DOST 6 is ISO accredited government agency
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has acquired an ISO accreditation for Quality Management System (QMS). The department is the only agency in Western Visayas that was given a certification by the Certification International Philippines Inc. (CIPI).
The ISO 9001:2000 certification was handed over by CIPI Manager Director Renato Navarrete to DOST 6 Regional Director Engr. Rowen Gelonga in yesterday's awarding ceremony.
The ISO 9001:2000 is the standard that provides a set of standardized requirements for a quality management, regardless of what the user organization does, its size or whether it is in the private or public sector. It is the only standard in the family against which organizations can be certified although the certification is not a compulsory requirement of the standard.
The ISO certification was issued on March 14, 2008 and is valid until March 13, 2009. It is very easy to acquire the certification but it is very difficult to maintain the quality of services rendered by the agency, said Gelonga.
Gelonga said the certification is a manifestation of the quality and competitive service they rendered to their clients. The service provided by the agency is accurate and the margin of error is minimal. The accreditation will benefit most the exporters.
Any product or service that has an ISO accreditation is most acceptable to the buyers specifically in foreign market. The certification is very important in order to ensure quality, said Gelonga.
The department's ISO-accredited services include technology consultancy, packaging and labeling, technology upgrading and commercialization and testing and calibration. The certification will benefit the customers as the standard set by the department conforms to the requirements and is reliable and dependable, said Gelonga.
The QMS plays roles in the document management, handling of information and partly computerization of the department. Each management has its own function and has to implement properly its own management functions, said Gelonga.
Last year, the department also acquired an ISO certification for its micro-biological laboratory testing. The micro-biological laboratory testing has an ISO/IEL 17025 certification.
The department is very much willing to impart the QMS they had to improve the functions required to them. There are already ISO-accredited universities. We are planning to pool our ideas to help the different agencies or local government units so they could also acquire ISO-accreditation, said Gelonga.