2021 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT I 71 Driving supplier excellence and innovation through collaboration At Quest, we rely on our suppliers to deliver the resources we need to achieve our mission and goals, and supplier relationships continue to play an essential role in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through strategic partnerships and the agility of our global supply chain, Quest was able to respond quickly to the worldwide health crisis and take proactive measures to provide critical testing services to customers and communities across the nation. We also leveraged our supply network to secure new resources, including international and diverse suppliers for large volumes of collection supplies and PPE. We then successfully and efficiently distributed these critical materials to clients and labs through our regional fulfillment centers. Supplier scientific and engineering advancements play a key role in Quest’s ability to bring meaningful improvement to people’s lives, fill gaps in care, and provide better testing solutions. In recent projects, suppliers made major contributions. • Launching a less intrusive liver disease monitoring solution • Developing a new women’s health testing solution that makes it easier to diagnose bacterial infections • Collaborating to deliver diabetic retinal imaging services for patient screening in designated patient service centers as part of a diabetes management program To drive operational excellence, we remain focused on improving our operational quality and service, and reducing costs to increase productivity. We’re not immune to the current inflationary environment, but by tightly managing our operations, we expect productivity improvements to help offset these pressures. Our Procurement team continues to work with our strategic suppliers to mitigate potential price increases and improve productivity through our long-term relationships. To date, the team has effectively managed challenges in our global supply chain. We also look to our suppliers to deliver innovation to help us lower the overall cost of testing and improve quality. Supply chain risk management We are committed to maintaining a sustainable supply chain that embodies the ethics and culture of Quest Diagnostics to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of our patients, clients, and operations by: • Assessing all sourcing opportunities for product and service risk • Qualifying suppliers using a set of tools appropriate to risk level, including screenings, ratings, self-assessments, and on-site audits • Performing detailed audits on-site by our global sourcing team • Using third-party monitoring services for 24/7 coverage, updates, and alerts on suppliers in the highest-risk tier • Monitoring supplier performance in quality, delivery, and service; tracking complaints and problems; and assessing and reporting on supplier performance trends with multidimensional supplier scorecards • Conducting periodic supplier self-assessment surveys and on-site surveillance audits of risk-prioritized suppliers • Maintaining third-party cybersecurity and data privacy protection programs as part of IT security risk management Adherence to our Supplier Code of Conduct Quest has a Supplier Code of Conduct that governs our expectations of supplier behavior. • Following ethical policies, procedures, and standards in all business practices • Complying with all legal and regulatory requirements • Upholding environmental, health, and safety practices • Safeguarding labor and human rights • Protecting data and intellectual property • Reporting questionable behavior TABLE OF CONTENTS 2021 OVERVIEW COVID-19 RESPONSE PROMOTING A HEALTHIER WORLD CREATING AN INSPIRING WORKPLACE BUILDING VALUE REFERENCES