The vendor says the delay is our fault. How do we establish facts?
Disputed delay responsibilityBuild a shared timeline of required inputs, actual submissions, decisions, and dependencies. Keep recovery moving while authorized commercial staff assess responsibility and contractual consequences.
What to do now
- Collect dated evidence from both sides
- Map the dependency sequence
- Separate disputed facts from agreed facts
- Agree recovery actions and commercial review
When to escalate
Escalate when
The dispute affects material payments, remedies, or obligations.
Who decides
The authorized procurement or commercial owner
Example
The parties compare when access was requested, provided, and actually usable.
Mistake to avoid
Arguing responsibility from memory while delivery remains blocked.
Prevent a repeat
Compare supplier evidence with agreed obligations; refer contract interpretation and remedies to qualified owners.
Suggested ApprovedFlow setup
- Vendors
- Documents
- Tasks
- Approvals
Keep supplier commitments and evidence linked to the project, assign follow-up work, and route commercial decisions to authorized owners. See the platform
Related cases
- The vendor says knowledge transfer is not included. How do we respond?Missing supplier transition scope
- The procurement process will finish after the required start date. What can we do?Procurement lead-time mismatch
- The Product Owner is unavailable for questions. What should we establish?Product decision delay
- The client says an excluded item was always included. How should we respond?Scope interpretation dispute