documents relating the full panoply of a third party’s relationship with the company. It can be a formal structure or some other type of group but the key is to have the senior management put a ‘second set of eyes’ on any third parties who might represent a company in the sales side. In addition to the basic concept of process validation of your management of third parties, as third parties are recognized as the highest risk in FCPA or Bribery Act compliance, this is a manner to deliver additional management of that risk.

After the commercial relationship has begun the Oversight Committee should monitor the third party relationship on no less than an annual basis. This annual audit should include a review of remedial due diligence investigations and evaluation of any new or supplement risk associated with any negative information discovered from a review of financial audit reports on the third party. The Oversight Committee should review any reports of any material breach of contract including any breach of the requirements of the Company Code of Ethics and Compliance. In addition to the above remedial review, the Oversight Committee should review all payments requested by the third party to assure such payment is within the company guidelines and is warranted by the contractual relationship with the third party. Lastly, the Oversight Committee should review any request to provide the third party any type of non-monetary compensation and, as appropriate, approve such requests.

Audit

A key tool in managing the relationship with a third party post-contract is auditing the relationship. I hope that you will have secured audit rights, as that is an important clause in any compliance terms and conditions. Your audit should be a systematic, independent and documented process for obtaining evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which your compliance terms and conditions are followed. Noted fraud examiner expert Tracy Coenen described the process as one to (1) capture the data; (2) analyze the data; and (3) report on the data, which is also appropriate for a compliance audit. As a base line I would suggest that any audit of a third party include, at a minimum, a review of the following:

1. the effectiveness of existing compliance programs and codes of conduct;
2. the origin and legitimacy of any funds paid to Company;
3. books, records and accounts, or those of any of its subsidiaries, joint ventures or affiliates, related to work performed for, or services or equipment provided to, Company;
4. all disbursements made for or on behalf of Company; and
5. all funds received from Company in connection with work performed for, or services or equipment provided to, Company.

If you want to engage in a deeper dive you might consider evaluation of some of the following areas:

• Review of contracts with third parties to confirm that the appropriate FCPA compliance terms and conditions are in place.
• Determine that actual due diligence took place on the third party.
• Review FCPA compliance training program; both the substance of the program and attendance records.
• Does the third party have a hotline or any other reporting mechanism for allegations of compliance violations? If so how are such reports maintained? Review any reports of compliance violations or issues that arose through anonymous reporting, hotline or any other reporting mechanism.
• Does the third party have written employee discipline procedures? If so have any employees been disciplined for any compliance violations? If yes review all relevant files relating to any such violations to determine the process used and the outcome reached.
• Review employee expense reports for employees in high-risk positions or high-risk countries.
• Testing for gifts, travel and entertainment that were provided to, or for, foreign governmental officials.
• Review the overall structure of the third party’s compliance program. If the company has a designated compliance officer to whom, and how, does that compliance officer report? How is the third party’s compliance program designed to identify risks and what has been the result of any so identified?
• Review a sample of employee commission payments and determine if they follow the internal policy and procedure of the third party.
• With regard to any petty cash activity in foreign locations, review a sample of activity and apply analytical procedures and testing. Analyze the general ledger for high-risk transactions and cash advances and apply analytical procedures and testing.

In addition to monitoring and oversight of your third parties, you should periodically review the health of your third party management program. Once again I turn to Diana Lutz and her colleague Marjorie Doyle, and their White Paper entitled “Third Party Essentials: A Reputation/Liability Checkup When Using Third Parties Globally”, where they gave a checklist to test companies on their relationships with their third parties.

1. Do you have a list or database of all your third parties and their information?
2. Have you done a risk assessment of your third parties and prioritized them by level of risk?
3. Do you have a due diligence process for the selection of third parties, based on the risk assessment?
4. Once the risk categories have been determined, create a written due diligence process.
5. Once the third party has been selected based on the due diligence process, do you have a contract with the third party stating all the expectations?
6. Is there someone in your organization who is responsible for the management of each of your third parties?
7. What are “red flags” regarding a third party?

Perhaps now you will understand why I say that after you prepare the Business Justification; send out, receive back and evaluate the Questionnaire; set the appropriate level of Due Diligence; evaluate the due diligence and execute a contract with appropriate Compliance Terms and Conditions; now the real work begins, as you have to manage the third party relationship.

I hope that you have found this review of the life cycle management of third parties helpful for your compliance program.

