Technical Due Diligence Checklist Template | Free PDF Download

Technical due diligence checklist

About the Technical due diligence checklist

When you’re tasked with evaluating the technical aspects of a potential acquisition or partnership, you need a structured approach. Our technical due diligence checklist is designed to help you systematically assess all necessary components, ensuring nothing is overlooked. This template will guide you through the process, making it easier to standardize your reports and findings and ultimately saving you time and enhancing your team’s efficiency.

Overview of the technical due diligence checklist

This template is used by investors to pre-evaluate a product or property they wish to purchase. This digital checklist helps to outline critical factors that may help in deciding for or against an investment. Use this technical due diligence checklist to:

Add photos as evidence for fact-based valuations
Record notes or comments to clarify essential observations
Plan meetings with representatives of the investment target
Confirm everything with electronic signatures by external auditors

How to use the technical due diligence checklist

With the technical due diligence checklist, you can do an in-depth assessment of your target’s technical landscape. Follow these steps to make the most of this template:

Initial setup and customization: Access the technical due diligence checklist within the Lumiform app. Customize the template to fit your specific needs by adding or removing sections relevant to your investment. Tailoring the checklist ensures it covers all critical areas such as corporate documents, material contracts, and intellectual property.
Assign roles and responsibilities: Assign specific sections of the checklist to relevant team members. For instance, legal documents can be reviewed by your legal team, financial records by your finance team, and operational aspects by your operations team. This division of labor ensures that each part of the due diligence process is handled by experts.
Conduct the assessment: Begin the due diligence process by going through each section of the checklist. Collect and review all required documents and information. Use Lumiform to add comments to the checklist and mark completed items. Ensure thoroughness by cross-referencing information, such as verifying corporate documents with official records.
Collaborate and communicate: Use Lumiform’s collaboration features to communicate with your team in real-time. Share findings, raise questions, and address issues directly within the app. For example, if there are discrepancies in financial records, notify your finance team immediately. This streamlines communication and keeps everyone on the same page.
Review and finalize: Once all sections are completed, review the entire checklist to ensure nothing has been missed. Generate a comprehensive report using Lumiform’s analytics tools to summarize your findings. This report can be shared with stakeholders to support decision-making.

By following these steps, you can effectively use the technical due diligence checklist to speed up your evaluation process while making it thorough.

Improve your investment decisions with our due diligence checklist

Download the technical due diligence checklist from Lumiform to streamline your investment evaluations. Use our digital template to add photos, record notes, and confirm findings with electronic signatures. Start using it today to make informed decisions and ensure no critical detail is missed in your assessments!

Related categories

Preview of the template

Due Diligence

Basic Corporate Documents

Collect and review basic corporate documents also for any Subsidiary

Articles of Incorporation, including all amendments.

By-laws, including all amendments.

Minutes of all meetings of directors, committees of directors and shareholders, including copies of any written notices (if given) or waivers thereof and any written consent to action without a meeting.

List of all locations where property owned or leased or where employees are located, indicating in which states the Company is qualified to do business.

List of all countries where Company is doing business, indicating in which countries the Company is qualified to do business.

Samples of common and preferred stock certificates (if any), warrants, options, debentures and any other outstanding securities.

Copies of any voting trust, shareholder or other similar agreement covering any portion of the Company's shares.

Copies of all agreements relating to repurchases, redemptions, exchanges, conversions or similar transactions.

Copies of all agreements containing registration rights or assigning such rights.

Copies of all agreements containing preemptive rights or assigning such rights.

Stock books of the Company.

All quarterly and annual reports and any other communications to the Company's shareholders within the past five years.

All press releases issued by the Company within the past five years.

List of all subsidiaries.

Securities Issuances

Equity Financings: copies of any stock purchase agreements.

Debt Financings: copies of convertible debt agreements.

Stock option or purchase plans and forms of option or purchase agreements which have been or may be used thereunder.

Any other agreements relating to sales of securities by the Company including any private placement memoranda or other offering circulars.

