The method

Twelve checks, in a fixed order, on every review.

Which twelve, what closes each one, and how they weigh against one another is ours and stays with us. A method published in full is a method a supplier can prepare for, and the report would then measure the preparation rather than the company. What is published is the shape of the answer: twelve cells in a fixed order, each reading one of five ways, and a report that always says how many of the twelve applied. Together they settle three narrow things — that the company is registered, that it is still trading, and that what it does matches the licence it holds. A licence that says one thing while the quotation implies another is the finding, not a formality.

In order

The order the work runs in.

The order is fixed, so the shape of a ledger means the same thing every time you read one. It is also the order the work runs in: the official record first, a site visit only after it. A visit shows what stands at an address; it cannot show whether the company that address belongs to is registered, in date and licensed for the goods — and where the record already fails, there is nothing worth travelling to.

The official record, first

Everything that can be settled from a registry, an authority or a document is settled before anyone travels. A registered name that cannot be found, a licence out of date, an authority that issues nothing — these end a review early, and cheaply, and no visit would have changed them.

The record against the quotation

The second run reads what the record says against what is being sold to you: what the company is licensed to do, what it has done before, and whether the goods on the quotation sit inside that or at the edge of it. Absence is reported as absence and never inferred either way.

What only a visit can show

Only when a physical visit was part of the order, and only after the record holds. Where no visit was ordered those cells stay grey and the report states plainly that no statement is made about capacity, conditions or stock on hand.

Evidence score

74/ 100

0255075100

One number, weighted across the twelve checks, shown in mono and never alone. There is no colour ramp behind it, no letter grade, and no badge a supplier can display. It ranks suppliers you are already considering. It does not endorse them.

How to read it

Weighted, not an average
Some checks carry more than others
Never shown without its twelve cells
Ranks, does not endorse

The exact weighting is not published. A score a supplier can take apart is a score a supplier can aim at, and the number would then measure the aiming rather than the company. What is published is the ledger it comes from: twelve cells, and a report that always says how many of the twelve applied. Checks that do not apply are removed from the denominator rather than scored as zero.

The vocabulary

Six statuses, and what each one commits us to.

A supplier sits at exactly one. The wording is fixed and identical in the portal, the email, the PDF and the API.

Not reviewed: Not reviewedNothing submitted. We hold no evidence and make no statement about this supplier at all.
In review: In reviewDocuments received, checks running. No cell shows a provisional result that could later flip.
Too little to assess: Too little to assessWhat arrived does not support a finding either way. Usually a licence alone, or scans too poor to read. This is not a negative result and should not be read as one.
Gaps found: Gaps foundEnough evidence to assess, with specific items that did not hold up. Each is listed with what would close it.
Fully evidenced: Fully evidencedEvery applicable check matched on the review date. It describes documents seen that day. It is not a prediction and it expires.
Flagged: FlaggedA check directly contradicts what the supplier stated, or an identity could not be reconciled. Do not pay until it is resolved.

We do not use the words verified, trusted, approved, certified, safe or guaranteed about a supplier. Each of them implies we stand behind future performance. We describe evidence on a date, and the vocabulary has to hold that line.

Ageing

A review from four months ago must not look like one from this morning.

Under 90 days

The status shows with its review date. Findings describe that date and no other.

90 to 180 days

The age is shown next to the status — "reviewed on that date, so many days ago" — because licences and bank details change.

Past 180 days

The supplier drops back to Not reviewed and the buyer is told why. A stale finding is worse than no finding.

See a ledger on a real report layout.

The example report shows the ledger, the score, the findings and the limits in the form they arrive in.

Read an example report