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified legal advisor. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The Author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

© Thomas R. Fox, 2014

Life Cycle of Third Party Management – Step 3 – Due Diligence

Most companies fully understand the need to comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Act regarding third parties as they represent the greatest risks for an FCPA violation. However most companies are not created out of new cloth but are ongoing enterprises with a fully up and running business in place. They need to bring in resources to comply with the FCPA while continuing to do business. This can be particularly true in the area of performing due diligence on third parties. Many companies understand the need for a robust due diligence program to investigate third parties, but have struggled with how to create an inventory to define the basis of risk of each foreign business partner and, thereby, perform the requisite due diligence required under the FCPA.

Getting your arms around due diligence can sometimes seem bewildering for the compliance practitioner. However, the information that you should have developed in Steps 1 & 2 of the life cycle of third party management should provide you with the initial information to consider the level of due diligence that you should perform on third parties. This leads to today’s topic of Step 3 in the five steps of the life cycle management of third parties – Due Diligence.

Jay Martin, Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) at BakerHughes, often emphasizes, when he speaks on the topic, that a company needs to evaluate and address its risks regarding third parties. This means that an appropriate level of due diligence may vary depending on the risks arising from the particular relationship. So, for example, the appropriate level of due diligence required by a company when contracting for the performance of Information Technology (IT) services may be low, to reflect low risks of bribery on its behalf. Conversely, a business entering into the international energy market and selecting an intermediary to assist in establishing a business in such markets will typically require a much higher level of due diligence to mitigate the risks of bribery on its behalf.

Our British compliance cousins of course are subject to the UK Bribery Act. In its Principle VI of an Adequate Procedures compliance program, the UK Ministry of Justice (MOJ) stated, “The commercial organisation applies due diligence procedures, taking a proportionate and risk based approach, in respect of persons who perform or will perform services for or on behalf of the organisation, in order to mitigate identified bribery risks.” The purpose of Principle VI is to encourage businesses to put in place due diligence procedures that adequately inform the application of proportionate measures designed to prevent persons associated with a company from bribing on their behalf. The MOJ recognized that due diligence procedures act both as a procedure for anti-bribery risk assessment and as a risk mitigation technique. The MOJ said that due diligence is so important that “the role of due diligence in bribery risk mitigation justifies its inclusion here as a Principle in its own right.”

Carol Switzer, writing in Compliance Week, related that you should initially set up categories for your third parties of high, moderate and low risk. Based upon which risk category the third party falls into, you can design specific due diligence. She defined low risk screening as “trusted data source search and risk screening such as the aforementioned World Compliance”; moderate risk screening as “enhanced evaluation to include in-country public records…and research into corporate relationships”; high risk screening is basically a “deep dive assessment” where there is an audit/review of third party controls and financial records, in-country interviews and investigations “leveraging local data sources.”

A three-step approach was also discussed favorably in Opinion Release 10-02. In this Opinion Release, the Department of Justice (DOJ) discussed the due diligence that the requesting entity performed. “First, it [the requestor] conducted an initial screening of six potential grant recipients by obtaining publicly available information and information from third-party sources…Second, the Eurasian Subsidiary undertook further due diligence on the remaining three potential grant recipients. This due diligence was designed to learn about each organization’s ownership, management structure and operations; it involved requesting and reviewing key operating and assessment documents for each organization, as well as conducting interviews with representatives of each MFI to ask questions about each organization’s relationships with the government and to elicit information about potential corruption risk. As a third round of due diligence, the Eurasian Subsidiary undertook targeted due diligence on the remaining potential grant recipient, the Local MFI. This diligence was designed to identify any ties to specific government officials, determine whether the organization had faced any criminal prosecutions or investigations, and assess the organization’s reputation for integrity.”

Based upon the wisdom of the aforementioned compliance experts, Opinion Release 10-02 and others I have reviewed break due diligence down into three stages: Level I, Level II and Level III. A very good description of the three levels of due diligence was presented by Candace Tal in a guest post, entitled “Deep Level Due Diligence: What You Need to Know”.

Level I

First level due diligence typically consists of checking individual names and company names through several hundred Global Watch lists comprised of anti-money laundering (AML), anti-bribery, sanctions lists, coupled with other financial corruption & criminal databases. These global lists create a useful first-level screening tool to detect potential red flags for corrupt activities. It is also a very inexpensive first step in compliance from an investigative viewpoint. Tal believes that this basic Level I due diligence is extremely important for companies to complement their compliance policies and procedures; demonstrating a broad intent to actively comply with international regulatory requirements.

