Outsource: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)
To outsource (French: externaliser) is to entrust an external provider with all or part of a function or process that remains within the scope of the management system. Under ISO 53001 the organisation stays responsible for outsourced processes and must decide how it controls them, even when they run far from its sites.
Updated: · edition covered: ISO/UNDP 53001:2026
In an ISO/UNDP 53001 audit
The auditor checks that outsourced processes are identified and that the degree of control is defined: contract clauses, selection criteria, performance monitoring, visits. Activities with a strong effect on the SDGs, such as logistics, contract manufacturing or cleaning, receive particular attention.
Handing an activity to a third party does not take it out of the system. A company that has goods made abroad with no follow-up of working conditions at its subcontractor undermines its claimed contribution to SDG 8. The subject belongs to operational control, in clause 8 of the ISO/UNDP 53001 standard.
Outsourcing versus purchasing
Not every purchase is outsourcing. Buying office supplies is a purchase; entrusting to a provider the payroll calculations used for a gender pay indicator is outsourcing a process within the scope. The auditor asks the organisation where it draws that line.
See also
- Process: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)A process (French: *processus*) is a set of related activities that uses inputs to deliver a result.
- Operational planning and control: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)Operational planning and control (French: *maîtrise opérationnelle*) covers the arrangements through which an organisation organises, runs and checks the processes that carry its contribution to the SDGs: criteria, methods, resources, management of change and of outsourced processes.
- Impact: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)An impact (French: *impact*, the same word) is a change, positive or negative, that an organisation causes or contributes to for people, society, the economy or the environment.
- ISO/UNDP 53001 clause 8: what the auditor checksISO 53001 clause 8 covers operation.