Technical & Social Compliance Assessment

Scope

Scope: Every supplier that passed the Quality Capability Assessment. This is Gate 3 of five in supplier onboarding.

Purpose: Gate 3 checks whether the supplier can develop product with SpringNE and meets SpringNE's social and legal standards. The technical team audits development capability. The compliance team reviews social audits and legal compliance.

Owner: Technical team for the technical audit; compliance team for the social compliance audit.

Applies to: Technical and compliance teams, with the quality team consulted and management approving the result.

Process

1. Technical — Run the technical audit. Check that the supplier can develop product with SpringNE. Consult the quality team.

   • Product development capability
   • Pattern and fit capability
   • Special process capability
   • Testing capability
   • Technical staffing

2. Compliance — Review the social compliance audits. Collect the supplier's current audit reports and certificates.

   • Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) through Sedex
   • amfori Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI)
   • Better Work

3. Compliance — Check health, safety, environmental, and legal compliance. Consult the technical team where findings touch the factory site or processes.

   • Health and safety
   • Environmental compliance
   • Legal compliance

4. Technical, Compliance — Raise a Corrective Action Plan for every finding. Manage all findings from both audits through the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) process.

   • Record each finding, root cause, corrective action, owner, target date, evidence, verification, and closure date.

5. Technical, Compliance — Follow each CAP item to closure. Check the evidence and record the verification and closure date.

   • Suppliers that pass Gate 3 go to Commercial Validation & Capacity Agreement.

Workflow

Technical — Run the technical audit

Compliance — Review the social compliance audits

Compliance — Check health, safety, environmental, and legal compliance

Technical, Compliance — Raise a Corrective Action Plan for every finding

Technical, Compliance — Follow each CAP item to closure

Tutorial

This training video supports the Technical & Social Compliance Assessment process. It does not replace the numbered steps.

Pending

Training video not linked yet

Admins will add a Microsoft Stream or SharePoint watch URL when the tutorial for Technical & Social Compliance Assessment is ready.

Exam

Pass mark	Expected duration	Attempts
80%	Admin will provide this soon	Admin will provide this soon

Pending

The exam is not published yet. Admins will add it here when the assessment is ready.

Changelog

Changelog

Date	Changed by	What changed
2026-09-22	Sourcing Team	Article added from Supplier Onboarding Procedure v1.0, sections 6 and 11 (Gate 3).