Do You Have a Quality Assurance Program?

The terms of a government contract generally require you to assure the quality of the product or service that your business will be providing. To do that, you need to show that you have some kind of formal, documented quality control plan in place.

Your plan could consist of anything from a general quality assurance manual to a full quality assurance program that complies with a recognized commercial quality standard, a government standard, or the international ISO standard for your industry. (See our discussion for a detailed explanation of ISO quality standards.)

To be ready for the government, you need to be sure you have the proper office skills. You need to be organized, maintain accurate files and records, document important transactions and meetings, know where everything is, and generally be able to keep things humming.