As of March 31, only about $90 billion of the $275 billion allocated in the Recovery Act for contracts, grants and loans to states and localities has been expended. As federal funds are expended, state and local governments have payments to process, contract monitoring activities to perform and unprecedented performance-reporting activities to complete. These demands come in middle of one of the worst recessions states and localities have seen in decades.
The unprecedented level of work associated with these expenditures is likely causing CEO's of state and local government agencies to reach for an aspirin. The question at hand is a vexatious one: How can state and local government agencies handcuffed by budget cuts, furloughs and layoffs be expected to administer and monitor such a mammoth program while ensuring required performance reporting of ARRA projects is completed on-time and accurately?
City, county and state managers would be well served to take a lesson from the private sector. More than one million organizations around the world have turned to the ISO 9001 quality management system standard to ensure the minimum requirements needed for quality are in place within their organizations. When applied to an ARRA program, the newly updated ISO 9001:2008 standard provides a proven method for ensuring the minimum requirements are in place to achieve quality in ARRA implementation and reporting. To be more precise, a few of the benefits of using this standard are:
Minimizing risk. By identifying process interfaces and establishing measurement systems to support the implementation of the ISO 9001:2008 standard requirements, you will improve the ability of your organization to identify potential quality issues before they become serious problems.
Auditable. Most if not all of the $275 billion worth of contracts, grants and loans awarded to states and localities is subject to audits. A quality management system which conforms to the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 standard is 100 percent auditable. The documentation requirements of the standard will facilitate a more effective audit experience by providing a transparent structure made possible by identifying process interfaces, facilitating effective documentation and ensuring proper control of records.
Implementation of corrective action. The ISO 9001:2008 standard provides requirements for an effective corrective action process which will ensure reporting errors and audit findings are properly investigated and effective action is implemented to ensure the errors/findings do not recur. This process will be essential when legions of auditors descend upon your organization to ensure Recovery Act funds are being properly administered.
Reporting data quality assurance. Implementation of the verification and validation requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 standard will help states and localities ensure that quality assurance processes are effective and adequate to establish a high level of data quality for ARRA section 1512 reporting.
The ISO 9001:2008 standard provides a powerful solution for states and localities who are struggling to ensure the accountability requirements of ARRA are achieved. A copy of the ISO 9001:2008 standard may be purchased from organizations such as the American Society for Quality.
Learn more about the benefits of ISO 9001 for state and local government from the author from a free, on demand webinar.
