Inside this issue

April - June 2015 Department of Public Works and Highways Volume XVI, Issue II

DPWH ISO Certification:

The Journey towards Good

Governance

DPWH ISO Certification:

ISO, which was created by the International Organization for

Standardization, is not an acronym; instead, the name derives from

the Greek word isos, which means equal. Founded in 1946, ISO is an

international organization composed of national standards bodies

from over 75 countries. It provides a model for setting up a Quality

Management System (QMS), a set of interrelated or interacting

elements that allow the organization to establish its policy and

objectives related to quality, and to achieve those objectives. As such,

ISO provides requirements, specifications, guidelines or

characteristics that can be used to consistently ensure materials,

products, processes and services are safe to use and fit for their

purpose. International standards are powerful instruments of

governance because of the effects their use can have on goods,

services and the effects they can have on quality of life. In the public

sector, they can provide greater transparency and encourage

innovation.

Given the Vision of the Department is that by 2030, DPWH is an

effective and efficient government agency, improving the life of

every Filipino through quality infrastructure, under the Secretary’s

Transformation Program, which builds upon process improvements

and enabling technology that started under the Road Information and

Management Support System (RIMSS) effort, seeking ISO

9001:2008 Quality Management System (QMS) Certification further

demonstrates the Department’s continued dedication to delivering on

its commitment to quality and excellence in public service This is

aligned with President Benigno S. Aquino III administration’s

commitment to improve public service delivery, as highlighted in the

Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 under Chapter 7 on Good

Governance and the Rule of Law by having government agencies

obtain ISO 9001 Certification.

A key milestone in the Department’s journey was the ISO

Certification of the six (6) Bureaus and nine (9) Services from the

Central Office; two (2) pilot Regional Offices, NCR and Davao; and,

two (2) pilot District Engineering Offices, South Manila and Davao

City, which were awarded with the Certification in a simple

ceremony that was held on May 18, 2015. (Continued to Page 2)

AJA Registrars Inc.’s Vice President Paul B. Bagatsing presenting

the ISO Certificates to Secretary Rogelio L. Singson, together with

Undersecretary Raul C. Asis, Overall Quality Management

Representative, and Asst. Secretary B. Elizabeth E. Yap, Overall

QMS Core Team Leader.

TAMBULI April - June 2015 Page 2

Through the establishment of a QMS

certifiable to ISO 9001:2008, the

Department looks forward to continuing

to enhance its infrastructure development

process to achieve its Vision. According

to the Overall QMS Core Team, ―a

department-wide quality management

system will not only make the system

holistic but also a more effective and

efficient system of managing interrelated

processes of several bureaus/offices of

the Department with the aim of providing

quality services.

The Department’s ISO QMS

Journey

Roughly three years ago, the

Department, through the strong

leadership of Secretary Rogelio L.

Singson, began to pursue ISO

Certification for establishing a Quality

Management System. As a public service

agency, the Department’s primordial

concern is to find the most effective and

efficient ways to serve its clientele – the

Filipino people. In order to achieve this

goal, the Department has to

―institutionalize best practices‖ by

implementing ISO 9001:2008

Certification.

The activity sought to assure that the

Department’s processes are at par with

international standards and comparable

with the best practices of other countries.

This is to also further instill trust and

confidence on the quality of services and

projects of the Department.

On February 1, 2012, by virtue of

Special Order No. 67, series of 2012, the

Overall Quality Management

Representatives and Overall QMS Core

Team Members were constituted and

formed—Undersecretary Raul C. Asis as

the Overall Quality Management

Representative and Assistant Secretary

Elizabeth E. Yap as the Overall QMS

Core Team Leader, with the esteemed

representatives from different Bureaus

and Services as members of the team—

and they led the journey to the

certification.

Initially, the plan was to subject six

(6) pilot Offices for ISO Certification.

But, Secretary Singson directed that all

Offices in the Central Office (nine (9)

support services, six (6) bureaus) should

be included, together with two (2) pilot

Regional Offices and two (2) counterpart

District Engineering Offices, for a total

of 19 Offices.

The ISO QMS Core Team

proceeded with crafting the DPWH

Quality Policy, taking into account the

mandate, mission, vision, core values and

the mantra of the Department, and then

the formulation of the ISO QMS Manual

and the six (6) mandatory procedures.

The manual contains basic policies,

objectives and guidelines set by the

Department regarding the different

elements which can be implemented as a

DPWH ISO Certification...(Continued from Page 1)

tool for meeting and exceeding internal

and external customers' expectations. It

explains the Department's management

processes, infrastructure development

process: planning, design, construction,

maintenance, and support processes:

financial management, physical

resources management, human resources

management, information management,

and procurement management. Also, it

ensures the availability of information on

the procedures in its QMS.

The Department has secured the

services of the Development Academy of

the Philippines (DAP) to train and guide

the Department in the development of a

(Continued to Page 3)

TAMBULI April - June 2015 Page 3

QMS certifiable to ISO 9001:2008. The

Memorandum of Agreement was signed

on June 14, 2012 for the project,

―Development of Quality Management

System (QMS) Certifiable to ISO

9001:2008‖.

On August 6, 2012, the journey to

the ISO Certification was formally

launched. The Overall QMS Core Team

presented to the Secretary the Quality

Policy, the QMS Manual and

documentation covering all the 40

processes of the Department which were

categorized into three (3) main parts—

the management, the core and the

support processes.

The contract for the third party ISO

certifying body was awarded to Anglo

Japanese American (AJA) Registrars,

Inc. in August 2014. AJA Registrars,

Inc., an independent third party registrar

operating globally, commenced the Stage

1 Audit of the 19 Offices included in the

pursuit of ISO Certification on

December 19, 2014.

After Stage 1 Audit and Stage 2

(detailed) Audit in the 1st Quarter of

2015, the Department was officially

registered by the AJA Registrars, Inc. on

April 14, 2015 as ISO 9001:2008

Certified, covering planning, design,

construction and maintenance of national

roads and bridges and flood control

structures.

Room for More Improvement

During the simultaneous ISO

Certification Awarding Ceremony in the

Central Office, NCR and South

Manila DEO last May 18, 2015,

Undersecretary Raul C. Asis discussed

the non-conformities incurred by the

Department and stated that some of these

non-conformities are just basic

procedures that the concerned Office

should have been doing routinely – like

ensuring that all information are properly

provided in the logbook by project

engineers and monitored by the Chief of

the Construction Section, in the Regional

Offices and DEOs, at least once a week;

ensuring that the necessary safety

requirements are provided by the

Contractor and monitored by the project

engineers; the project engineers ensuring

that all documents necessary for

inspection are on site and strict

implementation on accomplishing

pouring permit forms, to name a few.

The Undersecretary reminded the

Department during his speech that these

findings should be seen as challenges to

the present practices in the Department

DPWH ISO Certification...(Continued from Page 2)

(From left to right) Undersecretary Raul C. Asis, Overall Quality Management Representative,

Asst. Secretary B. Elizabeth E. Yap, Overall QMS Core Team Leader, and

Secretary Rogelio L. Singson during the ISO Certification Awarding Ceremony.

(Continued to Page 4)

DPWH’s model of a process-based quality management system illustrates the linkages

among the management processes, the core processes, the support processes, and

measurement, analysis and improvement processes. The model shows that the customers

(public) play a significant role in defining requirements as inputs.

TAMBULI April - June 2015 Page 4

and, therefore, should be addressed so as

to avoid having the same findings to

resurface in the next audit.

Next Steps / Moving Forward

Aside from continual improvement

on the quality management processes, the

Department seeks to broaden the scope

of ISO 9001:2008 certified QMS to

include the five (5) clusters of Unified

Project Management Offices (UPMO)

the remaining 14 Regions and 14

counterpart District Engineering Offices.

DPWH ISO Certification...(Continued from Page 3)

Secretary Rogelio L. Singson and Undersecretary Raul C. Asis with the

DPWH Overall QMS Core Team during the ISO Certification Awarding Ceremony.

TAMBULI is a quarterly publication of the DPWH

Information Management Service (IMS) in support of the Institutional Capacity Development Projects

(ICD) and other IT-enabled Business Process

Improvements (BPIs) of the DPWH with editorial business address at:

DPWH Head Office

Information Management Service

G/F ICC Bui lding Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila

Phone: 3043088 / 3043558 Fax: 3043185

A digital copy of this issue is available on the

DPWH Intranet and Internet sites.

For more information and details on the

Department reforms and projects, visit the website link below:

http://www.dpwh.gov.ph/about_us/reforms/index.htm

The expansion will further

institutionalize the quality management

in the Department, ensure that quality

standards are met for every service

delivery and make sure that the

Department has an integrated yet

seamless network of processes across the

organization. The target date for the 33

Offices to obtain an ISO certification is

1st Quarter of 2016.

Erlyn T. Caguioa

Lead Geospatial Information

Administration Officer

IMS-BID-GIAU

Allison Anne G. Atis

Communication Specialist

Project Management and Coordination

(PMC)

NRIMP-II ICD

References:

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/

ISO.html

Using and referencing ISO and IEC standards

to support public policy, www.iso.org

DPWH ISO Training Manual

―ISO Glossary‖, http://

www.simplyquality.org/jokes.htm