ISO Certification and Government Prequalification
See case study that empower client’s business to grow with Culture Solutions
Overview
Culture Solutions was engaged by a tier 2 client who formed a sister company wanting to diversify into the road maintenance and traffic signals construction space. This client’s target clients were government authorities - specifically Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and tier 1 government service providers – and were wanting to undertake specialist road infrastructure works over $1 million in value. Their aim was to become the principal contractor and tender directly for government projects.
Background
As outlined by TfNSW, any projects that are over $1 million in value and fall within these specific specialist categories required the client to be ISO certified in WHS, Quality and Environmental Management and be Prequalified in the specific specialist category. This required the client to have management systems developed, implemented and certified by a JAS/ANZ approved third party auditor and have these systems deployed into the business and across their projects. This also required the client to undertake the prequalification application for the construction and reconstruction of Traffic Signals.
Problem
This client attempted to undertake this process on their own but once they understood scale of the exercise and the time required utilising their own resources, they realised that this process would take them over 12 months. Upon initial discussions with Culture Solutions, they had a draft management system that was not completely utilised across their business and had some project evidence to prove the implementation of these systems.
Solution
Culture Solutions redeveloped their management systems to meet the ISO requirements. This included development of Policy, Management Plans, Forms, Registers and other procedural documentation. We then worked to populate all required forms & registers with company information – this included undertaking risk and opportunity assessments, collecting staff induction and training information, inputting all plant and equipment maintenance and inspection data and training all staff on the newly developed management systems.
During this process Culture Solutions ensured the systems were developed to TfNSW requirements. This took an understanding of TfNSW specifications and how the systems were to address all items in the prequalification application.
Culture Solutions worked with the business to develop past & current project profiles, capability statements, staff resumes, template project plans and further safety documentation to ensure all requirements of the specification and applications were met. In addition, project staff were consulted to collate all required project information, artefacts and documentation to prove that the management systems were deployed into their projects.
Outcome
Once the systems were fully implemented, a JAZ/ANZ 3rd party auditor was engaged to undertake internal audits of all the management systems and ensure they were implemented across the business. This process managed and facilitated by Culture Solutions which allowed the business to continue with delivering works for their clients. The client gained ISO certification in 4 weeks and were equipped with the tools to continually manage the requirements set out by their system.
As the ISO certification was awarded, the prequalification application was submitted. In a short time, the application was reviewed and approved by TfNSW. This resulted in the client to tender for a government project worth over $1 million which they were the successful tenderer.
A 1 year process was turned into a 4 week process with a client reaching their goal of diversification and scaling their operations.