A delegation from the Professional Contractors Group (PCG) visited the DTI yesterday to receive congratulations from the Minister for Small Business, Nigel Griffiths MP, for achieving ISO9001 certification. PCG is the first trade association in the UK to attain this prestigious accreditation, and Nigel Griffiths gave an enthusiastic welcome to the organisation’s plans to implement a tailored quality scheme for professional freelance consultancy businesses.
Chairman Simon Griffiths presented PCG’s proposals to introduce a system whereby its members may elect to participate in a cost-effective IS09001:2000 quality scheme. It will be launched this summer, and PCG has been working in close partnership with quality experts BVQI to develop the scheme, the first of its kind.
“ISO9000 can prove prohibitively complex and expensive for small businesses,” explained PCG director Richard Robson, “and without it even those consultants of an exceptionally high calibre are effectively barred from bidding for public sector work. Our scheme will be unique, not only in its approach to the market, but also in that it will contain many interesting but valuable features, it will be delivered at less than a third of the cost of any credible alternative, and - because we have chosen to go with the UKAS standard - its worth will be uncompromised.”
PCG is committed to promoting freelancing as a valid and valuable way of working. Commenting upon yesterday’s visit, Simon Griffiths said, “Our IS09001 plan represents just one of the many initiatives that we have adopted in our quest to protect and promote the interests of our freelance members and the wider freelance community. We believe that ISO9001 certification will help the brightest and best independent consultants to compete on a level playing field for public sector projects, and we are very pleased to have Nigel Griffiths’ support.”
About ISO9001
ISO9001 is the only universal standard for auditing the quality of a business and, despite early criticism, it has become the de facto standard recognised by procurement departments in many large companies. It is a mandatory requirement for any organisation bidding for UK public sector work. An excellent benchmark, ISO9000 can prove prohibitively complex and expensive for very small businesses. This often means that competent consultants, and even those of exceptionally high calibre, are effectively barred from bidding for public sector work, unless as subcontractors through larger intermediaries - at greater cost to both the consultant and the client.
For further information contact: PCG