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Explore templateFree Vendor Due Diligence Checklist and Questionnaire Template
A free Excel and PDF vendor due diligence form: record the legal entity and owners, run eight standard checks with evidence, and record the decision, conditions and re-screen date.
- Stages
- 6
- Fields
- 12
- Automations
- 4
- Setup
- 15 minutes
Vendor Due Diligence Compliance Workflow · Vendor & Supplier Management
- 1Screening requested
- 2Data gathered
- 3Checks run
- 4Hits reviewed
- 5Decision
- 6Recorded and monitored
Quick answer
A vendor due diligence template is a checklist or questionnaire that procurement, finance and security teams use to check a supplier's operational, financial and compliance risk before onboarding. It covers company details and ownership, financial health, security and privacy, insurance, sanctions and litigation, and continuity.
What you get with the Vendor Due Diligence template
The form has six parts. The counterparty section records legal name, registration number and country, address, entity type, years trading, expected annual spend, criticality, state ownership or political exposure, higher-risk jurisdiction, trigger, screening date, diligence tier and re-screen date. Beneficial ownership lists anyone holding 25% or more. Eight checks follow, each with source, date, result, evidence and analyst. A findings and decision section, a status tracker and approvals close it out.
The problem it solves. Due diligence is done inconsistently, and the evidence is scattered across mailboxes when an auditor or regulator asks for it. The template runs the same checks on every vendor and keeps the evidence and decision together.
From request to closure in 6 stages
Every due diligence check follows the same 6 stages, so anyone can see whether a vendor is still being screened, under review or approved.
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Screening requested
The check is raised at onboarding, before a contract renewal, or whenever the vendor's ownership or details change.
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Data gathered
Legal entity, registration, jurisdiction, expected spend and every beneficial owner holding 25% or more are recorded.
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Checks run
Registry, sanctions, adverse media, financial, litigation, licence, anti-bribery and ownership checks are run, and each result is stored with its source.
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Hits reviewed
A named analyst reviews possible matches, such as a sanctions name hit, and records why each one was cleared or escalated.
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Decision
The vendor is approved, rejected or approved with conditions, such as extra security controls, and the decision is dated and signed.
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Recorded and monitored
The result is filed against the vendor and the next re-screen date is set by the vendor's diligence tier.
The data this template collects up front
Starred fields in the template are mandatory, so a vendor cannot be approved without a legal entity, owners, a criticality rating, checks and a decision.
- Legal entity name
- Registration number
- Country of registration
- Expected annual spend
- Criticality
- State ownership or political exposure
- Higher-risk jurisdiction
- Beneficial owners (25% or more)
- Diligence tier
- Checks performed
- Findings summary
- Decision
How the template decides depth and outcome
Diligence tier
Criticality, spend and risk flags set the depth. For example, a critical vendor, spend over $100,000 or a higher-risk country triggers enhanced checks. Set your own limits.
Ownership check
Owners holding 25% or more are listed and screened, and the form shows whether ownership has been accounted for before approval.
Checks and gaps
Each of the 8 checks records source, date, result and evidence, and the form counts adverse findings and any checks not performed.
Decision and re-screen
Approve, reject or approve with conditions, then set the next screen by tier, for example yearly for high-risk vendors and every two or three years for low risk.
What teams get out of this template
- Every vendor is checked the same way before onboarding
- Owners, sanctions and litigation are screened, not assumed
- Higher-risk vendors get deeper checks, low-risk vendors move faster
- Evidence and the decision sit on one record for auditors
- Re-screening happens on schedule, not when someone remembers
Manual process versus the Vendor Due Diligence template
| Aspect | Manual process | With the Zapro template |
|---|---|---|
| Consistency | Each reviewer checks different things | The same 8 checks on every vendor, with evidence |
| Ownership | Owners taken from the vendor's own form | Beneficial owners of 25% or more listed and screened |
| Depth | Every vendor gets the same light review | Tier set by criticality, spend and risk flags |
| Decisions | Approval by email with no conditions recorded | Decision, conditions and sign-off on the record |
| Audit readiness | Evidence scattered across mailboxes | Sources, results and evidence references kept together |
Where this fits in Zapro
In Zapro, due diligence evidence sits on the vendor record next to onboarding documents, and a data request can ask a supplier for one updated document without restarting onboarding.
- Zapro Vendor Master
- Zapro vendor portal
- Zapro data requests
- Slack
Guides that go with this template
- Vendor Management
Zapro onboarding, vendor records, data requests and vendor portal.
- Sanctions and Watchlist Screening Template
Run and record the sanctions check in detail.
- Vendor Risk Assessment Template
A deeper security, financial and operational risk review for critical vendors.
- Certificate of Insurance Tracking Template
Track the insurance a vendor must carry after approval.
- Vendor Onboarding Template
The next step once the vendor is approved.
Vendor Due Diligence template FAQs
How do you do vendor due diligence?
Set the depth from the vendor's criticality and spend, then collect the legal entity details and owners. Check the company registry, sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, financial statements, litigation and licences, review any hits, and record a decision with conditions. File the evidence and set a date to screen the vendor again.
What documents do you need for vendor due diligence?
Ask for the certificate of incorporation or registration, ownership details for anyone with 25% or more, recent financial statements or a credit report, business licences, a W-9 or tax form, insurance certificates, SOC 2 or ISO 27001 evidence for vendors handling data, and the vendor's anti-bribery, privacy and continuity policies.
What are the key elements of vendor due diligence?
Six areas are standard: company profile and ownership, financial health, cybersecurity and data privacy, insurance and liability, regulatory and reputational risk (sanctions, political exposure, litigation, adverse media), and operational risk such as continuity plans, subcontractors and labor standards. Match depth to risk.
What are the four P's of due diligence?
The four P's come from investment due diligence: people, philosophy, process and performance. For vendors, that means checking who owns and runs the company, how it approaches quality and compliance, whether its controls work, and its track record with customers. They are a useful lens, but do not replace sanctions and financial checks.
How often should you re-screen vendors?
Set it by risk. High-risk or critical vendors are usually re-screened every year, medium-risk vendors every two years and low-risk vendors every three. Re-screen at once if ownership, bank details or the registered address change, before a large renewal, or if adverse news appears. Sanctions lists change often, so check them more often.
Is this vendor due diligence template free, and what formats does it come in?
Yes. The template is free: enter your work email and the Excel file downloads straight away, and it includes automatic checks. A PDF version is available to preview or print for signatures. Set your own tier limits, add the sources you use for each check, and add industry-specific questions before you send it to vendors.
Run vendor checks in Zapro
Zapro's vendor management covers onboarding workflows and templates, supplier surveys with question owners, evaluation metrics, data requests for documents, parent and child vendor records, a KPI library with targets and alerts, and a vendor portal.
