National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of ISO 18091:2019.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee QS/1, Quality management and quality assurance procedures.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its secretary.

This publication does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 March 2019.

Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).

Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not constitute an endorsement.

For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.

This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance.

This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO 18091:2014), which has been technically revised. The main changes compared with the previous edition are:

the guidelines for ISO 9001:2015 have been updated;
the structure has been changed to the ISO high level structure for management system standards;
Annexes A and B have been switched;
Annex A has been updated, including adding references to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals;
a description of citizen observatories has been added in a new Annex C;
an example how to use this document with other local government assessment systems has been added in a new Annex D.

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

Introduction

0.1 General

One of the great challenges that societies face today is the need to develop and maintain citizens’ confidence in their governments and their institutions. In meeting this challenge, local governments have a mission to enable the development of a socially responsible and sustainable local community.

Achieving and maintaining a high-level of quality in how local governments operate can result in sustainable economic prosperity and social development at local levels. This includes interacting with national and regional policies in coherent, consistent and compatible ways.

Citizens expect local government to provide high-quality public products and services such as safety and security, well-maintained roads, public transportation, efficient processing of documents, transparency and accessibility of public information, health, education and infrastructure, among others. Citizens want local government to represent them and to protect or enhance their way of life.

It is possible to build stronger, more reliable and effective public policy networks at national, regional and international levels if local governments adopt quality management systems with the aim to improve their public products and services.

Improving the performance of local government can stimulate the whole system of government to provide better results overall. Applying a coherent approach across government can help to create reliable and sustainable governments at local, regional and national levels.

This document provides guidelines for local governments on understanding and implementing a quality management system that meets the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 and the needs and expectations of their citizens and other relevant interested parties.

A principle of this document is to help to make politically viable what is technically essential in local governments and their territories (see Annex A). This can be achieved by establishing links between government, citizens and governors (from the bottom to the top, see Annex C) and by facing the needs of the customers/citizens in an integral manner (see Annex B).

Annex A gives a diagnostic model that can be used as a starting point for implementing a comprehensive quality management system for reliable local government. The International Foundation for Reliable Local Governments (FIDEGOC) has the rights of these principles and share them for use in this document. Annex B provides information about typical local government processes. Annex C describes the creation of an integral citizen observatory that uses this document as a tool for citizen participation and for accountability of local government. Annex D describes how this document can help to translate different assessment systems, contents or subject matters, e.g. the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), into the indicators of public policy networks found in the diagnostic model given in Annex A.

The relative stages of implementing the quality management system and the role of this document are shown in Figure 1.

In this document, the text reproduced from ISO 9001:2015 is placed in boxes to distinguish it from guidance given for each clause.

NOTE 1 Local governments seeking to improve themselves could consider the use of an excellence model to further develop the maturity of the organization and the level of its performance. Well-known excellence models include the European model for quality management (EFQM), the Malcolm Baldrige model for excellence in United States, The Deming Prize in Japan, and a number of national excellence award models used in different countries or regions. These excellence models aim to improve the satisfaction of all relevant interested parties and the sustainable development of the organization. Further information about these excellence models is available from the websites of the organizations representing the models.

NOTE 2 More examples of how the annexes can be used can be found at www.iso18091.org.

The guidelines in this document are intended to help local governments relate the concepts of quality management, as described in ISO 9000, ISO 9001, ISO 9004 and associated standards, with the practice and terminology commonly deployed in the context of local government.

NOTE 3 The use of the terms and definitions presented in these guidelines can vary according to the culture, practices and customs of each location and region in which the local government is located.

It is expected that a development plan or work programme in the short- or medium-term is received, understood and applied by the public servants and representatives of local government. However, the plan or programme itself does not ensure that the needs and expectations of the local community will be covered, as the processes needed for the effective implementation of such plans or programmes could be deficient or non-existent. To counter this problem, this document has been developed to help local governments to implement an effective quality management system.

Any quality management system will be influenced by the different policies, objectives, diverse work methods, resource availability and administrative practices that are specific for the context. Therefore, it can be expected that the details of each quality management system will vary in each local government. A detailed method of implementation of the quality management system is not what is important. What matters is that the quality management system yields effective, consistent and reliable results. It is important that the quality management system is as simple as possible in order to function properly, and that it is sufficiently understandable to meet the policies and quality objectives of the particular local government.

It is not intended that conformity to ISO 9001 be regarded as a final objective. Once a local government has achieved a level that allows it to provide consistent and conforming products and services to the local community, it is important that it looks beyond conformance to requirements, and that it considers using ISO 9004 and/or other excellence models to improve its overall effectiveness and efficiency.

According to ISO 9000, for an organization to be successful, it needs to be guided and controlled in a systematic and transparent way. This is particularly true for local government, where transparency and accountability to its customers/citizens are vital to gain their trust and confidence. Sustainable success will only result from the implementation of a comprehensive quality management system that addresses the needs and expectations of all interested parties.

It is, therefore, important that the quality management system of a reliable and successful local government covers all activities and processes that can affect its ability to satisfy the requirements of its customers/citizens, the statutory and regulatory requirements and compliance commitments applicable to the products and services, and the local government’s own requirements, as well as all other relevant interested parties, such as regional or national governments.

0.2 Quality management principles

This document supports the application to local government of the seven quality management principles from ISO 9000.

The relevance of the seven quality management principles to local government are as follows.

Customer/citizen focus: Local government exists to serve its customers, i.e. its citizens. Therefore, the needs and expectations of citizens should be of priority in the plans and programmes of the local government.
Leadership: Top management is the head of local government and should create a vision and provide direction to all concerned (e.g. public servants and volunteers) to achieve goals and targets that meet the needs and expectations of the customers/citizens.
Engagement of people: All people should be involved in local government processes, including voluntary participation and citizens taking part in the activities of local government. Engaged people are fully committed and emotionally attached to the organization, its goals and objectives. They work enthusiastically and take pride in their work. This principle envisages ensuring a high level of motivation on an ongoing basis.
Process approach: The logical framework and the approach to results in a local government should be based on processes that describe elements such as its vision and long-term plans, and even the daily activities of local government areas.
Improvement: It is essential for local government to maintain its performance and search for new opportunities to improve its processes and enhance the satisfaction of its customers/citizens.
Evidence-based decision making: Use of evidence and data analysis should provide the base for improving the quality management system and its processes.
Relationship management: Local government should pay attention to how it relates to customers/citizens, external providers and partners, and to its horizontal and vertical relationships.

0.3Process approach

0.3.1General

For local governments to be able to adopt a process approach, it is important to recognize the different types of processes that are needed to provide reliable products and service to customers/citizens, as well as their management capacity to produce the desired outputs. These include processes for management of the organization, operational processes and support processes (see Annex B). The processes needed to provide the local government’s products and service are the core of the operational processes.

Typical examples of local government processes are:

strategic management processes to determine the local government’s role in the socio-economic environment;
provision of products and services to customers/citizens;
improvement of quality management system processes;
transparent internal and external communication processes.

For each process, the local government should identify the following.

Who is the customer? (Who receives the output from the process?) This might be an internal customer, within another area of the same local government, or an external customer such as a citizen who is receiving a product or service.
What are the main inputs to the process? (For example, information, legal requirements, national and/or regional government policies, materials, energy, human and financial resources.)
What are the desired outputs? (For example, what are the characteristics of the product/service to be provided?)
What controls and indicators are needed to verify the process performance and/or results?
What is the interaction with other local government processes? (Outputs from one process typically form inputs into other processes.)
What controls are necessary to have transparency?

0.3.2Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle

The PDCA cycle enables the top management of the local government to develop a systematic method of assessing the external and internal environment and to implement the necessary processes for the improvement of the products and services provided to its customers/citizens. The PDCA cycle can be initiated at any stage, but usually a local government that implements a quality management system for the first time or is in the process of upgrading its system can initiate the process by assessing its current performance (the Check stage) using the requirements of Clause 9, “Performance evaluation”. The results of performance evaluation are fed into the PDCA cycle’s Act stage (see Clause 10, “Improvement”) where the local government initiates the necessary actions to address the opportunities for improvement identified at the Check stage.

At the Plan stage of the PDCA cycle, the local authority not only plans the actions agreed at the previous stage, but, most importantly, it develops, by assessing the needs and expectations of its customers/citizens and its other relevant interested parties, the necessary objectives, targets and actions to address the risks and opportunities identified as per Clause 6, “Planning”. At the PDCA cycle’s Do stage, the objectives and actions planned are communicated throughout the local government. New processes or changes to existing processes are implemented to ensure that agreed objectives are met.

The local government should use the PDCA cycle, with its overall focus on risk-based thinking, to design its quality management system, its processes and their interactions, in order to identify each of the necessary activities to maintain its quality level, to achieve continual improvement, to take advantage of opportunities and to prevent undesirable results. The local government should make short-, medium- and long-term plans using the PDCA cycle.