Level II

Level II due diligence encompasses supplementing these Global Watch lists with a deeper screening of international media, typically the major newspapers and periodicals, from all countries plus detailed internet searches. Such inquiries will often reveal other forms of corruption-related information and may expose undisclosed or hidden information about the company, the third party’s key executives and associated parties. I believe that Level II should also include an in-country database search regarding the third party. Some of the other types of information that you should consider obtaining are country of domicile and international government records; use of in-country sources to provide assessments of the third party; a check for international derogatory electronic and physical media searches, you should perform both English and foreign-language repositories searches on the third party, in its country of domicile, if you are in a specific industry, using technical specialists you should also obtain information from sector specific sources.

Level III

This level is the deep dive. It will require an in-country ‘boots-on-the-ground’ investigation. I agree with Tal that a Level III due diligence investigation is designed to supply your company “with a comprehensive analysis of all available public records data supplemented with detailed field intelligence to identify known and more importantly unknown conditions. Seasoned investigators who know the local language and are familiar with local politics bring an extra layer of depth assessment to an in country investigation.” Further, the “Direction of the work and analyzing the resulting data is often critical to a successful outcome; and key to understanding the results both from a technical perspective and understanding what the results mean in plain English. Investigative reports should include actionable recommendations based on clearly defined assumptions or preferably well-developed factual data points.”

But more than simply an investigation of the company, critically including a site visit and coupled with onsite interviews, Tal says that some other things you investigate include “an in-depth background check of key executives or principal players. These are not routine employment-type background checks, which are simply designed to confirm existing information; but rather executive due diligence checks designed to investigate hidden, secret or undisclosed information about that individual.” Tal believes that such “Reputational information, involvement in other businesses, direct or indirect involvement in other law suits, history of litigious and other lifestyle behaviors which can adversely affect your business, and public perceptions of impropriety, should they be disclosed publicly.”

Further, you may need to engage a foreign law firm, to investigate the third party in its home country to determine the third party’s compliance with its home country’s laws, licensing requirements and regulations. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you should use Level III to look the proposed third party in the eye and get a firm idea of his or her cooperation and attitude towards compliance as one of the most important inquiries is not legal but based upon the response and cooperation of the third party. More than simply trying to determine if the third party objected to any portion of the due diligence process or did they object to the scope, coverage or purpose of the FCPA; you can use Level III to determine if the third party is willing to stand up with you under the FCPA and are you willing to partner with the third party.

The Risk Advisory Group, has put together a handy chart of its Level I, II and III approaches to integrity and due diligence. I have found it useful in explaining the different scopes and focuses of the various levels of due diligence.

Level	Issues Addressed	Scope of Investigation
One	That the company exists Identities of directors and shareholders Whether such persons are on regulators’ watch lists Signs that such persons are government officials Obvious signs of financial difficulty Signs of involvement in litigation Media reports linking the company to corruption	Company registration and status Registered Address Regulators’ watch lists Credit Checks Bankruptcy/Liquidation Proceedings Review accounts and auditors comments Litigation search Negative media search
Two	As above with the following additions: Public Profile integrity checks Signs of official investigations and/or sanctions from regulatory authorities Other anti-corruption Red Flags	As above with the following additions: Review and summary of all media and internet references Review and summary of relevant corporate records and litigation filings, including local archives Analysis and cross-referencing of all findings
Three	As above with the following additions: But seeking fuller answers to any questions raised by drawing on a wider range of intelligence sources and/or addressing specific issues of potential concern already identified	As above with the following additions: Enquiries via local sources Enquiries via industry experts Enquiries via western agencies such as embassies or trade promotion bodies Enquires via sources close to local regulatory agencies

As you can see from this blog post, there are many different approaches to the specifics of due diligence. By laying out some of the approaches of other experts in the field, I hope that you can craft the relevant portions into your program. The Level I, II & III trichotomy appears to have the greatest favor and one that you should be able to implement in a straightforward manner. However, as Jay Martin constantly says, you need to assess your company’s risk and manage that risk. So if you need to perform additional due diligence to answer questions or clear red flags you should do so. And do not forget to Document, Document and Document all your due diligence.

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified legal advisor. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The Author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

© Thomas R. Fox, 2014

Life Cycle of Third Party Management – Step 2 Questionnaire

Today, I continue my five-part series on the life cycle of third party management under an anti-bribery/anti-corruption regime such the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) or UK Bribery Act, reviewing Step 2, which I label as the “Questionnaire”. The term ‘questionnaire’ is mentioned several times in the FCPA Guidance. It is generally recognized as one of the tools that a company should complete in its investigation to better understand with whom it is doing business. I believe that this requirement is not only a key step but also a mandatory step for any third party that desires to do work with your company. I tell clients that if a third party does not want to fill out the questionnaire or will not fill it out completely that you should not walk but run away from doing business with such a party.

