Vendor Management Standards Committee Formed to Promote Contingent Workforce Industry Best Practices

The Human Capital Institute and a coalition of seven leading contingent workforce industry vendors announced today the formation of the Vendor Management Standards Committee. Advancing best practices and benchmarks for clients, COMSYS, Beeline, Allegis Group Services, Bartech Workforce Management, Comensura, MyBizOffice and ProcureStaff joined forces with the Human Capital Institute to develop and publish best practices and industry standards focusing on vendor management.

The new Committee comprises experienced industry leaders with a vested interest in helping define industry standards for vendor management Managed Service Providers (MSP), and organizations that use MSP providers to help manage contingent staff as part of their overall workforce.

There is a great deal of confusion among buyers and industry insiders as to what constitutes a Managed Service Provider (MSP). The vendor management industry lacks consistency or standards around the services it provides, said Allan Schweyer, President and Executive Director of the Human Capital Institute. The Vendor Management Standards Committee will help to establish base standards that will serve as a fundamental set of expectations for any buyer who contracts with an MSP that adheres to the standards.

Joining forces to promote the development of industry standards for vendor management, the Committee will conduct extensive research that provides performance measurement guidelines based on evolving vendor management best practices. The guidelines will serve as a baseline ruler for enterprise organizations to use with any vendor management or MSP engagement.

We continue to see a substantial increase in the use of vendor management systems, especially with large- and medium-size firms nationwide, said Ron Mester, Staffing Industry Analysts CEO. And as more companies implement Vendor Management Standards (VMS), we expect that end-user ’demands’ of VMS will grow, as will the interest in sharing VMS-related best practices.

The Committee intends to publish a final draft of the standards in the first quarter of 2007. The information will be available for download from The Human Capital Institute (HCI) website for HCI professional and corporate members.

Interested parties can hear more about the Standards Committee from board members themselves by attending a complimentary HCI webcast December 15th titled, Best Practices in Contingent Workforce Management: Best of the Best 2006.

To register for the webcast or review other best practice resources available from HCI to the Contingent Workforce community, please visit the Talent Strategy Community at: