Before an external reviewer touches your agents' held actions, check three things and write each down: the credential is real and current at source, the person in front of you is the person named on it, and they know your own bounds and limits. This contractor certification check template turns those checks into a one-page form completed before access.
Why do contractors need their own check?
A contractor arrives with a credential earned somewhere else, on someone else's agents. That proves general competence; it does not prove they know that your refund agent's limit is 500, or that your platform withholds reversals of settled payments. Your own staff picked that up on the job. A contractor has to be shown and tested.
Contractors also fall between processes. HR onboards employees, procurement onboards suppliers, and the reviewer from a supplier's bench can end up with approval rights nobody formally granted. A short, mandatory form fixes that.
When do you use it?
Use it before first access, again before any increase in depth or value limit, and at each credential expiry falling inside the contract. If the contract runs past the credential's expiry date, the form records the re-check date in advance.
The distinction between literacy and certification matters here. Anyone reading agent outputs needs literacy; anyone approving held actions needs a credential with a practical element. If the contractor will only read, you need less. The difference is set out in how AI literacy differs from AI agent certification.
How do you complete it?
- Section A is filled by the contracting manager before the contractor starts.
- Section B is the check at source. Look the credential up yourself on the issuer's page, by number or QR code. Never rely on a PDF or screenshot the contractor sends. The method is in how an employer can check an AI agent certificate.
- Section C is a short knowledge check on your deployment: ten questions on your agents, your limits and your escalation routes.
- Section D records what is granted, and is signed by someone who does not report to the contracting manager.
The contractor check template
Section A: request
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Contractor name | |
| Supplying firm | |
| Contract start and end | |
| Team and queue | |
| Capabilities to be reviewed | |
| Highest depth to be approved | |
| Value limit requested | |
| Requested by |
Section B: credential check at source
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Credential claimed | |
| Certificate number | |
| Checked on the issuer's page by | Name and date |
| Status shown | Current / lapsed / revoked |
| Expires on | |
| Expires before contract end? | Yes / no; if yes, re-check date |
| Identity matched to certificate name | Method and checker |
Section C: local knowledge check
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Questions set | Our agents, limits, red lines, escalation |
| Score | As a count, e.g. 9 of 10 |
| Pass standard | |
| Questions missed | Topic of each |
Section D: decision
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Access granted | Queue, capabilities, depth |
| Value limit granted | |
| Supervised period | Number of days with countersignature |
| Re-check dates | Credential, and a retention check after 30 days |
| Approved by | Name, role, date |
A worked example
Take a sample motor insurer that brings in an outsourced firm to clear a backlog of held settlement offers. Values are illustrative.
Section A: contractor P. Nwosu from a claims services firm, six-month contract, settlement queue, approving held offers at depth 4, value limit requested 3,000.
Section B: credential claimed is a professional operator certificate, number OP-0000-7781. The team lead looks it up on the issuer's page: current, expires in four months. Because that falls inside the contract, a re-check is booked for the expiry week. Identity is matched against photo ID at onboarding.
Section C: the contractor scores 8 of 10, missing two questions on the insurer's own red lines: offers on policies with an open fraud referral, and offers where the repair estimate arrived by email from a third party. The pass standard is 9 of 10, so the decision changes.
Section D: access granted to the settlement queue at depth 4, but the value limit is set at 1,000, not 3,000, and every release is countersigned for five working days. The red-line topics are covered in a short session, and the limit rises to 3,000 only after a retention check at day 30. The reasoning behind certification for approvers and literacy for everyone else is in literacy for everyone, certification for the people who approve. Organisations that use Pryme Intelligence Academy credentials can make each depth's approval right depend on a current certificate, the same way they would for staff; see AI literacy and certification for people who work with agents.
Questions people ask
Can the supplying firm vouch for its own staff?
It can tell you who holds what, but you still check at source. The firm's letter is external to you; the issuer's page is the record.
What if the credential lapses mid-contract?
Suspend approval rights the same day and route held actions to a certified colleague. Reading access can continue while renewal is completed.
Do contractors need the local knowledge check if they are certified?
Yes. Certification proves they can review an agent's work; the local check proves they know your limits and red lines, which no outside course can teach.