Why ISO accreditation is important when tendering in Abu Dhabi

11th March 2018

Guest post from Edward Spiller, Senior Consultant at CSA Consultants, about the importance of ISO accreditation for construction and engineering companies in Abu Dhabi when tendering.

Why is gaining your ISO accreditation important when it comes to tendering?

It’s a question I always get asked when I present the benefits of ISO accreditation to businesses involved in construction. But, before we get to the benefits to your business, let’s look at it from the organisation that is tendering the projects’ point of view.

Another Point of View

Construction is expensive and a huge factor that hangs over any project is TIME! When developing the budget, timelines are critical. So, one way to help reduce the risk of extended timelines is to ensure that all contractors involved in the project have processes and procedures in place to deliver their part of the project on time and to specification.

Construction is also dangerous. With tonnes of concrete, steel and other material literally flying through the air; electrical cables, water (never a good mix) and of course height added to the mix, it is an area of inherent danger to humans. Again, the tendering organisation wants risk of injury to the work force and visitors reduced as much as possible. Therefore, they look to contractors that have a Health and Safety Management System in place, with processes and procedures, checklists and inspections to ensure that their staff are safe in and around the site.

It Begins to Make Sense

Therefore, when you register on e-portals or via posted applications in response for tenders, three of the boxes they ask you to tick are:

Do you have a Quality Policy and Management System?
Do you have a Health and Safety Policy and Management System?
Do you have an Environmental Policy and Management System?

It is the first part of the filtering process, and an important one!

Some Reasons Why

Did you know that currently the following are requirements for construction and engineering companies in Abu Dhabi when they register for Classification after obtaining their trade license?

CONTRACTORS applying for Special Category and First Category, enabling them to tender for projects valued from AED60m upwards, are required to have the following: ISO:9001, ISO: 14001 and OHSAS 45001 (the new standard replacing 18001 for OHAS).

CONTRACTORS applying for Second Category, enabling them to tender for projects valued from AED30m – AED100m are required to have the following: ISO:9001.

CONSULTANTS applying for Special and First Category, enabling them to tender for projects valued from AED20m upwards, are required to have the following: ISO:9001.

The Solution

By implementing ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System, ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System and ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management System, not only puts you one step closer to final selection for the project, it puts in place processes and procedures, checks and records to ensure that you deliver both quality services or products on time and ensure the safety of your work force and those around them.

Your Benefits

There are numerous benefits to implementing the Management Systems within your business, not only for tendering purposes. These include:

Meet Customer Requirements
Get More Revenue and Business from New Customers
Improve Company and Product/Services Quality
Increase Customer Satisfaction with your Products/Services
Describe, Understand and Communicate Your Company Processes
Develop a Professional Culture and Better Employee Engagement
Embeds a culture of Risk Management throughout Your Company
Improve the Consistency of Your Operation
Focus Management and Employees
Improve Efficiency, Reduce Waste and Save Money
Achieve International Quality Recognition
INCREASE PROFITS

One More Step

There is one step further you can go to improve your management systems. If, or, rather when you decide to implement 2 or more ISO standards, you can merge them into an Integrated Management System (IMS). This reduces duplication of documented information, establishes core responsibilities and risk management; and, embeds the processes and procedures across all elements of your business to ensue all the benefits are felt across your business.

Written by Edward Spiller, Senior Consultant

CSA Consultants