Just want to make sure I include all pertinent information to inform all those in our company of the upcoming external audit and who is to be the point of contact for each core process to be audited.
Just send them a copy of the audit plan your 3rd party person sends to you (I generally get mine out 30 days prior), if your people don't know what they are responsible for by now show them the exit ................ 99.99% of what you need to do everything will probably be in your previous audit reports if you take the time to study them. I know from previous experience doing transfer audits between CB's (just got assigned another today, I've got the last certification cycle reports, copies of the CAR's they had to do and so on). Every CB has a different report style, format and a couple other things, if they are at least ANAB accredited (and a couple others like UKAS and so on) but they all contain the same basic information like a 3 year plan/schedule.
You should also not, I repeat NOT have to prepare for a blessed thing if you are properly maintaining your QMS (or any other MS for that matter), if you have to prepare you are wrong, and any competent auditor will detect it and will be like a hungry dog sniffing out a fresh soup bone.
You're over thinking and over complicating this whole thing, in fact here's worse case scenario below.......
The auditor can ask who the 2nd person is that would take the place of the 1st in their absence and request them. Whoa, what? Now you've just stuck it to yourself, because now you created a need to verify effective defining of roles, responsibilities, awareness, competence, communication, change management, and a whole bunch of other stuff that could open a Pandora's box of audit trails and evidence needs just totally flushing all the prep, planning, hype, scheming and everything else you did down the pooper. (Unless you stop all operations, close and lock the doors because someone is gone). Now the sampling needs have been changed while at the same time the basic stuff still has to be covered by the scope of the audit possibly with the exception of those things that can be rescheduled during the next audit, creating a possibility of requiring a increase in the next audit duration backed by justification (s) for the change (addressed pretty good in IAF MD5 and probably in your contract with the CB). If you are saying that can't be done, just ask around here with people that have been doing this, 10, 15, 20, 30 years or more.
Good luck
