ISO 9001 Certification Cost

Why this page does not quote a price

ISO 9001 certification does not have a catalogue price. The two largest components, certification body audit time and implementation effort, are both derived from facts about your organisation. Accredited certification bodies do not set audit days freely: they follow the International Accreditation Forum mandatory document on determination of audit time, IAF MD 5, which applies to quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management systems.

What follows is the list of things that actually change the number, so that when you receive quotations you can tell whether they were built on the same assumptions.

The cost drivers

• Scope of the quality management system. Which products, services, processes and sites are inside the boundary. Everything else scales from this.
• Effective number of personnel. The primary input to audit time under IAF MD 5. It includes all personnel involved within the certification scope, counting part time, temporary and shift workers.
• Risk category of your product or service. IAF MD 5 adjusts audit time according to the consequences of failure. A supplier of safety critical components is treated differently from a low risk service provider.
• Number and geography of sites. Multiple locations increase audit time, although multi site sampling can apply where the same system operates across them. Travel and subsistence follow the sites.
• Process complexity. The number of distinct processes, whether design and development is in scope, whether special processes require validation, and how much is outsourced.
• Regulatory and customer requirements. Sector obligations and customer specific quality requirements add both implementation effort and audit attention.
• Starting maturity. Whether documented information, process ownership, objectives, internal audit and management review already exist in an evidenced form.
• Whether a gap assessment is needed. An upfront gap assessment is an additional line, and it is normally the cheapest way to avoid a failed Stage 1.
• Calibration and measurement. Where measurement traceability is a requirement, calibration of measuring equipment is a real recurring cost that certification exposes even though it is not a certification fee.
• Internal capability. Whether you can supply competent internal auditors, or whether internal auditor training has to be bought so the programme survives after the project.

How the fees break down

• Certification body fees. Application and contract review, Stage 1, Stage 2, the certification decision, surveillance audits across the three year cycle and recertification. Priced in audit days derived under IAF MD 5.
• Consultancy fees. Gap assessment, process mapping, documented information, objectives and measurement, internal auditor training, the first full internal audit and management review cycle, and support through the certification audits. Priced per engagement against a defined scope of work.
• Internal cost. The time your process owners, quality lead and management team spend. Rarely quantified, usually the largest item.

An accredited certification body cannot also sell you the consultancy. The rules those bodies work under require consultancy and certification to be kept separate, which is why the two lines always come from different suppliers.

The three year view

An accredited ISO 9001 certificate is valid for three years, subject to surveillance audits during that period, normally annually, and a recertification audit before it expires. Plan the budget across the whole cycle.

The recurring items are the surveillance and recertification audit fees, the internal audit programme, management review, monitoring of quality objectives and customer satisfaction, corrective action, calibration where applicable, and competence and awareness for new joiners. Changes to the scope, new sites, new product lines or acquisitions have to be notified to the certification body and will change the audit time calculation.

Where organisations overspend

• Buying a template document set. It is cheap and it describes a company that does not exist, so it is rebuilt after Stage 1 or Stage 2.
• Scoping wider than the customer asked for. Extra sites and processes in the scope raise audit time for every audit in the cycle, not just the first one.
• No internal auditor capability. If the internal audit programme depends entirely on an external party, that cost repeats annually rather than tapering.
• Leaving calibration until the audit. Out of calibration equipment discovered during Stage 2 creates a nonconformity and an unplanned spend.
• Comparing quotations built on different assumptions. If one body was told a smaller headcount or a narrower scope, its quotation is not comparable. Agree the scope statement first and send the same one to everybody.

How Univate prices its work

Univate quotes per organisation after a scoping conversation. We look at the intended scope, the effective number of personnel, the sites, whether design and development is in scope, what documented information and audit history already exist, and how much of the work your own team will carry.

Certification body fees are separate and are paid directly to the body you appoint. We do not issue certificates and we do not take commission from certification bodies. If you want comparable quotations, agree the scope statement and the effective number of personnel first, then give every body the same figures.

Cost questions we are asked most often

Why is there no published price for ISO 9001 certification?

Because the largest components are organisation specific. Accredited certification bodies determine audit time using the International Accreditation Forum mandatory document on the determination of audit time, IAF MD 5, which starts from the effective number of personnel and adjusts for the complexity and risk category of what you do. Implementation effort depends on how much of the quality management system already exists. Both are quoted after a scoping discussion.

How do certification bodies work out audit time for ISO 9001?

IAF MD 5 is the mandatory document accredited bodies follow for determining audit time for quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management systems. The starting point is the effective number of personnel, which includes part time, temporary and shift workers within the certification scope. That is then adjusted for a risk category based on the consequences of product or service failure, and for factors such as the number of sites, process complexity, regulatory requirements, outsourcing and the maturity of the system.

What separate fees should we budget for?

Certification body fees for application, Stage 1, Stage 2, surveillance audits across the three year cycle and recertification. Consultancy fees if you use an external partner for gap assessment, implementation, internal auditor training and audit support. Internal cost, which is the time your own staff spend and is usually the largest and least visible line. Calibration of measuring equipment, testing and travel sit outside those three.

Does certifying fewer sites reduce the cost?

It reduces audit time and implementation effort, and where several sites run the same system a certification body may apply multi site sampling rather than auditing every location every time. But the certificate only covers what is in the scope statement, so a narrow scope that excludes a site your customer cares about will not do the commercial job you bought it for.

What are the ongoing costs after certification?

An accredited certificate is valid for three years with surveillance audits during that period, normally annually, and a recertification audit before expiry. Internally you continue to run the internal audit programme, management review, objective monitoring, corrective action and calibration where measurement traceability is required. Adding sites, products or processes to the scope triggers additional audit time.

Is a cheaper quotation from an unaccredited body worth taking?

It can look cheaper because bodies without accreditation are not bound by the IAF audit time rules. The risk is acceptance: many customers and tender processes specify a certificate from a body accredited by a recognised national accreditation body, and accredited certificates can be verified in IAF CertSearch. ISO notes that accreditation is not compulsory and that a body without it is not necessarily disreputable, but if your buyer has specified accreditation the question answers itself.

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