Vendor Business Continuity Questionnaire Template

Your vendor's downtime becomes your downtime. When a critical SaaS provider experiences an outage or a key supplier faces a natural disaster, their business continuity failures cascade directly into your operations. A vendor business continuity questionnaire template transforms this existential risk into measurable, manageable data points.

The template serves as your evidence collection framework, capturing specific recovery time objectives (RTOs), recovery point objectives (RPOs), testing frequencies, and incident response capabilities. Unlike generic risk assessments, business continuity questionnaires drill into operational resilience — the vendor's actual ability to maintain service delivery when systems fail, disasters strike, or key personnel become unavailable.

For TPRM managers handling 50+ vendor assessments annually, a standardized BC questionnaire eliminates redundant work while ensuring consistent control mapping across your vendor portfolio. Each question ties to specific regulatory requirements, making audit preparation a matter of pulling existing evidence rather than scrambling for documentation.

Core Components of a Business Continuity Questionnaire

Program Governance and Documentation

The foundation starts with program maturity indicators. Request the vendor's business continuity policy, last revision date, and executive sponsor. Collect evidence of their Business Impact Analysis (BIA) methodology and criticality classifications. Critical vendors should provide:

• BC/DR plan documentation with version control
• Organizational chart showing BC responsibilities
• Training records for BC team members
• Budget allocation for BC initiatives

Recovery Objectives and Service Level Commitments

Numbers matter more than narratives. Extract specific RTOs and RPOs for each service component:

Service Component	RTO	RPO	Testing Frequency	Last Test Date
Core Application	[Hours]	[Hours]	[Quarterly/Annual]	[MM/DD/YYYY]
Database	[Hours]	[Hours]	[Quarterly/Annual]	[MM/DD/YYYY]
Customer Support	[Hours]	[Hours]	[Quarterly/Annual]	[MM/DD/YYYY]

Require documentation of how these objectives align with your SLA requirements. A vendor promising 99.9% uptime needs BC capabilities that support 8.76 hours maximum annual downtime.

Testing and Validation Evidence

Past performance predicts future recovery success. Mandate evidence of:

1. Test Reports: Actual test execution records, not just test plans
2. Gap Remediation: How they addressed failures identified during testing
3. Test Scenarios: Tabletop exercises, parallel tests, or full failover exercises
4. Participation Records: Which teams participated and their roles

Technical Recovery Capabilities

Dive into architectural resilience:

• Data Backup: Frequency, retention periods, offsite storage locations
• Infrastructure Redundancy: Multi-region deployments, failover mechanisms
• Alternative Processing: Manual workarounds, alternate sites, cloud failover
• Communication Systems: Out-of-band communication during primary system failures

Industry-Specific Applications

Financial Services

Financial vendors face heightened scrutiny under FFIEC guidance and DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act). Your questionnaire must capture:

• Compliance with FFIEC IT Examination Handbook Business Continuity Planning booklet
• Recovery capabilities for payment processing, trading systems, and regulatory reporting
• Participation in industry-wide BC exercises
• Cyber incident recovery procedures per FFIEC CAT requirements

Healthcare

HIPAA Security Rule § 164.308(a)(7) mandates contingency planning. Healthcare vendor questionnaires require:

• PHI backup and recovery procedures
• Emergency mode operation capabilities
• Data backup testing records
• Facility access contingencies during emergencies

Technology and SaaS

Cloud-native vendors need different assessment criteria:

• Multi-region architecture documentation
• Chaos engineering practices
• Automated failover capabilities
• API availability during partial outages
• Status page communication protocols

Regulatory Alignment

Map each question to specific control requirements:

SOC 2 CC A1.2: The entity authorizes, designs, develops or acquires, implements, operates, approves, maintains, and monitors environmental protections, software, data backup processes, and recovery infrastructure to meet its objectives.

ISO 27001 Annex A.17.1: Information security continuity shall be embedded in the organization's business continuity management systems.

NIST CSF ID.BE-5: Resilience requirements to support delivery of critical services are established for all operating states.

