Tendering for Government Contracts

Quality assurance

Public-sector organisations may want to assess their contractors against certain quality assurance standards.

If you are in an industry where external assessments are normal, or are becoming normal, and if it is appropriate to the contract, you may find this a requirement.

The ISO 9000 series are international quality management systems standards. The standards are published in the UK by the British Standards Institution as BS EN ISO 9000. If your firm operates an ISO 9000 system, you should be able to guarantee to provide consistent quality of your products or services. It is for this reason that a number of purchasers, including some government procurement agencies, encourage their suppliers to use the standard. You can also gain added confidence if you get independent assessment of the system in operation.