In the 2011 UK Ministry of Justice’s (MOJ), discussion of Six Principals of an Adequate Procedures compliance program, they said the following about the Questionnaire, “This means that both the business person who desires the relationship and the foreign business representative commit certain designated information in writing prior to beginning the due diligence process.” Indeed, the use of a Questionnaire was one of the key findings of Kroll’s “2012 FCPA Benchmark Report”. As reported in the FCPA Blog, in a post entitled “Compliance Officers Troubled By Third-Party Risk”:

• 71% require third parties to complete a disclosure listing affiliations with foreign officials (65% verify that third parties adhere to the company’s code of ethics and 73% confirm that each third party is free from sanctions pertaining to compliance with anti-bribery regulation).

One of the key requirements of any successful anti-corruption compliance program is that a company must make an initial assessment of a proposed third party relationship. The size of a company does not matter as small businesses can face quite significant risks and will need more extensive procedures than other businesses facing limited risks. The level of risk that companies face will also vary with the type and nature of the third parties it may have business relationships with. For example, a company that properly assesses that there is no risk of bribery on the part of one of its associated persons will, accordingly, require nothing in the way of procedures to prevent bribery in the context of that relationship. By the same token the bribery risks associated with reliance on a third party agent representing a company in negotiations with foreign public officials may be assessed as significant and, accordingly, requires much more in the way of procedures to mitigate those risks. Businesses are likely to need to select procedures to cover a broad range of risks but any consideration by a court in an individual case of the adequacy of procedures is likely necessarily to focus on those procedures designed to prevent bribery on the part of the associated person committing the offence in question.

So what should you ask for in your questionnaire? Randy Corey, Executive Vice President (EVP), Global Compliance Officer at Edelmen Inc. said in a presentation at Compliance Week 2012, entitled “3rd Party Due Diligence Best Practices in Establishing an Effective Anti-Corruption Program”, that his company has developed a five-step approach in evaluating and managing their third parties. In Step 3 they ask What Do You Need To Know?Initially, Corley said that Scope of review depends on risk assessment, High Risk, Medium Risk or Low Risk. This risk ranking will determine the level of information collected and due diligence performed. The key element of this step is data collection. The initial step is to have the third party complete an application which should include requests for information on background and experience, scope of services to be provided, relevant experience, list of actual and beneficial owners, references and compliance expertise.

Below are some of the areas which I think you should inquire into from a proposed third party include the following:

• Ownership Structure: Describe whether the proposed third party is a government or state-owned entity, and the nature of its relationship(s) with local, regional and governmental bodies. Are there any members of the business partner related, by blood, to governmental officials?
• Financial Qualifications: Describe the financial stability of, and all capital to be provided by, the proposed third party. You should obtain financial records, audited for 3 to 5 years, if available. Obtain the name and contact information for their banking relationship.
• Personnel: Determine whether the proposed agent will be providing personnel, particularly whether any of the employees are government officials. Make sure that you obtain the names and titles of those who will provide services to your company.
• Physical Facilities: Describe what physical facilities that will be used by the third party for your work. Be sure and obtain their physical address.
• •References: Obtain names and contact information for at least three business references that can provide information on the business ethics and commercial reliability of the proposed third party.
• PEPs: Are any of the owners, beneficial owners, officers or directors politically exposed persons (PEPs).
• UBOs: It is imperative that you obtain the identity of the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO).
• Compliance Regime: Does the proposed third party have an anti-corruption/anti-bribery program in place? Do they have a Code of Conduct? Obtain copies of all relevant documents and training materials.
• FCPA Training and Awareness: Has the proposed third party received FCPA training, are they TRACE certified or certified by some other recognizable entity?

One thing that you should keep in mind is that you will likely have pushback from your business team in making many of the inquiries listed above. However, my experience is that most proposed agents that have done business with US or UK companies have already gone through this process. Indeed, they understand that by providing this information on a timely basis, they can set themselves apart as more attractive to US businesses.

The questionnaire fills several key roles in your overall management of third parties. Obviously it provides key information that you need to know about who you are doing business with and whether they have the capabilities to fulfill your commercial needs. Just as importantly is what is said if the questionnaire is not completed or is only partially completed, such as the lack of awareness of the FCPA, UK Bribery Act or anti-corruption/anti-bribery programs generally. Lastly, the information provided (or not provided) in the questionnaire will assist you in determining what level of due diligence to perform. So tomorrow I will discuss due diligence.

