OREANDA-NEWS. January 24, 2012. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) is the first Russian federal executive body certified for conformity to ISO 9001-2008 international quality management system. The certificate was presented to the Head of FAS Russia, Igor Artemyev, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The document was presented by a representative of a certification body, a full member of the Russian Academy of Science, a member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Science, Vladimir Okrepilov. ISO 9001-2008 is an internationally recognized document describing requirements that an organization must follow for more complete satisfaction of consumer needs, in this case – citizens of the Russian Federation, economic entities.

“For us this is very significant. It is a confirmation that our Service works in the interests of citizens, it is open to independent control”, emphasized the Head of FAS Russia, Igor Artemyev.

Up to the present day, conformity certificates ISO 9001 was mostly awarded to commercial organizations in Russia. However, in other countries this standard is widely used for government bodies, which helps increasing efficiency of the work of the authorities, form a modern public administration system, able to compete with the leading countries in the world.

“During recent years we have been actively introducing modern approaches to organization of our work, increasing its quality. We have formed a system of external independent audit of our activities, carry out an annual survey regarding the quality of our work. Based on this, we have devised performance indicators for each structural unit; keep the rating of our regional bodies as well as Departments of the Central FAS Office. Also we take continuous efforts towards optimizing our Regulations and processes. In general, we endeavor to make the Antimonopoly Service open, accessible for the external environment. The audit showed that we already fulfilled most of the ISO 9001 requirements, it was necessary to revise and further construct the missing elements”, said Igor Artemyev.

To a large effect, FAS work for developing management system was facilitated by participation in an international rating of antimonopoly authorities, where FAS is on 19 position (out of 140 authorities of different countries). “However, we wish to excel and we hope to improve our position upon the results of 2011”, expressed his hope the Head of FAS. Igor Artemyev clarified that “FAS rating is not an end in itself, it is an independent peer review, in particular, by other countries, of the work carried out by FAS Russia”.

Finally, the Head of FAS, Igor Artemyev, expressed his hope that all state and municipal bodies will follow FAS – obtaining certification on international management standard. “It is necessary for the government bodies that work for the citizens and must do this work efficiently and in a quality manner”, emphasized the Head of the antimonopoly authority.

Introducing ISO 9001-2008, FAS Russia has devised the Quality Policy that has performance targets of quality work. FAS devised a Process Model of the Antimonopoly Service that describes the mechanism of achieving quality of performance of state functions; devised the Quality Regulations that describe the whole system, including each element and the purpose of each element. FAS introduced an internal audit system; created a workable system of continued internal audit of the system of quality management. As a result, FAS is developing an objective picture of efficient work of all structural units.

At the same time FAS has created a system of public assessment. With involvement of citizens, representatives of public organizations, FAS Russia and its regional bodies have formed Expert and Public Advisory Councils. Every year an independent organization carries out polls, in particular, telephone polls, whether citizens are satisfied with FAS work (evaluating professionalism of FAS officers, operational efficiency and availability of supplying information).

FAS experience of international certification will be presented to the Commission on Administrative Reform at the Government of the Russian Federation and recommended for disseminating across other government bodies.

Reference:

ISO 9001– is an internationally recognized document describing requirements that an organization must follow to guarantee the quality of products and services and successfully exercise quality management in favor of consumers.

ISO 9001 has universal requirements for any organization, and in particular is applied in public administration.

This standard describes the requirements that an organization must comply with in order to:

- Form the goals of its activities, based on consumer needs and citizens’ needs and manage the goals at all levels of its structure;

- Determine the processes within an organization and manage them;

- At every part and across the whole system in general exercise: activity planning; carry out activities; control goals and results achievement; analyze and improve activities; organization and all its processes are focused on consumers, satisfying their needs and requirements.

As a result an organization becomes transparent, “accountable”, suited for efficiency and effectiveness assessment and management.