AI Vendor Due Diligence Checklist Generator

Build a repeatable procurement checklist before contract signature so security, compliance, commercial, and operations controls are covered.

Generate a procurement-ready checklist with security, compliance, commercial, and operations controls before selecting an AI vendor.

Checklist summary

Risk tier: High | Critical controls: 4 | High controls: 5

  1. Security - Validate SSO, RBAC, and admin activity audit trail. (High)
  2. Security - Request penetration testing and vulnerability remediation policy. (High)
  3. Compliance - Confirm retention policy for prompts, outputs, and logs. (High)
  4. Commercial - Model expected annual traffic and negotiate volume pricing tiers. (High)
  5. Operations - Define incident escalation path and response SLA for production outages. (High)
  6. Operations - Run a pilot with cost-per-success and quality threshold tracking. (Medium)
  7. Security - Validate encryption scope for data in transit, at rest, and backup systems. (Critical)
  8. Compliance - Review DPA terms and data subprocessors before security sign-off. (Critical)
  9. Security - Assess tenant isolation controls and shared environment risk mitigation. (Critical)
  10. Compliance - Map GDPR obligations, data residency guarantees, and DSAR response workflow. (Critical)
# AI Vendor Due Diligence Checklist - Candidate Vendor

## Scope
- Deployment model: Shared SaaS
- Data sensitivity: High
- Annual spend band: $100k-$500k
- Primary regions: US, EU
- Review cadence: Bi-weekly
- Risk tier: High

## Priority mix
- Critical: 4
- High: 5
- Medium: 1

| # | Phase | Checklist item | Owner | Priority | Due window |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Security | Validate SSO, RBAC, and admin activity audit trail. | Security | High | Week 1 |
| 2 | Security | Request penetration testing and vulnerability remediation policy. | Security | High | Week 1 |
| 3 | Compliance | Confirm retention policy for prompts, outputs, and logs. | Compliance | High | Week 1 |
| 4 | Commercial | Model expected annual traffic and negotiate volume pricing tiers. | Procurement | High | Week 2 |
| 5 | Operations | Define incident escalation path and response SLA for production outages. | Ops | High | Week 2 |
| 6 | Operations | Run a pilot with cost-per-success and quality threshold tracking. | Product + Ops | Medium | Week 3 |
| 7 | Security | Validate encryption scope for data in transit, at rest, and backup systems. | Security | Critical | Week 1 |
| 8 | Compliance | Review DPA terms and data subprocessors before security sign-off. | Legal + Compliance | Critical | Week 1 |
| 9 | Security | Assess tenant isolation controls and shared environment risk mitigation. | Security | Critical | Week 1 |
| 10 | Compliance | Map GDPR obligations, data residency guarantees, and DSAR response workflow. | Legal + Compliance | Critical | Week 1 |

## Execution notes
1. Complete all critical controls before contract signature.
2. Confirm owner sign-off at each review cadence checkpoint.
3. Archive evidence links for audit and renewal cycles.

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