Supply Chain and Third-Party Continuity Risk: Critical Supplier Resilience – Dubai, 3–7 May 2027

Programme overview

Technical depth: Practitioner · Practical mode: Case study

Introduction

Most organisations now depend on suppliers, logistics providers and outsourced technology services for activities they cannot stop. A single component shortage, a cloud outage or the failure of a sole-source supplier several tiers away can halt output within days, yet few organisations know which suppliers are truly critical or whether those suppliers could recover in time. This Core Concept course equips managers to identify, assess and reduce supply chain and third-party continuity risk using recognised standards. Participants leave with a Supplier Continuity Risk Register and Assurance Plan for their own critical suppliers.

Course Objectives

• Identify critical suppliers and outsourced services by linking business impact analysis outputs to supply risk segmentation
• Apply ISO/TS 22318 and international third-party risk principles to set continuity requirements for suppliers
• Assess a supplier's continuity capability through questionnaires, evidence review and contract terms
• Map multi-tier dependencies and quantify concentration and single-source exposure
• Select mitigation, exit and joint exercising measures proportionate to each supplier's criticality
• Produce a Supplier Continuity Risk Register and Assurance Plan ready for management approval

Target Audience

• Procurement and category managers responsible for sourcing critical goods and services
• Supply chain and logistics managers accountable for the continuity of inbound and outbound flows
• Business continuity managers extending continuity arrangements to suppliers and partners
• Vendor and third-party risk managers overseeing outsourced and cloud services
• Contract managers administering service levels and supplier performance
• Operational risk managers reporting supplier exposure to senior management

Course Outline

Day 1: Supply Chain Disruption and Critical Supplier Identification

• Supply Chain Disruption Typology and Loss Event Review
• Third-Party, Nth-Party and Outsourcing Definitions
• Critical Supplier Identification from ISO/TS 22317 BIA Outputs
• Kraljic Portfolio Matrix for Supply Risk Segmentation
• Supplier Continuity Maturity Current-State Assessment

Day 2: Standards and Principles for Supply Chain Continuity

• ISO/TS 22318:2021 Supply Chain Continuity Management Process
• ISO 22301:2019 Requirements for Externally Provided Processes, Products and Services
• BCBS Principles for the Sound Management of Third-Party Risk
• FSB Third-Party Risk Toolkit: Critical Service Identification and Lifecycle Controls
• ISO 28000:2022 and ISO/IEC 27036 for Supply Chain Security and ICT Supplier Relationships

Day 3: Assessing and Contracting Supplier Continuity

• Supplier Business Continuity Questionnaire Design and Scoring
• Supplier Evidence Review: Continuity Plans, Exercise Reports and Certificates
• Multi-Tier Supply Chain Mapping and Nth-Party Dependency Tracing
• Continuity Clauses in Contracts and SLAs: Recovery Times, Notification and Audit Rights
• Supplier Continuity Risk Register and Heat Map Using ISO 31000 Criteria

Day 4: Concentration, Exit and Problem Cases

• Concentration Risk Analysis: Single-Source and Shared-Provider Exposure
• Mitigation Options Appraisal: Dual Sourcing, Safety Stock and Alternate Logistics Routes
• Exit Plans and Stressed-Exit Scenarios for Critical Services
• Supplier Failure Early-Warning Indicators and Financial Health Monitoring
• Joint Continuity Exercises with Critical Suppliers Using ISO 22398

Day 5: Case Work and the Assurance Plan

• Manufacturing Case Study: Sole-Source Component Failure
• Cloud Service Outage Case Study: Nth-Party Impact on Several Suppliers at Once
• Critical Supplier Tiering Workshop for an Own Organisation
• Supplier Continuity Risk Register and Assurance Plan Drafting
• Peer Challenge Panel and Assurance Plan Defence

Skills You Will Gain

• Supplier Criticality Assessment
• Supply Chain Mapping
• Supplier Due Diligence
• Concentration Risk Analysis
• Continuity Contract Drafting
• Exit Planning
• Supplier Assurance
• Supply Risk Mitigation

Why Attend This Course

• Return to work with a Supplier Continuity Risk Register and Assurance Plan covering your most critical suppliers
• See beyond first-tier suppliers to the shared dependencies that can stop several of them at once
• Negotiate continuity terms and evidence requests with suppliers from a position of knowledge
• Exchange approaches with procurement, risk and continuity colleagues from other sectors and countries

Conclusion

An organisation's resilience extends only as far as that of the suppliers it relies on. This course moves from identifying which suppliers and outsourced services are truly critical, through the standards and principles that govern supply chain continuity, to the questionnaires, evidence reviews, mapping and contract terms that test a supplier's ability to recover. It then addresses concentration, exit and early warning. The final day turns that work into a Supplier Continuity Risk Register and Assurance Plan that participants take back for approval and use.