PRIME MINISTER APPROVED

The Prime Minister approved the outline of a ―Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System (PMES) for Government Departments‖ vide PMO I.D. No. 1331721/PMO/2009-Pol dated 11.9.2009. Under PMES, each department is required to prepare a Results-Framework Document (RFD). An RFD provides a summary of the most important results that a department / ministry expects to achieve during the financial year. This document has two main purposes: (a) move the focus of the department from process-orientation to results-orientation, and (b) provide an objective and fair basis to evaluate department‘s overall performance at the end of the year. In addition to success indicators proposed by the department, there is a set of mandatory indicators proposed by the Government that are common to all departments preparing RFDs. The High Power Committee (HPC) on Government Performance in its meeting of March 11, 2011, decided to include the following mandatory success indicator relating to implementation of ISO:9001 in the Results-framework Document (RFD) of government departments for the year 2011-2012. Purpose of these Guidelines These guidelines are intended to provide guidance to departments / ministries for preparing the required Action Plan for implementing ISO 9001 in their respective ministries / departments by March 26, 2014. These Guidelines represent the minimum requirements and ministries / departments are free to add additional material that may be relevant to their particular context. The next step would be to hire consultants to actually help departments obtain ISO 9001 certification. Experience suggests that organizations that prepare themselves before hiring consultants save both time and money. That then is the main purpose of these guidelines.
Intended Users: All ministries / departments and Responsibility Centers (RCs) under them may use these guidelines to develop an Action Plan for implementing ISO:9001 in their organizations.


What is ISO?


ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world's largest developer and publisher of International Standards. ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 161 countries, one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system. ISO is a non-governmental organization that forms a bridge between the public and private sectors. On the one hand, many of its member institutes are part of the governmental structure of their countries, or are mandated by their government. On the other hand, other members have their roots uniquely in the private sector, having been set up by national partnerships of industry associations. Therefore, ISO enables a consensus to be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of business and the broader needs of society. Because "International Organization for Standardization" would have different acronyms in different languages ("IOS" in English, "OIN" in French for Organisation internationale de normalisation), its founders decided to give it also a short, all-purpose name. They chose "ISO", derived from the Greek isos, meaning "equal". Whatever the country, whatever the language, the short form of the organization's name is always ISO.


What are the ISO 9000 standards?


ISO has developed over 19 000 International Standards on a variety of subjects and more than 1000 new ISO standards are published every year. The full range of technical fields can be seen from the listing of International Standards at http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue Page 6 of 29 Users can browse that listing to find bibliographic information on each standard and, in many cases, a brief abstract. The online ISO Standards listing integrates both the ISO Catalogue of published standards and the ISO Technical programme of standards under development.


Who is responsible for developing the ISO 9000 standards?


ISO standards are developed by technical committees comprising experts from the industrial, technical and business sectors which have asked for the standards, and which subsequently put them to use. These experts may be joined by representatives of government agencies, testing laboratories, consumer associations, non-governmental organizations and academic circles. The experts participate as national delegations, chosen by the ISO national member institute for the country concerned. These delegations are required to represent not just the views of the organizations in which their participating experts work, but of other stakeholders too. According to ISO rules, the member institute is expected to take account of the views of the range of parties interested in the standard under development. This enables them to present a consolidated, national consensus position to the technical committee.


What are the main benefits to be derived from implementing ISO 9001?

Implementation of ISO 9001in a Government department or ministry will have the following benefits:
A. Enable the department to develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for its functions and activities. These SOPs are codified in a Quality Manual and procedures.
B. Compare and benchmark these standard operating procedures with other similar organizations in Government of India, states, private sector or international organizations.
C. Identify areas for improving functioning of the department.
D. Codify institutional and personal memories and experiences for future generations. Hence, when a person leaves, he or she will be able to leave behind SOPs for others to follow and improve.
E. Bring in transparency and accountability in the operations of government machinery.
F. Allow the department to audit itself against the ISO 9001 standards.
G. Allows the Secretary of the Department to focus on strategic issues.
H. The annual third party audit keeps the department on its toes.
I. The potential for losing the ISO 9001 certification during the audit every third year allows the system to sustain itself over time.


Is ISO 9001 suitable for Government Departments?

Of course, it is. ISO 9001 is a generic quality management system. It codifies quality standards in every area of organization‘s functioning. In fact, many governments around the World have made ISO 9001 a mandatory requirement. In India too, many Government organizations have successfully obtained ISO 9001 certification. Besides the trend in developed countries, Malaysia and Kenya have also made it a mandatory requirement in their government organizations. Prominent examples in the Indian Government context include, National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention (NACWC) in the Cabinet Secretariat and many offices of Central Board of Customs and Excise. A copy of the actual certificate awarded to NACWC is included on page 9. Internationally prominent examples includeISO 9001 implementation in 1997 in the US Government‘s General Services Administration‘s Office of Property Management—with a $1.5 billion budget at the time—claimed to be the first US federal agency to become ISO 9000-certified. Both NASA and the Department of Defense of USA have cited ISO certification as an important means of improving quality and reducing the federal burden in quality system oversight. In October 2006, the Federal Aviation Administration claimed bragging rights as the largest federal organization to achieve ISO 9001 certification (with national and international sites comprising nearly 6,500 employees). The Small Business Administration Web site includes a link for ISO 9001 resources. They are of relevance and use for others as well. Today, informed citizens expect quality operations and hence governments are proactively becoming quality conscious.


What is the relationship between RFD and ISO 9001?

ISO 9001 is not a substitute for ―results‖ rather it is a complement. ISO 9001 guarantees that the internal ―processes‖ will be of a certain quality. It does not guarantee that either the process will indeed be followed or that results will be assured. For that assurance, we need to have RFD. Hence, both are required to get a truly performing quality organization.


What is the relationship between ISO 9001 and Sevottam?

Sevottam means Uttam Seva (Good Service) in Hindi. Government realized the importance of this aspect of Government performance long time back and several Government decisions at the highest levels have reiterated the resolve to is decision. To operationalize this Government policy, DARPG created a module of following three initiatives that are together referred to as Sevottam: a. Citizens‘ / Clients‘ Charter.