Is it normal for an Agency to progress a contract before receiving a Purchase Order?

[Willy Win]

I secured an offer of a gig 2 weeks ago with a third party agent. My contract is being dealt with by the third party but my contract is with the preferred supplier and the preferred supplier's is with the end client. Compliance checks have been completed on the third party's side and some amendments have been made to the contract etc.

As I'm expecting to start next week, I asked where everything is now up to and was told that the preferred supplier are still going through some checks with the end client. Once they are completed they will send the third party agent the PO and they in turn can release my contract. Added to that, said agent can't say where those checks are up to as they have no visibility. It all seems rather complicated - I would have thought that POs are raised as soon as the client has a requirement, no?

[SussexSeagull]

For once I will defend agents. When a client comes to them and tells them to find someone for a contract it isn't an unreasonable assumption that the client will go through with it.

There are some very poor agents out there but a lot of contractors woes are caused by end clients.

[BrilloPad]

I would have thought that POs are raised as soon as the client has a requirement, no?

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.

My last contract had a PO. But onboarding took 3 months.

I did not resign until onboarding was complete.

The way onboarding worked was: -

agent->client->onbarding rep 1->god knows where->onboarding rep 2->agency->me

[Willy Win]

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.

My last contract had a PO. But onboarding took 3 months.

I did not resign until onboarding was complete.

The way onboarding worked was: -

agent->client->onbarding rep 1->god knows where->onboarding rep 2->agency->me

Were they a Banking client by any chance....? With one previous agency I had the situation whereby my checks were taking longer than the original planned start date. They were waiting for my DBS check to come back.

Another 2 weeks went by and I decided to contact DBS themselves... turns out they had okayed my check over a week before so some dopey so- and-so hadn't picked up on the email/ response. I then went back to my agency and fed back the information which was basically holding everything up. If you want a job doing and all that....

[ladymuck]

It depends on the industry/client processes. If the contract is dependent on the resource passing security checks then no PO will be raised until that's complete.

[BlasterBates]

A client will only issue a PO once the contract with the agency has been agreed. A client will not issue 5 POs to 5 different agencies when they only have one position open.