Shareholder Information

Records setting forth all issuances or grants of stock, options and warrants by the Company, listing the names of the issuees or grantees, the amounts issued or granted, the dates of the issuances or grants, the number of shares presently exercisable (if applicable) and the consideration received (or to be received) by the Company in each case.

Lists of all current shareholders, including addresses and numbers of shares owned.

Numerical listing of stock certificates showing certificate number and date, name of shareholder, number of shares, date of Board approval, and permit and tracing transfers.

Lists of all options proposed to be granted, if any, including names and addresses of proposed option holders and number of options to be held by each.

Material Contracts

Bankline of credit agreements, including any amendments, renewal letters, notices, waivers, correspondences, etc.

Other agreements evidencing outstanding loans to or guarantees by the Company, including correspondences.

All outstanding leases for real and personal property.

Material contracts with suppliers or customers. Please indicate which suppliers are the sole source.

Model sales or manufacturing contracts.

Agreements for loans to and any other agreements (including consulting and employment contracts) with officers, directors or employees, whether or not now outstanding.

Schedule of all insurance policies in force covering property of the Company and any other insurance policies such as ''key person'' policies, director indemnification policies or product liability policies.

Partnership or joint venture agreements.

Bonus plans, retirement plans, pension plans, deferred compensation plans, profit sharing and management incentive agreements.

Form of employee confidentiality invention assignment agreement.

Any other material contracts outstanding.

Patent and Trademark

List of all foreign and domestic patents and patent licenses held by the Company.

List of any trademarks, trade names or service marks.

List of any copyrights.

Copies of all material agreements for licensing of Company technology to third parties.

Copies of all material agreements for licensing of technology from third parties.

Description of existing patents and whether additional patents are necessary.

Any correspondence from third parties regarding potential infringement of intellectual property right of others.

List of proprietary processes controlled by the Company.

Name of the law firm which handles patent and trademark matters for the Company and the contact there.

Manufacturing

A breakdown by manufacturing site of the products manufactured, personnel employed, number of shifts and capacity, if any.

List of major suppliers showing total and type of purchases from each supplier during the last and current fiscal years, and indicate which are sole sources.

List of contract manufacturers or assemblers, if any, showing total and type of purchases from each contract manufacturer or assembler during the last and current fiscal years.

Material or outside of ordinary course of business contracts with suppliers, manufacturers, etc., if any.

Description of all toxic chemicals used in production and manner of storage and disposition.

Description of any environmental investigation or claim.

Operations

List of third-party developers showing total and type of project for each developer during the last and current fiscal years, contact names and phone numbers, together with forms of agreements entered into with third-party developers.

List of third-party software duplicators and manual publishers showing total and type of services from each duplicator and publisher during the last and current fiscal years.

Form of agreements relating to the sale or lease of material capital equipment.

List of top 20 accounts payable with contact names and phone numbers.

Products and Services

Copies of all market research or marketing studies conducted in the last three years.

List of the Company's products and services.

List of the Company's competitors.

List of the Company's 20 largest customers or groups in each of the last two fiscal years, indicating the types of products and the amounts of each purchased, and contact name and phone number for each customer.

All material licensing agreements, franchises, and conditional sales contracts to which the Company is a party.

Agreements with distributors, dealers, and sales representatives.

Copies of long-term sales contracts.

Company-financed customer purchase agreements, if any.

Service and support contracts and marketing agreements, if any.

All material agency and advertising contracts to which the Company is a party.

Forms of warranties and guarantees provided to customers.

Copies of all market research or marketing studies.

Copies of sales literature and forms, including price lists, catalogs, purchase orders, etc.

List of top 20 accounts receivable with contact names and phone numbers.

Backlog at end of the most recent fiscal year and most recent fiscal quarter.

Tangible Property

List of real and material personal property owned by the Company.

Documents of title, mortgages, deeds of trust and security agreements pertaining to the properties listed.

All outstanding leases for real and personal property to which the Company is either a lessor or lessee.

List of any security interests in personal property.

Documentation of significant acquisitions or dispositions of assets.

Employees and Executives

Description of any significant labor problems or union activities the Company has experienced including any collective bargaining agreements.

The number of employees broken down by major types of employees and a management organization chart.

