An experienced reviewer may also have advised the applicant, introduced the transaction or worked with the asset's operator. That knowledge can be useful, but it can also affect how the review is understood. ALFA Digital's open-platform direction requires a process for identifying relevant relationships so that specialist familiarity does not silently become an unexamined conflict in a consequential decision.
Disclosure before assignment
The reviewer should have a practical way to identify relationships relevant to the work. The platform can record the disclosure and route it to the person responsible for assignment. This need not imply that every prior relationship prevents participation. The important point is that the decision about suitability is deliberate and documented, rather than left to an assumption that professional experience is always independent of the applicant.
Different roles can be separated
A person with useful background knowledge may contribute factual context without serving as the final approver. Another reviewer can assess the evidence or decision. The arrangement should be clear to the team and reflected in the record. This preserves expertise while avoiding a vague shared-review label that conceals who actually exercised judgement and who supplied information about the asset.
Commercial incentives deserve attention
A fee tied to transaction success may create a different context from a fixed assessment assignment. The relevant relationship should be understood by those overseeing the process. The platform should not describe a review as independent merely because it was performed by a separate company. Independence is a substantive question about the arrangement, not a visual distinction between logos in the data room.
A consistent rule across the ecosystem
For ALFA Digital, the same assignment discipline should apply to familiar projects and outside owners. That consistency makes the platform more credible as infrastructure for third parties. Review records can show how expertise was used and how relevant relationships were handled, allowing counterparties to understand the process without assuming that every assessment carried the same degree or type of independence.
