Supplier Agreement Management (SAM) Process Area in CMMi

The purpose of Supplier Agreement Management (SAM) is to manage the acquisition of products from suppliers. It is a Project Management process area at Maturity Level 2.
The Supplier Agreement Management process area involves the following:
- Determining the type of acquisition that will be used for the products to be acquired.
- Selecting suppliers.
- Establishing and maintaining agreements with suppliers.
- Executing the supplier agreement.
- Monitoring selected supplier processes.
- Evaluating selected supplier work products.
- Accepting delivery of acquired products.
- Transitioning acquired products to the project.

Suppliers may take many forms depending on business needs, including in-house vendors (i.e., vendors that are in the same organization but are external to the project), fabrication capabilities and laboratories, and commercial vendors. A formal agreement is established to manage the relationship between the organization and the supplier. A formal agreement is any legal agreement between the organization (representing the project) and the supplier.

Specific Practices by Goal

SG 1 Establish Supplier Agreements
Agreements with the suppliers are established and maintained.
- SP 1.1 Determine Acquisition Type.
Determine the type of acquisition for each product or product component to be acquired. There are many different types of acquisition that can be used to acquire products and product components that will be used by the project.
- SP 1.2 Select Suppliers.
Select suppliers based on an evaluation of their ability to meet the specified requirements and established criteria. Criteria should be established to address factors that are important to the project.Examples of factors include geographical location of the supplier, supplier’s performance records on similar work, engineering capabilities, staff and facilities available to perform the work and prior experience in similar applications.
- SP 1.3 Establish Supplier Agreements.
When integrated teams are formed, team membership should be negotiated with suppliers and incorporated into the agreement. The agreement should identify any integrated decision making, reporting requirements (business and technical), and trade studies requiring supplier involvement.

SG 2 Satisfy Supplier Agreements
Agreements with the suppliers are satisfied by both the project and the supplier.
- SP 2.1 Execute the Supplier Agreement.
Perform activities with the supplier as specified in the supplier agreement. Typical work products are supplier progress reports and performance measures, supplier review materials and reports, action items tracked to closure and documentation of product and document deliveries.
- SP 2.2 Monitor Selected Supplier Processes.
Select, monitor, and analyze processes used by the supplier. The selection must consider the impact of the supplier's processes on the project. On larger projects with significant subcontracts for development of critical components, monitoring of key processes is expected. For most vendor agreements where a product is not being developed or for smaller, less critical components, the selection process may determine that monitoring is not appropriate. Between these extremes, the overall risk should be considered in selecting processes to be monitored.
- SP 2.3 Evaluate Selected Supplier Work Products.
The scope of this specific practice is limited to suppliers providing the project with custom-made products, particularly those that present some risk to the program due to complexity or criticality. The intent of this specific practice is to evaluate selected work products produced by the supplier to help detect issues as early as possible that may affect the supplier's ability to satisfy the requirements of the agreement.
- SP 2.4 Accept the Acquired Product.
Ensure that the supplier agreement is satisfied before accepting the acquired product. Acceptance reviews and tests and configuration audits should be completed before accepting the product as defined in the supplier agreement.
- SP 2.5 Transition Products.
Transition the acquired products from the supplier to the project. Before the acquired product is transferred to the project for integration, appropriate planning and evaluation should occur to ensure a smooth transition.