To preserve independence, the head of internal audit/coordinator must ensure that the outsourcing provider has not been previously engaged in a consulting engagement in the same area within the bank unless a one year "cooling-off" period has elapsed. Subsequently, those experts who participated in an internal audit engagement must not provide consulting services to a function of the bank they have audited within the previous 12 months. Additionally, banks must not outsource internal audit activities to their own external audit firm (see OM-3).