Bizav Security Experts Share Vetting Tips for Potential Vendors

With the accelerating pace of change across today’s business aviation landscape, effectively screening potential vendors is increasingly critical to ensure security, as well as quality and safety, across multiple areas of your operation.

“It could be fuel; it could be a third-party providing flight planning and scheduling solutions; it could be a caterer; it could be a vendor you’re bringing in for contract maintenance,” said NBAA Security Council Chair John Cauthen, vice president, global security services and products, aviation and maritime at MedAire. “You’re going to see changes happening all the time, so, it’s important to make sure that you’re vetting as much as possible where you can to help protect yourself.”

It’s critical to do what you can to make sure potential vendors are following the law and can meet the necessary safety and security protocols of your organization. Companies should conduct due diligence on vetting potential vendors as if they were hiring a new employee, including background checks, obtaining references and researching the potential vendor’s financial health.

“This is especially true if you’re transitioning from a legacy known provider who’s been in the industry for a number of years or decades to something new,” Cauthen said. “Businesses are changing all the time. Technology is moving at an extraordinarily fast pace, especially with some of the AI developments out there.”

“The company aircraft is an extension of the executive offices,” said Gregory Kulis, CAM Fellow and founder/owner of Business Aviation Safety and Security LLC. “So, your security and safety policy has to be integrated and aligned with the corporate culture.”

Kulis, who also serves as a business aviation safety and security consultant with Lane Aviation, added that properly vetting vendors is especially important for flight planning and inflight security. “I like to view the flight’s progression from beginning to conclusion and look at the points during the flight’s operation where we are using vendors,” said Kulis, a former chair of the NBAA Security Council.

Ground Transportation Considerations

“Comprehensive vetting of ground transportation providers is vital to travel security for flight crews as well as passengers,” Kulis said. “When traveling, and something bad happens, the odds are very high that it is going to be related directly or indirectly to the ground transportation segment. When you are going from the aircraft to the hotel, keep in mind the detailed information that the person taking you there has about you and the flight operation.”

Confirm that the driver handling the trip is the person actually hired by the ground transport company, Kulis suggested. “There are some very well vetted, well qualified ground transportation providers out there, and they’re not difficult to locate,” he said.

Many flight departments routinely fly to the same destinations and use the same vendors over and over, added Kulis. “However, it is also important when using the same vendors that periodically operators review or audit things from a procedural standpoint to ensure that a vendor is maintaining the standards that were evaluated when that operation began using them,” he said. “So standardized maintenance reviews are also important.”

Consider Using AI for Deep Research

The growth of artificial intelligence can make vendor research less time-consuming. “I would say with the advent of a lot of the new AI models out there, especially the large-language models, like [OpenAI] GPT-4, or [Anthropic] Claude or [Microsoft] Copilot, it doesn’t matter if you have limited resources,” said Cauthen. “Dive deep in your research and be sure to phrase your queries properly to get the information you’re looking for.”

For financial research, Cauthen recommends specialized information services such as Dun & Bradstreet, which offers fairly affordable options.

Referrals From Peers and Clients

Experts also suggest getting referrals from industry peers or from existing clients of potential vendors. Site visits also can be a good idea when checking out vendors.

Larger flight departments affiliated with bigger companies often have access to the parent company’s security resources when vetting vendors.

“A lot of flight departments operate under a separate legal entity than say the parent company,” said Cauthen. “However, they may have some shared capability to use corporate legal, or maybe there’s a corporate security department, or maybe there’s a risk and insurance component back at corporate. You can ask them to do some deep diving into potential vendors to see what they can find as well.”

Consider Third-Party Resources

“For very small flight departments that rely on doing a lot of stuff in-house there are third-party risk-management systems and applications out there that you can vet vendors through,” said NBAA Director, Flight Operations and Regulations Laura Everington. “But many of the larger flight departments will either have their own in-house corporate compliance, which handles all of that aspect, not necessarily the flight department itself, but more in their legal department and corporate compliance.”

NBAA also offers several security information resources, including the NBAA Security Council’s Best Practices for Business Aviation Security.

Consistency and dedication are primary ingredients in developing and implementing a sound vetting system. For the most part, the experts say business aviation operators understand the importance of properly vetting potential vendors.

“If you take an SMS approach to things, it is a process of continuous assessment and evaluation and improvement where you can always do better,” said Cauthen. “So how you frame this and the resources that you can tap into are largely going to be predicated on the size of your organization and really the time constraints.”