Third-party lifecycle management for UK operations
Last updated: August 19, 2026
Verdana is a third-party lifecycle management platform that helps companies operating in the UK manage supplier and contractor due diligence, documentation, and monitoring in one system, built around the obligations that follow from using third parties to do business.
Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 creates a strict-liability offense for a commercial organization whose associated persons — including suppliers and contractors acting on its behalf — commit bribery, with "adequate procedures" as the only statutory defense. The Ministry of Justice's guidance describes six principles those procedures need: proportionate procedures, top-level commitment, risk assessment, due diligence, communication and training, and monitoring and review. Verdana runs the due-diligence and monitoring end of that: documented screening at onboarding, risk-based classification, and continuous monitoring with a dated record of every check.
Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires an organization above the turnover threshold set by regulation to publish an annual statement on the steps taken, if any, to ensure there is no slavery or human trafficking in its own business and its supply chains. Verdana keeps the underlying supplier and contractor documentation — due diligence records, risk classification, monitoring history — organized and dated, so that statement can be written from an actual record rather than reconstructed from scattered files.
The UK sits alongside Latin America, the United States, and the rest of Europe in the same platform: document requirements are configured per jurisdiction, and headquarters gets one consolidated view of every supplier and contractor regardless of where they operate.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as "adequate procedures" under Section 7 of the Bribery Act?
The Ministry of Justice's guidance sets out six principles: proportionate procedures, top-level commitment, risk assessment, due diligence on the people and organizations acting for you, communication and training, and ongoing monitoring and review. A platform that documents supplier and contractor due diligence with dates and evidence is what makes that defense demonstrable rather than asserted.
Who has to publish a modern slavery statement, and what does it need to cover?
Organizations carrying on business in the UK above the turnover threshold set by regulation. Section 54(5) lists what a statement may cover: organizational structure, supply chains, policies, due diligence processes, risk assessment, and effectiveness measures — content that depends on having an actual due-diligence record to draw from, not a policy document alone.
Does this apply if our suppliers are based outside the UK?
Yes — Section 54 asks about the reporting organization's supply chains generally, not only UK-based suppliers, and Section 7 liability follows from where the bribery-risk relationship sits, not from the associated person's location.