PCG is proposing to introduce a tailored quality scheme for PCG's
freelancing members. Members are invited to register their interest
in being amongst the first freelancers to attain this valuable certification.
PCG has been working in close partnership with quality experts BVQI
to develop the scheme, the first of its kind. Much of the administration
has been simplified and automated, without removing individual responsibility.
The qualification process is likely to cost a freelance business
in the region of £1,000, including the provision of training,
audit and a quality management system, and will take between three
and nine months to complete. On successful completion, the scheme
will identify certified members as trusted consultants with professional
standards for service delivery.
PCG believes that this certification will allow freelance businesses,
in many cases, to bid for contracts that were previously inaccessible,
including in the growing public sector, where UKAS-accredited ISO9001
is mandatory. It is also likely to give freelance businesses a distinct
marketing advantage by clearly demonstrating professionalism.
"ISO9000 can prove prohibitively complex and expensive for
small businesses," explains 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."
On 5 March 2004, a delegation from PCG visited the DTI to receive
congratulations from the Minister for Small Business, Nigel Griffiths
MP, for achieving its own ISO9001 certification, the first trade
association in the UK to attain this prestigious recognition.
Freelance businesses interested in participating in PCG's innovative
scheme should register their interest online. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=16389432263
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