An outsourcer’s vendor risk assessment process should include all the steps mentioned in options A, B, and C, as they are essential for ensuring a consistent, comprehensive, and effective evaluation of the vendor’s performance, compliance, and risk profile. However, option D is not a necessary or recommended part of the vendor risk assessment process, as it does not reflect the actual level of risk posed by the vendor, but rather the availability of resources within the outsourcer’s organization. Defining assessment frequency based on resource capacity could lead to under-assessing or over-assessing vendors, depending on the outsourcer’s workload, budget, and staff. This could result in missing critical issues, wasting time and money, or creating gaps in the vendor oversight program. Therefore, option D is the correct answer, as it is the only one that does not belong to the vendor risk assessment process. References: The following resources support the verified answer and explanation:

Shared Assessments’ CTPRP Job Guide, page 10, section 2.1.1, states that “The frequency of assessments should be based on the risk tier of the third party, not on the availability of resources.”

Guide to Vendor Risk Assessment, section “Step 3: Determine the Frequency of Vendor Risk Assessments”, explains that “The frequency of vendor risk assessments should be based on the level of risk each vendor poses to your organization, not on the availability of resources or convenience.”

How to Conduct a Successful Vendor Risk Assessment in 9 Steps, section “Step 8: Determine the Frequency of Vendor Risk Assessments”, advises that “The frequency of vendor risk assessments should be based on the level of risk each vendor poses to your organization, not on the availability of resources or convenience.”