0.3.3Risk-based thinking

ISO 9001:2015, Quality management systems — Requirements

0.3.3 Risk-based thinking

Risk-based thinking (see Clause A.4) is essential for achieving an effective quality management system. The concept of risk-based thinking has been implicit in previous editions of this International Standard including, for example, carrying out preventive action to eliminate potential nonconformities, analysing any nonconformities that do occur, and taking action to prevent recurrence that is appropriate for the effects of the nonconformity.

To conform to the requirements of this International Standard, an organization needs to plan and implement actions to address risks and opportunities. Addressing both risks and opportunities establishes a basis for increasing the effectiveness of the quality management system, achieving improved results and preventing negative effects.

Opportunities can arise as a result of a situation favourable to achieving an intended result, for example, a set of circumstances that allow the organization to attract customers, develop new products and services, reduce waste or improve productivity. Actions to address opportunities can also include consideration of associated risks. Risk is the effect of uncertainty and any such uncertainty can have positive or negative effects. A positive deviation arising from a risk can provide an opportunity, but not all positive effects of risk result in opportunities.

In local government, any changes in the operational environment, such as changes in policies, regulations and the expectations of relevant interested parties, can be a source of uncertainty and can lead to a deviation of performance.

Risk-based thinking is not new and can be inherent in the way the local government already operates. This document recommends that the identification of risks and opportunities is performed systematically and as part of an integral process.

The local government should address the risks and opportunities associated with its processes, for example, the provision of products and services and the performance of the quality management system. At the same time, risk and opportunities will be identified as a result of the strategic direction of the local government’s role in the socio-economic environment.

One of the most recurring risks in a local government is not being able to access the resources offered by other levels of government. One way to mitigate this risk is to identify alternative forms of financing.

Openness to citizen participation through integral citizen observatories (ICOs) can be an opportunity to develop the organization of local government and to improve its products, services and processes. However, it could also constitute a risk if citizen participation, instead of promoting the improvement of products and activities, becomes the institutionalization of complaints.

0.4Relationship with other management system standards

To ensure the quality of the products and services it provides, the quality management system of the local government should address some aspects related to other management systems, such as anti-bribery, the environment, health and safety, and risk management. This guidance document follows the structure of ISO 9001 and therefore follows the high level structure (HLS) for all ISO management system standards (MSS). The HLS facilitates the integration of different standards, which will enable local governments to develop an integrated management system (IMS).

1 Scope

This document gives guidelines for local governments on understanding and implementing a quality management system that meets the requirements of ISO 9001:2015, in order to meet the needs and expectations of their customers/citizens and all other relevant interested parties by consistently providing them with products and services.

It promotes implementing a quality management system in a responsible and accountable manner, through the application of ISO 9001 on a comprehensive basis. These guidelines do not add, change or modify the requirements of ISO 9001.

It is applicable to all local government processes at all levels (i.e. strategical, tactical-managerial and operational) in order to constitute a comprehensive quality management system that focuses on the local government achieving its objectives. The comprehensive character of this system is essential to ensure that all the areas of the local government have a specified level of reliability (i.e. effectiveness of the processes).

Annex A, as a starting point for users of this document, gives a diagnostic methodology for local governments to evaluate the scope and maturity of their processes and products and services. Annex B gives the processes necessary to provide reliable products and services to customers/citizens.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Context of the organization

4.1 Understanding the organization and its context

4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties

4.3 Determining the scope of the quality management system

4.4 Quality management system and its processes

5 Leadership

5.1 Leadership and commitment

5.2 Policy

5.3 Organizational roles, responsibilities and authorities

6 Planning

6.1 Actions to address risks and opportunities

6.2 Quality objectives and planning to achieve them

6.3 Planning of changes

7 Support

7.1 Resources

7.2 Competence

7.3 Awareness

7.4 Communication

7.5 Documented information

8 Operation

8.1 Operational planning and control

8.2 Requirements for products and services

8.3 Design and development of products and services

8.4 Control of externally provided processes, products and services

8.5 Production and service provision

8.6 Release of products and services

8.7 Control of nonconforming outputs

9 Performance evaluation

9.1 Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation

9.2 Internal audit

9.3 Management review

10 Improvement

10.1 General

10.2 Nonconformity and corrective action

10.3 Continual improvement

Bibliography

BS ISO 18091:2019

Quality management systems. Guidelines for the application of ISO 9001 in local government

Current

Published:

31 Mar 2019