Record of employee benefit packages

Detailed resume of directors and top management personnel.

Founders agreements, management employment agreements, indemnification agreements, and ''golden parachute'' agreements, if any.

Schedule of all compensation paid in the most recent fiscal year to officers, directors and key employees showing separately salary, bonuses and non-cash compensation (e.g., use of cars, property, etc.)

Bonus plans, retirement plans, pension plans, deferred compensation plans, profit sharing and management incentive agreements.

Agreements for loans to and any other agreements (including consulting and employment contracts) with officers or directors, whether or not now outstanding.

Description of any transactions between the Company and any insider (i.e., officer, director, or owners of substantial amount of the Company's securities).

Litigation and Audits

All letters which have been sent to auditors in connection with year-end and current interim audits, including ''litigation letters.''

Copies of any auditors' letters to management regarding internal accounting controls.

Descriptions of (and reasons for) any change in accounting methods in the past three years.

Active litigation files, including letters asserting claims, complaints, answers, etc.

Any litigation settlement documents.

Any decrees, orders or judgments of courts or governmental agencies.

Description of any warranty claims which have been made against the Company, any subsidiary, or any partnership or joint venture and the resolution of such claim.

Information regarding any material litigation to which the Company is a party or in which it may become involved.

Environmental

Schedule of Hazardous Materials stored, manufactured or located at any facility of the Company either now or in the past, or that the Company ships or transports (Hazardous Materials means any substance or any material containing a substance that could be considered toxic or hazardous under law, including solvents, petroleum, pesticides, paints, asbestos containing materials, lead based batteries, radioactive materials and PCB containing transformers.)

Schedule of chemicals, toxic substances or air contaminants which are regulated present in any facility of the Company.

Schedule of any incidents involving the release of a potentially hazardous amount of any carcinogen into, or presence of asbestos in, the workplace.

Schedule of all instances in the past in which the Company has corrected unsafe working conditions.

Schedule of all the facilities of the Company that discharge waste into any body of water, stream or any sanitation systems.

Schedule of all permits or approvals obtained from any governmental body responsible for environmental or health regulation.

Schedule of all occasions in which a liquid or solid waste material or any fuel or other Hazardous Material was accidentally or intentionally spilled or released.

Any notices of violation or requests for information that have been received or threatened at any time for alleged failure of any facility to comply with applicable air pollution laws or with any air quality permit.

Others

Copy of any internal or outside studies of the Company or the market for its products (e.g., management consultants).

Summary of all occupational health and safety inquiries (if any).

Summary of all Labor inquiries.

Summary of state, local and foreign income tax status, i.e., have all returns been filed? all taxes been paid? any audits by taxing authorities?

Permits for conduct of business, including licenses, franchises, concessions and distributorship agreements.

Completion

General Comments

Conducted by: (Name and Signature)

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Frequently asked questions

What does a technical due diligence checklist include?

The checklist includes detailed assessments of infrastructure, technology stack, compliance with industry standards, and identification of potential technical risks. It ensures that all critical aspects are reviewed to support informed decision-making and risk mitigation.

How do I customize the checklist for my project?

Customize the checklist by adding or removing sections to better align with your project’s specific needs and industry requirements. Consider consulting with technical experts to ensure comprehensive coverage and relevance to your particular goals and challenges.

Who uses the technical due diligence checklist?

Project managers, technical experts, and stakeholders use the checklist to thoroughly evaluate the technical aspects of a project or operation. This collaborative approach ensures that all relevant perspectives are considered, fostering effective risk management and compliance.

How often should I perform technical due diligence?

Perform technical due diligence regularly, especially before major project phases or acquisitions, to ensure ongoing compliance and effective risk management. Regular evaluations help identify emerging issues and opportunities, supporting continuous improvement and strategic planning.

This template, developed by Lumiform employees, serves as a starting point for businesses using the Lumiform platform and is intended as a hypothetical example only. It does not replace professional advice. Companies should consult qualified professionals to assess the suitability and legality of using this template in their specific workplace or jurisdiction. Lumiform is not liable for any errors or omissions in this template or for any actions taken based on its content.