Supplier Agreements - Authority to Sign/Approve

Colleagues,

I am new to my organization, who has been ISO-certified for some time. I find that we do not have well-defined Authorities and Responsibilities, resulting in a quandary about who should sign the supplier agreements provided to us by our customers. In my past experiences, it has generally been a Supply-Chain manager/leadership role-- as the topic often veers into on-time-delivery and the threat of penalty for late/non-delivery. Of course there are other stipulations in these agreements, so that approval would be normally with input from Quality, Operations, Engineering, Sales, etc. Note that these agreements have "expectations", "requirements", and that occasionally it is not an agreement to "comply", but that the document has been "read and understood" in signing it.

My question is-- which role is authorized/responsible for approving these agreements in your organization, and what is the rationale for that role being the selected approver?

Rambo said:

My question is-- which role is authorized/responsible for approving these agreements in your organization, and what is the rationale for that role being the selected approver?

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Question back...Who has the authority to spend money at that level without getting permission? Your answer lies here.

From my experience.
Your ISO-certified organization needs to have an SOP on Authorities and Responsibilities in place detailing who can sign what with business partners with regard to QUALITY. When it's about supplier agreements, it's likely beyond quality realm, and more with commercial transactions in which Quality is just a part. If a Supply-Chain manager signs such an agreement, it's likely that the agreement is mainly about SC and s/he should have been properly authorized (for the agreement to be legitimate/legally valid). To answer to your question: any role can be (properly) authorized to approve these agreements, and the rationale for that role being the selected approver is CAPABILITY (of that person). The authorization can be an SOP or on case-by-case basis.

SeanN said:

From my experience.
Your ISO-certified organization needs to have an SOP on Authorities and Responsibilities in place detailing who can sign what with business partners with regard to QUALITY.

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Can you cite the section and quote the requirement?

I am unaware of any standard requiring an SOP of authorities and responsibilities. There are organizational charts and job descriptions typically in a company QMS. Some companies require updating resumes and checking regulatory disbarment lists every 2-3 years. That is the most I've seen. Id be curious to see this like Bev.

Rambo said:

My question is-- which role is authorized/responsible for approving these agreements in your organization, and what is the rationale for that role being the selected approver?

Click to expand...

The issue is not whose signature will be in the agreement, but the review must be multidisciplinary for obvious reasons and at least consensus must be reached before someone with the authority to commit the organization to such agreement.

That is done by management review, org charts and job descriptions, audit performance and training....done. No need for a special SOP to state Person A is responsible for such and such in 9001. Its a 9001 QMS - the S is sytem. Thats designed by you to meet your objectives. Dont create a system to serve a piece of paper. A QMS is a strategic decision for a company. If those elements were not in place you would not meet your objectives.

Or as the saying goes: don’t handcuff your wrists to your ankles.

Thanks to all for the replies. It's been my approach to specifically draw out (assign and communicate) authorities and responsibilities, if not in a separate document, in a prominent section of the Quality Manual. My purpose is to build ownership among the other functional leaders (the QMS is not totally owned by the QM, essentially).

After further discussions, I find that there is a Product Services Specialist at our organization that reviews and signs, with input from other functions. I will include him on my Authorities/Responsibilities matrix-- pointing out that the role must coordinate with other functional leadership.