Vendor credentialing, on the facilities side, is the question the front desk asks on a Monday morning: is the contractor in the van cleared to be in this building today. Contractor compliance is the record that answers it, and it is a small record with a hard edge: who the contractor is, which buildings they are cleared for, what insurance they hold and until when, whether they have done the site induction and when it lapses, and whether anything the organisation requires of a contractor is missing. This guide is about that record, the site-access pack, and what contractor compliance software has to keep so the answer exists before the van arrives rather than after. It is not about the procurement relationship, and it is not about what any insurer or regulator requires, which is the organisation's own counsel's question.
The site-access pack: five fields and a date on each
A contractor is cleared for a building when the pack is complete: the company and the named people, the insurance certificate with its expiry, the induction with its date, the buildings the clearance covers, and whatever else the organisation's own rule requires, a background check for a school, a permit for hot work, a method statement for a roof. Each item carries a date, because a clearance is not a state but a countdown. Contractor compliance solutions that keep the pack without the dates are a filing cabinet; the dates are what turn it into a system.
What contractor compliance software has to do with the dates
Two things. First, show the front desk the current state per building in one glance: cleared, expiring within thirty days, lapsed. Second, tell the facilities manager before a date passes, because the day a certificate lapses is the day the contractor is already on site. The paid plan on this hub emails the reminder before each expiry and keeps every clearance against the building it covers, so the Monday question is a lookup rather than a phone call to the contractor's office.
Vendor credentialing is not vendor onboarding
The procurement team's vendor onboarding, the forms, the tax details, the payment terms and the performance reviews, is the commercial relationship and it belongs to a different product with a different buyer. Vendor credentialing for site access is narrower and later: the contractor has already been engaged, and the question is only whether they may walk in today. A contractor compliance system that tries to be both ends up owned by procurement and useless at the front desk. This hub keeps the site-access record only.
Who sets the rule, and what this record does not decide
What insurance a contractor must hold, what an induction must cover, whether a background check is required and what a permit-to-work needs are decisions for the organisation, its insurer and its counsel, and for the regulator where one applies. The record keeps what was decided and whether each contractor meets it on the day. HardFM publishes no requirement of its own and asserts nothing about what any insurer or law requires; it keeps the pack, dates it, and says who is cleared.
Questions people ask about vendor credentialing
What is vendor credentialing on the facilities side?
Recording that a contractor is cleared to be on site: which buildings, what insurance and until when, the induction and its date, and anything else the organisation requires, each with an expiry. It answers the front desk's Monday question. The procurement side, onboarding and performance, is a different record and a different product.
What should contractor compliance software show the front desk?
The state per building at a glance, cleared, expiring soon or lapsed, and the named people the clearance covers. Behind it, the reminder to the facilities manager before any date passes. HardFM Pro keeps the clearances against the building and sends that reminder; the free worksheets on this site are about space and desks.
Does HardFM tell me what insurance a contractor needs?
No. What a contractor must hold is your organisation's, your insurer's and your counsel's decision, and a regulator's where one applies. HardFM records the rule you set and whether each contractor meets it on the day, with the dates.