Active

Continuous Improvement

The organization shall establish a continuous improvement process for contract and compliance management, driving ongoing enhancement of contract effectiveness. The process shall include mechanisms for identifying improvement opportunities, implementing changes, and measuring results, drawing inputs from contract reviews, compliance findings, and best practice benchmarking.

Requirement ID
TPR-003-R010
Parent Control
Domain Code

Requirement Details & Guidance

TPR-003-R010 · TPR-003
Why This Requirement Exists

This requirement exists to embed and maintain security, privacy, regulatory, audit, service-level, and compliance requirements in third-party contracts and verify their fulfillment, specifically addressing continuous improvement, so that third-party risks remain identified, controlled, and aligned with organizational risk appetite.

Implementation Guidance

Establish and document the process for continuous improvement. Define accountable owners, required inputs and outputs, assessment or approval criteria, review frequency, monitoring, reporting, exception handling, evidence requirements, and escalation paths. Apply the process consistently across relevant third parties based on criticality, data sensitivity, service dependency, and risk.

Practical Application & Audit Readiness

TPR-003-R010 · Field Guidance

Business Examples

    Common Audit Findings

      Common Mistakes

        Best Practices & Ownership

        TPR-003 · Recommended Approach

        Recommended Practices

          Typical Owner

          Cross-Mapped Regulatory Frameworks

          Harmonized Control Mappings
          FRAMEWORK CODE FRAMEWORK NAME & DETAILS FAMILY / CATEGORY VERSION ACTION
          ISO27001 ISO/IEC 27001 ISO/IEC 27001 specifies auditable requirements for... Clause: 10.1 – Continual improvement
          ISO
          Standard
          v2022 View →
          RBI-CSF RBI Cyber Security Framework / Master Directions RBI cyber-security requirements and directions set... Clause: 11) Vendor Risk Management – 11.5 Provider adherence to legal/regulatory requirements and contractual audit/inspection rights
          India
          Regulation
          vLatest View →
          SEBI-CSCRF SEBI Cyber Security & Cyber Resilience Framework SEBI’s Cybersecurity and Cyber Resilience Framewor... Clause: 1.6 GV.SC: Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management
          India
          Regulation
          vLatest View →
          DORA Digital Operational Resilience Act The EU Digital Operational Resilience Act establis... Clause: Article 30(1) – Written allocation of rights/obligations and service level agreements Article 30(2)(a) – Description of ICT functions/services and subcontracting conditions Article 30(2)(h) – Service-level descriptions and performance targets
          EU
          Regulation
          vCurrent View →
          NIS2 NIS2 Directive The NIS2 Directive establishes EU-wide cybersecuri... Clause: Article 21(2)(d) – Supply chain security, including relationships with direct suppliers/service providers
          EU
          Directive
          vCurrent View →
          PCI-DSS PCI DSS PCI DSS is an industry security standard maintaine... Clause: 12.8.1 – A list of all third-party service providers; 12.8.2 – Written agreements with TPSPs are
          PCI
          Standard
          v4 View →
          COBIT2019 COBIT COBIT is an enterprise governance and management f... Clause: 4.5 – Monitor, Evaluate and Assess (MEA) > MEA03 – Managed Compliance with External Requirements > MEA03.01 – Identify external compliance requirements.
          COBIT
          Governance Framework
          v2019 View →
          NIST-CSF NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) The NIST Cybersecurity Framework provides high-lev... Clause: GV.SC – Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management | GV.SC-01 – A cybersecurity supply chain risk management program, strategy, objectives, policies, and processes are established and agreed to by organizational stakeholders GV.SC – Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management | GV.SC-07 – The risks posed by a supplier, their products and services, and other third parties are understood, recorded, prioritized, assessed, responded to, and monitored over the course of the relationship
          NIST
          Framework
          v2 View →
          NIST80053 NIST SP 800-53 NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 presents control families, i... Clause: 3.20 – SUPPLY CHAIN RISK MANAGEMENT; SR-6 – SUPPLIER ASSESSMENTS AND REVIEWS
          NIST
          Control Catalog
          vRev. 5 View →
          SOC2 SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria SOC 2 is an independent examination and reporting... Clause: CC9.2 – Risk Mitigation – The entity assesses and manages risks associated with vendors and business partners. CC4.1 – Monitoring of Controls – COSO Principle 16: The entity selects, develops, and performs ongoing and/or separate evaluations to ascertain whether the components of internal control are present and functioning. CC4.2 – Monitoring of Controls – COSO Principle 17: The entity evaluates and communicates internal control deficiencies in a timely manner to those parties responsible for taking corrective action, including senior management and the board of directors, as appropriate.
          AICPA
          Audit Framework
          vLatest View →

          Parent Domain Context

          Governance Domain Baseline
          Domain Name:
          Third-Party & Supply Chain Security (TPR)
          Purpose:
          To manage the security and privacy risks associated with third-party vendors and partners.
          Scope:
          Enterprise

          Parent Control Context

          Control Baseline
          Control Name:
          Third-Party Contract & Compliance Management (TPR-003)
          Summary:
          Establishes third-party contract management including contract requirements, security clauses, privacy clauses, audit rights, regulatory obligations, SLA management, compliance verification, review, maintenance, and continuous improvement.
          Business Description:
          Establish and maintain contractual, legal, security, privacy, resilience, audit, and regulatory requirements for third-party relationships, including mechanisms to verify ongoing contractual compliance.