GDPR Article 32(1)(c): The ability to restore the availability and access to personal data in a timely manner in the event of a physical or technical incident.

Implementation Best Practices

Risk-Based Questionnaire Depth

Not all vendors merit 200-question assessments. Tier your approach:

Tier 1 (Critical): Full questionnaire with evidence requirements

• 150-200 questions
• Documentary evidence mandatory
• Annual reassessment
• On-site validation for highest risk

Tier 2 (Important): Focused questionnaire

• 50-75 questions
• Attestations acceptable for some controls
• Biennial reassessment

Tier 3 (Low Risk): Streamlined assessment

• 20-30 questions
• Self-attestation sufficient
• Triennial reassessment

Evidence Collection Optimization

Structure your DDQ to minimize vendor fatigue while maximizing evidence value:

1. Pre-populate from public sources: SOC 2 reports, ISO certificates, public documentation
2. Accept existing audit reports: Map their SOC 2 or ISO 27001 evidence to your requirements
3. Use conditional logic: Skip irrelevant sections based on vendor type
4. Provide evidence examples: Show vendors exactly what constitutes acceptable documentation

Integration with Broader TPRM Program

BC assessment data feeds multiple risk domains:

• Operational Risk Scoring: BC maturity directly impacts operational risk ratings
• Concentration Risk: Identify single points of failure across your vendor portfolio
• Fourth-Party Dependencies: Uncover critical sub-service providers without BC coverage
• Contract Negotiations: Use BC gaps to negotiate improved SLAs or fee structures

Common Implementation Mistakes

Accepting Plans Without Test Evidence: BC plans are fiction until proven otherwise. Always require test reports, not just plan documents.

Ignoring Fourth-Party Dependencies: Your vendor's BC plan means nothing if their critical vendors lack resilience. Include questions about supply chain continuity.

Generic RTO/RPO Acceptance: "24-hour RTO for all services" signals a vendor who hasn't performed real business impact analysis. Push for component-level objectives.

Annual Set-and-Forget: BC capabilities degrade without maintenance. Require evidence of plan updates following organizational changes, new service deployments, or test failures.

Over-Automation: While automation speeds assessment, BC evaluation requires human judgment. Failed tests might indicate a learning culture, not necessarily poor resilience.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I handle vendors who claim BC information is confidential?

Establish NDAs upfront and offer to accept redacted evidence that still demonstrates control effectiveness. Most BC evidence can be sanitized while maintaining assessment value — test reports can remove specific IP addresses while showing recovery procedures were validated.

What's the minimum viable BC questionnaire for small vendors?

Focus on five critical areas: backup frequency and testing, key person dependencies, alternate communication methods, customer notification procedures, and manual workaround capabilities. Even a 20-question assessment captures most typical BC risks.

How often should I reassess vendor BC capabilities?

Tier 1 vendors need annual assessments minimum, or after any major incident/organizational change. Tier 2 vendors every two years. Tier 3 vendors every three years unless risk profile changes. Always reassess after the vendor experiences an actual business disruption.

Should I require on-site validation of BC capabilities?

Reserve on-site validation for your top 5-a notable share of most critical vendors where BC failure would halt your operations. Virtual walkthroughs via screen share often provide sufficient evidence for others. Focus on seeing actual recovery environments, not just documentation.

How do I assess BC for fully cloud-native vendors with no physical infrastructure?

Shift focus to architectural resilience: multi-region deployments, automated failover testing, chaos engineering practices, and dependency management. Request AWS Well-Architected Review reports or equivalent cloud resilience assessments.

What evidence should I absolutely require vs. accept attestation for?

Require evidence for: test reports, RTO/RPO achievements, and recovery procedures. Accept attestations for: training records, policy approvals, and planned improvements. The rule: if failure would impact your operations, demand proof.

How do I handle vendors using BC-as-a-Service providers?

Assess both the vendor's BC program and their BC provider separately. Ensure clear delineation of responsibilities. The vendor remains accountable for recovery even when outsourced. Request the contract between vendor and BC provider to verify SLAs.