IPS to get ISO certification and EFQM Committed to Excellence recognition Silvia Bernardo November 30, 2015

IPS to get ISO certification and EFQM Committed to Excellence recognition

With the launch of its “In Search of Excellence” internal project IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (Qualify Just IT Solutions and Consulting, LTD) team is preparing the organization both to be certified according to ISO 9001:2015 and to achieve EFQM Committed to Excellence recognition by the end of 2016.

 ISO FDIS 9001 2015 is the current (rough) version – published in July of 2015 – and is the fifth edition of the ISO 9001 standard. Once the final version is published later this year, it will officially cancel and replace all ISO 9001 previous editions.

 The “EFQM Committed to Excellence” is part of the EFQM Levels of Excellence, Europe’s leading certification programme for recognising high levels of organisational performance.

 EFQM (the European Foundation for Quality Management) is a not-for-profit membership foundation in Brussels, established in 1989 to increase the competitiveness of the European economy. The initial impetus for forming EFQM was a response to the work of W. Edwards Deming and the development of the concepts of Total Quality Management. The foundation was formed in 1989, with 67 members. The first version of the EFQM Excellence Model was created by a group of experts from various sectors and academic institutions and launched in 1992. It acted as the framework for assessing applications for the European Quality Award, the transnational quality awards of Europe.

 According IPS representatives this organizational effort will both support IPS to meet its customer needs and expectations and to comply with relevant regulatory and statutory requirements, whilst getting recognition for aligning all its procedures and processes with international best practices.

 “In search for Excellence Project” is supported by the Portuguese Government through the COMPETE 2020 programme.

For further information, please contact ips@prisonsystems.eu