What My Grants Days Taught Me About Vendor Oversight

In federal grants work, we had a concept called subrecipient monitoring. The idea was simple: the diligence doesn't end when the agreement is signed. You check in, you review reports, you verify the money did what it was supposed to do. Trust, but verify, on a schedule.

AI vendor oversight is the same discipline wearing different clothes. You evaluated the vendor before signing — now monitor them after. Are they notifying you of model changes? Are their security certifications still current? Is your data going where they said it would? Is the tool still being used the way you approved?

The grants world taught me something else too: monitoring isn't hostility. The best partners welcomed it, because it proved they were doing good work. The ones who resisted oversight were usually the ones who needed it most. I've found AI vendors split exactly the same way.

So borrow the old playbook. Annual reviews at minimum. A checklist, a calendar reminder, and the same rigor after the signature that you brought before it. The agreement was the beginning of the relationship, not the end of your responsibility.

I explain frameworks; I don't give legal counsel.