It is important that a buyer carries out an appropriate level of due diligence early in the process to establish if what they are buying is vulnerable to the involvement of Serious Organised Crime, or if cyber security is relevant.
Checks should be made at either pre-procurement, or at least in the early stages of the process. An appropriate strategy can focus on identifying:
It may be appropriate to have a section in the procurement strategy dedicated to the consideration of Serious Organised Crime risks, and an entry in the procurement risk register on the potential SOC risks along with mitigating actions.
Where a risk of security and crime has been identified, consideration could be given to including clauses which would enable termination, should subsequent risks emerge as a result of contract monitoring during the delivery of the contract.