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified legal advisor. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The Author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

© Thomas R. Fox, 2014

Due Diligence: Past, Present and Future

Released 40 years ago this month, the Al Stewart album Past Present and Future was a departure from his earlier folk based work. In this album, Stewart focused on historical themes. I was particularly drawn to two long songs, “Roads To Moscow” which is Stewart’s tribute to the Russian author and modern day philosopher Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and “Nostradamus” which is about the famous supposed prophet and his prophecies.

I thought about Stewart’s album title while I was listening to Frank Taber, Director, Global Ethics and Compliance for Hospira, Inc. (HSP) speak at the Society of Corporate and Compliance (SCCE), 2013 national Compliance and Ethics Institute on the topic of “Third Party Risk-Based Anti-Bribery Due Diligence”. While most compliance practitioners certainly are aware of the need to perform due diligence, Tabor’s presentation was not only a very good refresher on the topic but he presented the information together that gave me pause to think about due diligence in a new way. Hence when he said past, present and future; I thought about Stewart’s album as a new way to think about due diligence. These ideas became even more interesting when considered in the light of GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) issues in China.

Past

Obviously, your company wants to know who they are doing business with, whether it is a person or entity as a sales chain partner, joint venture partner or other business relationship. This is also true for acquisitions. But more than wanting to know about who you are doing business with, due diligence is an important tool in the overall international efforts to fight bribery and corruption. It also supports your company’s Code of Conduct, protects your reputation and allows early discovery of deal-breakers before it is too late. Due diligence also helps to provide a legal defense to anti-corruption laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) or UK Bribery Act. In addition to the background and reputation, you need to know a party’s qualifications to do business with you.

One of the things that GSK apparently did not check on was the qualifications of the lead travel agency it used in China. If it had done so, it may well have discovered that the principals of the lead travel agency did not have any experience in the business. If this had been reviewed by a compliance professional in the corporate office, it should have been red flagged for additional investigation.

Present

What are the types of information that you should obtain in due diligence? Tabor had a good list for you to begin with, which included the following.

• Identification – It is important to obtain the basic identification information on a third party. This includes, names, addresses, phone numbers, basic license information, the identities of officers, directors, shareholders and those who will handle your business or be your point of contact. You need to obtain corporate regulatory and partnership filings, a list of countries where it does business and find out if there have been any name changes in the past five years.
• Financial – Your financial review should be based on three years of audited (if any) financial records.
• Capabilities – This should include a review of the party’s facilities, support services, amount of work outsourced, number of employees and number of years in business. You should also ask for a list of its top 10 customers.
• Government Exposure – You need to determine if the third party does business with any foreign governments or government officials and if there are any government officials otherwise involved with the third party. This extends to relatives and close friends of government officials.
• Enforcement Actions – Here you need to determine if the party or any of its officials have ever been charged with criminal conduct or been party to criminal proceedings. You also need to make the same inquiries for civil proceedings or regulatory actions. You should review news media stories on the party.
• Internal Control Environment – You should review the party’s compliance program, including their Code of Conduct. You should also test their employees’ familiarity with the FCPA or Bribery Act. See if the company has a written policy regarding gifts, travel and entertainment and if the employees are trained on same.

Future

Tabor discussed how you should respond to negative information which may be uncovered during the due diligence process. He began though by emphasizing it is important to have a plan in place so that your internal team can address any negative issues that might arise. I was intrigued by his assertion that you can use due diligence as part of a risk management plan going forward. Some of the mitigation options he discussed were to share your Code of Conduct with the third party and draw attention to your internal reporting line for questions and concerns. You should clearly communicate that bribery and corruption is not tolerated. You may need to use the due diligence you have obtained to review and improve existing contracts to reflect this priority. You may suggest that the third party adopt a compliance regime similar to your program or provide training on specific issues.

Tabor also spoke about the need for ongoing due diligence monitoring. I agree that under most of the recent expert commentary on what constitutes a best practices compliance program, under laws from different countries and in a wide variety of industries, the ongoing monitoring of third parties is viewed as critical. This is because any due diligence performed on a third party during the time which may lead up to a contract, would only be scheduled to be performed again during the next qualification period, typically every two to three years. Much can happen during this ensuing time frame. I believe that the “Future” prong of due diligence monitoring is a step that companies need to develop in order to monitor their third parties during the life of the contract rather than simply at the start of the qualification process.

Tabor’s three pronged approach gave me a new way to see due diligence. Once again, Tabor’s presentation emphasized to me the ongoing, organic nature of a compliance program. If you obtain more information you can make adjustments to manage your risk more fully, completely and certainly more timely.

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified legal advisor. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The Author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

© Thomas R. Fox, 2013