Contractor Management is the managing of outsourced work performed for an individual company. For a company that outsources work to contractors its very important to have a system in place to manage those contractors' health and safety information, insurance information, training programs and specific documents that pertain to the contractor and the owner client.

Risk & Control

Risk increases with the loss of control from outsourcing work. Keeping work in-house gives an Owner Client complete control over the production or services provided including quality, durability, and consistency. Outsourcing the work reduces the amount of control held over these aspects. While contracts and agreements can be set in place to control the end product, the Owner Client cannot have complete assurance that their requirements are being met.

With the continuing outsourcing of production, companies struggle to standardize their contractor management processes. Requirements and regulations from OSHA and other governing bodies are constantly changing. Companies need to have full visibility into the quality of work their hired contractors have performed in the past and are performing now, and this often proves difficult.

However, there are many tools in the markeplace which may provide more visibility into the contractor's level of performance. Systems have evolved to meet the needs of companies who outsource significant amounts of labor. For example, many large refineries have integrated their gate access control system to a contractor management software solution. The solution provides real-time access to the visibility/performance of the contractor workforce within the refinery.

Mitigating Risk Through Better Decision Making

There are two major considerations when managing contractors. First is deciding on the criteria for evaluation and second is developing an effective management process to evaluate these criteria. There are a number of criteria on which a contractor’s safety can be evaluated, such as historical and future trend information.

See also

• Insurance Certificate Tracking
• Vendor Management System
  Vendor Management System
  A vendor management system is an Internet-enabled, often Web-based application that acts as a mechanism for business to manage and procure staffing services – temporary, and, in some cases, permanent placement services – as well as outside contract or contingent labor...
  
  
• Contingent Workforce
  Contingent Workforce
  A contingent workforce is a provisional group of workers who work for an organization on a non-permanent basis, also known as freelancers, independent professionals, temporary contract workers, independent contractors or consultants...
  
  
• Contingent labor